No.1 for the third week in a row, and 14th time in all, Ed Sheeran's ÷ has now spent longer at the chart summit than either of his previous albums, and is in clear second place for most weeks at No.1 in the 2010s behind Adele's 23 week topper, 21. Adele is also the only artist to spend more weeks at No.1 in the 2010s overall, with Divide's latest victory bringing Sheeran's total number of weeks at No.1 in the decade to 30, six short of Adele's tally.
For all its achievements, ÷ turned in the lowest sales tally of its 19 week chart career - and the lowest for a No.1 album since La La Land topped 23 weeks ago with 15,174 sales - with a combined tally of 25,392, including 9,161 from streams. Its career tally of 2,053,639 sales includes a contribution of 433,809 from streams, and compares favourably to every other album in the 2010s aside from Adele's twin behemoths 21, which had a same stage tally of 2,443,114 sales; and 25, with 2,901,792 sales. Both tallies were achieved without the benefit of streaming.
The first female group comprising entirely of sisters to have a No.1 album when their debut release Days Are Gone topped the list on sales of 37,005 copies in October 2013, Haim finally released their follow-up, Something To Tell You, and secure a No.2 debut on sales of 18,319 copies. Comprising Alana, Este and Danielle Haim, the Los Angeles trio pulled no fewer than five Top 75 entries off their first album, the most successful of which - The Wire - debuted and peaked at No.16 a week before Days Are Gone made its debut, helping the album to achieve sales-to-date of 300,244 copies, 1,262 of which occur in its latest frame, which see it rise 145-83.. Want You Back is the first single from Something To Tell You, and achieved a modest No.59 peak on the OCC chart in May, while reaching No.33 on the radio airplay chart. It re-enters the Top 75 this week, moving 89-56 (6,381 sales) to achieve a new peak.
No.102 last week entirely on the basis of streams from Tidal, 4:44 now jumps to No.3 (12,980 sales) to become Jay-Z's 4th Top 10 album and 15th Top 75 album in the UK. It is the follow-up to Magna Carta...Holy Grail, which gave him his first and thus far only No.1 album here when it opened atop the list on sales of 39,386 copies four years ago this very week. That marked a personal best for Jay-Z, just beating the 38,681 copies that The Blueprint 3 sold when it debuted at number four in 2009. Jay-Z had sold 3,230,812 albums in the UK prior to the release of 4:44. 2004 Linkin Park collaboration Collision Course is the biggest seller, contributing 462,927 of those sales - though some see it as an EP rather than an album because of its short (a tad over 21 minutes) playing time. Jay-Z's biggest selling full length album, and solo album, is The Blueprint 3, with 396,018 sales. 4:44 will become Jay-Z's 14th US number one later this week, a total exceeded only by The Beatles.
After reaching No.21 with their 2013 debut album, Inform Educate Entertain, London duo Public Service Broadcasting were just one place but 2,051 sales from making the Top 10 with 2015 follow-up, The Race For Space. Like that album, follow-up Every Valley is a concept album and one that easily secures the pair their initial Top 10 appearance, debuting at No.4 on sales of 11,979 copies.
Radiohead's OK Computer (12-7, 7,265 sales) and Little Mix's Glory Days (11-9, 5,827 sales) both return to the Top 10, which is completed by declines for Human (3-5, 9,190 sales) by Rag'n'Bone Man, Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1 (2-6, 8,959 sales) by Calvin Harris, How Did We Get So Dark? (4-8, 6,631 sales) by Royal Blood and the stationary X (5,668 sales) by Ed Sheeran.
Five titles are expelled from the Top 10, namely Evolve (7-11, 5,310 sales) by Imagine Dragons, Truth Is A Beautiful Thing (8-12, 5,276 sales) by London Grammar, Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits (6-13, 4,689 sales) by The Bee Gees, Greatest Hits (9-14, 4,255 sales) by Foo Fighters and Hydrograd (5-55, 1,793 sales) by Stone Sour.
Singer/songwriter Lucy Rose scored back-to-back Top 15 albums with 2012 debut Like I Used To (No.13) and 2015 follow-up Work It Out (No.9). Her third album, Something's Changing, makes more modest inroads this week, debuting at No.34 (2,512 sales).
Rapper 21 Savage's debut release, Issa Album, opens at No.42 (2,247 sales) with 374 paid-for downloads, and the rest of its tally from streaming.
Trading under the unusual alias of This Is The Kit. Kate Stables' alt-folk style has slowly been winning over audiences for some time, and although a trio of previous albums failed to make the Top 200, the most recent, 2015's Bashed Up, did manage to sell 7,382 copies setting up new album, Moonshine Freeze, which duly earns Stables her chart debut, entering at No.49 (2,076 sales).
UK rapper K Koke's latest mixtape, Pure Koke Volume 4 (PK4),is his first to chart, debuting at No.60 (1,623 sales).
The Ministry Of Sound release I Love Reggae is No.1 on the compilation chart for the second week in a row, and fourth week in total, on sales of 12,747 copies.
Overall album sales are down 4.50% week-on-week at 1,586,358, 3.76% above same week 2016 sales of 1,528,931. Streaming accounted for 737,041 sales – 46.46% of the total. Sales of paid-for albums are down 7.13% week-on-week at 849,317, their second lowest level since 1994 and 17.02% below same week 2016 sales of 1,023,503.
