Gary Barlow set for Official Charts Diamond double!

Gary Barlow is looking set to make this a career week to remember, with not only a victorious concert for Her Majesty The Queen under his belt, but now the Take That star has his sights on a Number 1 single and album (the first of 2012), too!

Sing, the Official Diamond Jubilee song co-written by Gary Barlow and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber leads the way on the Official Singles Chart Update, outselling Usher’s Scream (Number 2) by more than three copies to one. Meanwhile, the album, from which the title track Sing is taken, is also comfortably outstripping the rest of the Top 5 albums combined.

No doubt buoyed by the song’s rousing performance at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace over the Bank Holiday, conducted by Military Wives Choir master Gareth Malone. A special documentary on the making of the song was also aired on BBC1 over the weekend – Gary Barlow: On Her Majesty’s Service. An accompanying Q&A with Gary Barlow can be found here in which he suggests his experiences in the making of Sing will influence the next Take That album.

Sing features the tambourine talents of Prince Harry, it is thought that the only previous occasion on which royals could be heard on a Number 1 album was in 1981, when the Charles & Diana wedding album topped the charts for a two week spell.

Jubilee mania already flooding the charts

Jubilee mania takes hold of both the Official Singles and Albums Update today, as no less than 51 products connected to the weekend’s celebrations flood the Top 200.

The UK appears to be well and truly swept up in all things royal, as recorded music products related to the Jubilee or artists who performed at Buckingham Palace on Monday, have been given a boost this week. 26 singles and 25 albums have benefitted from a climb, new entry or even a re-entry in the Official Chart Update Top 200.

Official Singles Chart Update

Led by Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band’s Sing, climbing 10 places to Number 1, a new entry from Lady Antebellum at Number 26 - Need You Now, was performed by Gary Barlow and Cheryl Cole at the Jubilee concert. The 2010 album of the same name from which the track was taken also re-enters today at 108. Jessie J’s Domino climbs 18 places to 32, while Ed Sheeran’s A Team bounces 77 places to 41.

Elsewhere, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition is a re-entry at 44 and Isn’t She Lovely (87), Madness’ It Must Be Love (67) and Our House (89), Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling, as performed by Will.I.Am and Jessie J (72), Kylie Minogue’s All The Lovers (85) and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (197), Tom Jones & Stereophonics’ Mama Told Me Not To Come (91) and Delilah (104).

Three Elton John tracks are on course to re-enter this weekend - Crocodile Rock (102), I’m Still Standing (106) and Your Song (109), two Beatles’ tracks Let It Be (105) and Ob La Di Ob La Da (200) as performed by living legend Paul McCartney. Grace Jones’ Slave To The Rhythm re-enters at 115, Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel re-enters at 149 after Annie Lennox’s haunting rendition of the classic, and of course not to forget compere Rolf Harris’ crowd sing-a-long of Two Little Boys has seen the track reappear at 172 today.

A selection of traditional songs are sprinkled throughout including BBC Concert Orchestra’s God Save The Queen at 92 and Pomp And Circumstance (138), Della Jones’ Rule Britannia (127), and Gary Barlow and The Commonwealth Band’s Land Of Hope And Glory (182) and God Save The Queen (183).

The Official Singles Chart Update Top 10 is as follows:

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

Official Albums Chart Update

Following Gary Barlow’s potential Official Singles Chart-topper, it is Tom Jones who has the most number of entries on the Official Albums Update today with Spirit In The Room (37), Greatest Hits Rediscovered (88) and Greatest Hits (123). Both Ed Sheeran’s + (2) and Jessie J’s Who You Are (9) each climb 11 places today, Kylie Minogue’s The Best Of is new in at Number 16.

English tenor Alfie Boe has two entries – Bring Him Home (57) and Alfie (80), as does Stevie Wonder with The Definitive Collection (60) and Number Ones (146), and Madness with Total Madness (61) and Complete Madness (84). A further flurry of artists also make multiple appearances today - The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine Songtrack (75) and 1 (139), plus Elton John with Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (94) and a re-entry for Rocket Man – The Definitive (119), and Annie Lennox under both The Eurythmics moniker for Ultimate Collection (126) and her own The Collection (149).

Indigenous Australian musician Gurrumul who performs on Sing is on course to feature in the Top 200 with two different artist releases Gurrumul (106) and Rrakala (151). Fellow Sing musicians Military Wives climb 13 places to 77, while the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee album is at 105 and Jubilee Street Party Sing-a-Longs completes the midweek rundown (180).

The Official Albums Chart Update Top 10 is as follows:

© 2012 The Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.