Official Charts Analysis: Ed Sheeran holds off Elvis from albums chart summit

The King is dead, long live the King: Wednesday (August 16) marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, and the timely re-promotion of compilation The 50 Greatest Hits - a No.8 album when first released in 2000 - sees that album re-enter the charts at No.2 on sales of 15,308 copies (including 908 from sales-equivalent streams). Looking set to become Presley's 14th No.1 album - a tally that would further his position second only to The Beatles (15) - it was, however, pipped at the post, by Ed Sheeran's Divide. Sheeran came from behind to retain leadership of the chart by just 35 sales,with Divide No.1 for the 16th time in all and second week in a row on sales of 15,343 (including 7,219 from sales-equivalent streams). It is only the fifth time there have been fewer than 100 sales between the top two in the 920 weeks that have elapsed thus far in the 21st century, coming third on the list behind week 15, 2009 when Lady Gaga's The Fame (44,978 sales) was just four sales ahead of The Doves' Kingdom Of Rust (44,974) and week 36, 2005, when James Blunt's Back To Bedlam (43,477 sales) carved out an 11 sale victory over The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang. Presley, incidentally, was No.2 with If I Can Dream (77,261 sales) in week 48,2015 when it trailed the No.1 (Adele's 25, 800,307 sales) with the largest ever gap between the two positions of 723,046 sales. Presley's 1977 death was an event which precipitated an outpouring of grief the like of which has rarely been seen for a 'mere' entertainer, and the anniversary triggered a big increase in radio plays for his canon, new TV documentaries The World's Most Photographed and Elvis And Me (by Joanna Lumley), and a re-screening of ITV's 2013 documentary The Nation's Favourite Elvis Song, all of which helped The 50 Greatest Hits to achieve its lofty position. Its latest boost raises cumulative sales of The 50 Greatest Hits to 704,970. It also brings to three the number of dead American icons in the Top 10, charting alongside the recently deceased Glen Campbell, whose last album, Adios slips 2-3 (10,968 sales) and John Denver's The Ultimate Collection (6-9, 4,931 sales). Presley's The Real Elvis jumps 2-1 (3,314 sales) on the budget album chart, while Campbell's Gentle On My Mind - Best Of rises 3-2 (2,340 sales). With first single Praying (38-27, 11,368 sales) reaching a new peak on the singles chart, Ke$ha's third album, Rainbow, is the week's highest new entry, debuting at No.4 (7,932 sales) to become her highest charting set. Due to her legal dispute with former mentor Dr. Luke, it is her first album since second album, Warrior, made a soft landing at No.66 (5,525 sales) in 2012, eventually peaking nine weeks later at No.60. Her debut release, Animal, opened and peaked at No.8 on sales of 18,723 copies in 2010 and has gone on to sell 243,582 copies, while Warrior has sold 39,981 copies. YouTube star Dodie - she had 1,478,635 subscribers to her YouTube channel earlier today (18th) and 152 videos, 17 of which have been viewed more than 2m times - returns to the chart with You, which debuts at No.6 (6,645 sales). It is the 22 year old singer/songwriter's second release on her own Dodie label building on the success of Intertwined, which debuted and peaked at No.35 (4,574 sales) last November. Intertwined had just six tracks and a playing time of less than 15 minutes. You, which also has six tracks, is a little longer, but still very brief, at around 16 minutes. The shortest ‘album’ ever to chart was Deja Vu by Japanese jazz funk act The A.B.’s. Released in 1984 on the Streetwave label, it was really a 12" singles whose dealer price was too high for it to qualify for the singles chart. It reached number 80 on the published chart (which was then 100 places long), and consists of the instrumentals Deja Vu (6m 19s) and Asian Moon (6m 4s) - a total playing time of 12m 23s. Yorkshire indie trio The Cribs - twins Gary and Ryan Jarman (36) and kid brother Ross (32) secure their fourth straight Top 10 albums with seventh release, 24 Hour Rock Star S**t (No.8, 5,094 sales) matching their highest chart position. It debuts atop the vinyl album chart (1,436 sales). Their biggest seller remains their breakthrough album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever - their third release - which reached No.13 in 2007 and has sold 98,911 copies. The rest of the Top 10: Human (4-5, 6,997 sales) by Rag'n'Bone Man, Dua Lipa (7-7, 5,100 sales) and Everything Now (3-10, 4,908 sales) by Arcade Fire. The Moana soundtrack (8-11, 4,867 sales), Glory Days (9-13, 4,601 sales) by Little Mix and X (10-14, 4,149 sales) by Ed Sheeran all depart the Top 10. League Of My Own II (No.12, 4,602 sales) is the fourth chart entry for Jahmaal Fyffe and the second for grime and hip-hop MC Chip. They are, in fact, one and the same person - Fyffe previously charted two albums in a more commercial persona as Chipmunk, reaching No.2 with 2009 effort I Am Chipmunk and No.10 with 2011's Transition. League Of My Own II follows his first effort as Chip, Power Up, which reached No.43, (2,074 sales) last September. Eclectic 21 year old Essex musician Jordan Cardy trades as Rat Boy, under which name he has sold upwards of 140,000 singles (including sales-equivalent streams) without breaching the chart since 2015. His first full-length album Scum - home to no fewer than 25 tracks and interludes with playing times ranging from 15 seconds to more than five minutes in its deluxe version - contains tracks others have described as grime, punk, pop, indie rock, hip-hop and ska, and debuts at No.15 (4,079 sales) It is almost 15 years since actress Martine McCutcheon charted the last of a triumvirate of albums she recorded at the turn of the century following her departure from a long-running role in EastEnders. Now 41, her first BMG album, Lost And Found, debuts at No.17 (3,402 sales), helped by multiple TV appearances and TV advertising for the album, which has spawned two Top 40 airplay hits (Say I'm Not Alone and Any Sign Of Life). McCutcheon's debut album You, Me And Us, debuted and peaked at No.2 in 1999, and has thus far sold 506,706 copies. Subsequent releases Wishing (2000) and Musicality (2002) fared less well, peaking at No.25 and No.55, respectively. 14 years after popular alternative rock group Mansun broke up, their erstwhile lead vocalist and songwriter Paul Draper has finally got round to releasing his introductory full length solo album, Spooky Action, which has attracted positive reviews and debuts at No.19 (3,377 sales). A companion release to 2014 release Acoustic Classics (No.16, 4,321 sales), and a follow-up to 2015's Still (No.10, 5,797 sales), which brought him his highest charting album some 43 years into his recording career, Richard Thompson now returns to the chart with Acoustic Classics II, a second set of recordings of tracks from his catalogue newly recorded in 'unplugged' style. Although falling just short of providing the 68 year old folk/rock singer/songwriter with his fifth straight Top 20 album, it still acquits itself well, debuting at No.24 (2,905 sales). Gillian Welch is all over Poor David's Almanack (No.75, 1,390 sales), which is nevertheless marketed as a solo project by David Rawlings, whose only previous chart entry came last September when Nashville Obsolete - credited to Dave Rawlings Machine (sic) - reached No.47 Now That's What I Call Music! 97 remains No.1 on the compilation chart and on the combined album chart for the fourth time, on sales of 42,089 copies. Overall album sales are down 0.80% week-on-week at 1,568,355, 13.55% above same week 2016 sales of 1,381,217. Streaming accounted for 754,504 sales – a record 48.11% of the total. Sales of paid-for albums are down 4.11% week-on-week at 813,851, 7.58% below same week 2016 sales of 880,640. It is their lowest level since Millward Brown started compiling market data for OCC in 1994.

Official Charts Analysis: Dua Lipa ascends to the top of the singles chart

Pink and Dua Lipa - one of her biggest fans - went head-to-head in the battle for No.1 this week, and it is Dua Lipa who emerges triumphant, with New Rules climbing four notches to take the title (41,666 sales. including 26,720 from sales-equivalent streams), five weeks after it debuted at No.75. The fourth hit single from Dua Lipa's eponymous debut album which holds at No.7, New Rules will thus still be No.1 on Tuesday (22nd) when she celebrates her 22nd birthday. Its coronation makes New Rules the first chart-topper by a female solo singer since Adele's Hello in 2015, and brings to an end a run of six straight No.1 collaborations. That tally, which includes the Artists For Grenfell hit, equalled the record for most consecutive No.1 collaborations, matching a 2013 sextet. What About Us is the first single from Pink's upcoming seventh album Beautiful Trauma and topped early sales flashes before fading a little. Although failing to become her fourth No.1 in all and her first since 2008, it jumps 83-5 to become Pink's 19th Top 10 hit. What About Us is, by some distance, No.1 on paid-for sales, which contributed 22,816 to its combined tally of 30,802 sales. The fifth of Calvin Harris' eight No.1s to be limited to a single week reign, Feels (feat. Pharrell Williams Katy Perry & Big Sean) dips to No.2 (35,901 sales). With 15 Top 10 hits as a member of One Direction, Louis Tomlinson scores his second outside of the group, with Bebe Rexha & Digital Farm Animals collaboration Back To You jumping 12-8 (24,314 sales). Among other One Direction members Niall Horan and the departed Zayn Malik also have two Top 10s, while Harry Styles and Liam Payne have one each. Already her longest-running Top 10 hit, with six weeks prior to slipping to No.11 last week, Your Song bounces 11-10 (23,513 sales) for Rita Ora. Although it has never climbed higher than No.7, Your Song has remained in the Top 15 throughout its 12 week chart run. The rest of the Top 10, all heading south on reduced sales, are: Unforgettable (2-3, 32,656 sales) by French Montana feat. Swae Lee, Wild Thoughts (3-4, 32,409 sales) by DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller, Despacito (4-6, 29,645 sales) by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, Sun Comes Up (6-7, 26,855 sales) by Rudimental feat. James Arthur and Came Here For Love (8-9, 23,782 sales) by Sigala & Ella Eyre. Dipping out of the Top 10 are Power (9-11, 23,037 sales) by Little Mix, Subeme La Radio (10-14, 20,185 sales) by Enrique Iglesias et al and - victim to having its streams devalued by 50% under ACR - Mama (7-22, 14,318 sales) by Jonas Blue feat. William Singe. Avicii's Avici (01) EP dropped last Friday. With six tracks and a playing time of less than 18 minutes its dealer price is too low for it to qualify for the regular album chart but it sold 1,268 copies to debut at No.4 on the budget album chart, while two of its tracks racked up enough sales and streams in their own right to qualify for the Top 75: With You (feat. Sandro Cavazza, No.32, 10,019 sales) and Lonely Together (feat. Rita Ora, No.49, 7,108 sales). For What It's Worth is the third track to drop from former Oasis and Beady Eye vocalist Liam Gallagher's upcoming debut solo album, As You Were. It debuts at No.46 (7,495 sales). Stefflon Don & French Montana's Hurtin' Me opens at No.47 (7,375 sales). The sixth and final debut is Ego (No.67, 5,164 sales) by Ella Eyre feat. Ty Dolla $ign. Up 18 places last week, James Hype's debut hit More Than Friends (feat. Kelli-Leigh) is accelerating. It moves 47-16 (17,166 sales). Also reaching new peaks within the Top 75 are: Mi Gente (19-12, 21,906 sales) by J Balvin & Willy William, Instruction (16-13, 20,361 sales) by Jax Jones feat. Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don, Bestie (24-21, 14,742 sales) by Yungen feat. Yxng Bane, Real Life (36-31, 10,301 sales) by Duke Dumont & Gorgon City feat. Naations, More Than You Know (41-38, 9,358 sales) by Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Spirit (43-41, 8,416 sales) by J Hus, Glorious (56-45, 7,558 sales) by Macklemore feat. Skylar Grey, I Like Me Better (64-58, 5,612 sales) by Lauv, Feel It Still (69-65, 5,207 sales) by Portugal The Man and Would You Ever? (73-68, 5,152 sales) by Skrillex & Poo Bear. Overall singles sales are up 1.84% week-on-week at 13,190,423, 35.68% above same week 2016 sales of 9,721,448. Streams accounted for 11,985,108 sales, a record 90.86% of the total. Paid-for sales are down 2.68% week-on-week at 1,205,315 - their lowest level since week 42, 2006 (chart dated 28 October 2006), when 1,145,055 singles were sold - and 24.10% below same week 2016 sales of 1,587,989. They are below same-week, previous-year sales for the 211th week in a row.

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