Paul Harvey and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra's charity single Four Notes heading for Official Chart Top 20

UPDATE 6/11/20:Four Notes - Paul's Tune by Paul Harvey & the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra finished at Number 32 on the Official Singles Chart, clocking up the most digital downloads in the UK this week. 

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An 80-year-old living with dementia is heading for the Top 20 of this week's Official Singles Chart.

Paul Harvey of Buxted, Sussex, went viral in September after his son Nick posted footage of the former music teacher improvising a song on his piano, performing "an old party trick" that sees him compose a tune from just four notes. 

Nick put the video online to showcase how the power of music can help those living with brain disorders, which was then played on BBC Radio Four's Broadcasting House for World Alzheimer's Day. The show's host Paddy O’Connell then arranged for the song to be recorded by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dad’s ability to improvise and compose beautiful melodies on the fly has always amazed me.

Tonight, I gave him four random notes as a starting point.

Although his dementia is getting worse, moments like this bring him back to me. pic.twitter.com/dBInVCTmfF

— Nick Harvey (@mrnickharvey) September 17, 2020

The final version named Four Notes - Paul's Tune is the most-downloaded song of the week so far, factoring in purchases from when the sales window opened on Friday at 00:01am. The song currently places at Number 20 on today's sales flash (Nov. 4).

Over 11,000 downloads of Four Notes have been made so far, with proceeds being split between the Alzheimer's Society and Music for Dementia.

Four Notes reached as high as Number 3 on last week's Official Singles Downloads Chart.

The cut-off for sales and streams to count towards this week’s chart is midnight Thursday. The final Official Chart Top 40 will be unveiled on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart with Scott Mills this Friday from 4pm, with the full Official Singles Chart Top 100 published on OfficialCharts.com from 5.45pm.

Article image: ITV/Shutterstock