Ed Sheeran continues to prove unstoppable as his new album ÷ logs another week of stellar sales on the Official Chart.
The singer-songwriter’s third album has shifted another 304,000 combined units over the last seven days to log a second stint at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart. Last week the album set a record as the fastest-selling album by a male artist ever with 672,000 sales.
Ed also claims the Official Chart double for a second week, as Shape Of You notches up a tenth week at the summit with 106,000 sales across all formats. All 16 of ÷’s songs hold inside the Top 40 this week, nine of which are in the Top 10. Behind Shape Of You is Galway Girl (2) and Castle On The Hill (3).
New entries and high climbers
Singles
Elsewhere on this week’s Official Singles Chart, The Chainsmokers’ and Coldplay’s collaboration Something Just Like This rebounds three places to Number 4, and Danish DJ/producer Martin Jensen vaults from 25 to 12 with Solo Dance.
Zedd and Alessia Cara’s Stay zooms up 15 places to a new high at 23, rising star Julia Michaels cracks the Top 40 with her debut single Issues, up eight places to 36, and finally, Steps debut at Number 37 with their comeback track Scared Of The Dark, marking the group’s first Top 40 appearance in 16 years.
Albums
Over on the Official Albums Chart, six new albums enter the Top 40, with this week’s highest new entry going to Laura Marling. The singer-songwriter’s sixth album Semper Femina enters at Number 5 to become her fifth Top 10 collection.
Further down, Soft Cell and Marc Almond’s Hits And Pieces debuts at 7, Circa Waves’ Different Creatures is new at 11, and the Motion Picture Cast Recording of Beauty & The Beast enchants the Number 12 slot.
Cambridge rock band Mallory Knox land at 18 with their fourth album Wired, just ahead of US band The Shins, whose fifth LP Heartworms is at 19. Meanwhile, The Beatles’ classic Abbey Road album returns to the Top 40 for the first time in eight years at 21, propelled by a vinyl promotion, and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is back at 29.
