OneRepublic: “Counting Stars reaching Number 1 is the coolest thing th

OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder chats to OfficialCharts.com about his band’s Number 1 smash, Counting Stars.

After the closest chart race of the year so far, OneRepublic topped the Official Singles Chart last weekend, scoring their first ever UK Number 1 with Counting Stars.

The US band, who were trailing The Vamps’ Can We Dance (Number 2) midweek, clinched victory with impossibly tight margin of just 1,150 copies,

OfficialCharts.com caught up frontman Ryan Tedder in central London yesterday (Wednesday, October 9) to present him with his Official Number 1 Award for the track.

“Thanks for making us Number 1!,” he said holding the brushed aluminum trophy. “It’s all still a bit surreal. We clearly didn’t know this was going to happen, and we happened to be in London the day after, so that’s the best timing possible.”

Watch the full interview below:

Counting Stars made its Official Singles Chart Top 40 debut eight weeks ago at Number 30. It steadily scaled the chart, reaching the Top 5 four weeks later. It was held off the top spot by Katy Perry’s Roar and Jason Derulo’s Talk Dirty, before finally claiming pole position on Sunday.

The band’s previous highest charting UK hit was 2007’s Apologize FT Timbaland, which peaked at Number 3.

Ryan, who has written hits for everyone from Beyonce to Adele, Leona Lewis to Ellie Goulding, and Demi Lovato to James Blunt, says that hitting the top spot with his own band is by far the coolest thing that’s happened to the group this year. 

“I’ve had a number of Number1s with other artists, but never one with this band,” he says. “This is where I spend most of my time; these guys [guitarists Zach Filkins and Drew Brown, bassist Brent Kutzle and drummer Eddie Fisher] are like my brothers and we’ve been everywhere and back. This is the highlight of the year, it’s by far the coolest thing that’s happened to us in recent memory.”

Ryan adds that he and his band “can’t wait to come back and tour”, which is handy given that they’ve just booked dates a series of UK dates for early next year.

The six date trek kicks off at London’s Roundhouse on March 16 March, and finishes in Glasgow on March 22. For tickets, see www.gigsandtours.com.