Harry Styles vs. Ed Sheeran: The gap closes in this week’s race for Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart
It looks like the race for the UK’s Official Number 1 single will go right down to the wire this week.
According to Official Charts Company data, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You is closing the gap on Harry Styles’ Sign Of The Times, separated by 8,000 units (downloads and streaming equivalent sales) in today’s sales flash (April 12).
Earlier this week on the Official Chart Update, Harry had a lead of 15,500 over his closest competition, Sheeran’s Galway Girl. The gap between Harry and Ed has since halved, as reigning chart topper Shape Of You continues to be a runaway hit on streaming services, pushing it up from Monday’s position at Number 3 to Number 2 today. However, Harry is performing well on downloads, currently outrunning Shape Of You by 3:1.
The One Direction star’s debut release has so far racked up 47,000 copies across all formats, versus Shape Of You’s 39,000, and there’s still 48 hours to go in this week’s chart race.
MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2017 so far
Shape Of You has held the top spot on the Official Singles Chart for 13 weeks and is close to matching Drake’s mammoth 15-week run at Number 1 last year. The longest consecutive-week stint at the summit is Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, which managed 16 weeks in pole position in 1991.
The final result of this week’s Official Singles Chart will be revealed on Friday, April 14 on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart show. The full Top 100 will posted on OfficialCharts.com.
MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2017 so far
Article image: Rex
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etin
47.000 sales ??? just a joke
M
MoriartyJ
Clean Bandit and Zara Larrrson must be close as symphony has gotten #1 on Spotify and #2 on iTunes
Sunshine Gal
i think ed and harry will lock the top 2 spots on the uk charts for quite some time. much like when meghan trainor and tay-tay were locked on the top 2 spots on the hot 100 chart for something like 2-3 mos.
Philip Pearce
I hope Ed stays number 1
Kasper Elbjørn
Mind you Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You managed 16 weeks in pole position based on sales alone
I Am A Stegosaurus
Came from Facebook, I assume it was referring to Galway Girl, which I wouldn't mind seeing but am really edgy now Shape of You is right behind. I thought it was set to be #4 in the chart update though?
Techfan
The latter point is true. But remember that positions are relative and don't really tell us how close songs really are.