Football may not have come home, but Three Lions has on the UK’s Official Chart - and it’s broken an all-time chart record

Football may not have come home this week, but at least something did. Three Lions is not only Number 1 on this week’s Official Chart, but it’s set a new all-time record too, the Official Charts Company can confirm.

The Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds track returns to the top spot 22 years after it first hit Number 1 with an impressive 80,000 combined sales this week, made up of 43,000 sales, 6.8m audio streams and 5.2m video streams. 

Following a dramatic week of hope and heartbreak for English football fans, the welcome news was revealed on air today by new BBC Radio 1 Official Chart host Scott Mills. It’s the first time in the Official Chart’s 66-year history that a song has scored four spells at Number 1 with the same artist line-up; the original 1996 version had two one-week stints in 1996, while the 1998 re-work had one three-week spell at the top. England’s recent run of form in the 2018 World Cup has propelled it to a record-breaking fourth outing at the top.

David Baddiel said: "Well, this is awkward," while Frank Skinner added: "I must say, as consolation prizes go..."

BBC Radio 1 Official Chart host Scott Mills concludes: "England gave us everything at this World Cup. The whole country got swept away with it, and Three Lions being the Official Number 1 shows how we really got behind our amazing team."

Three Lions is one of the UK's best-selling singles of all time, with over 1.6 million copies (excluding streams) sold since its release.

Other singles that have managed four separate stints at the top are Do They Know It’s Christmas? in 1984, 1989, 2004 and 2014, albeit with a different cast of artists each time.

Similarly, Unchained Melody has topped the chart on four occasions but by four different artists; Jimmy Young (1955), The Righteous Brothers (1990), Robson & Jerome (1995) and Gareth Gates (2002). Frankie Laine’s I Believe also enjoyed three spells at Number 1 and a fourth in 1995 covered by Robson & Jerome, and Guy Mitchell’s Singing The Blues celebrated three stints at the top in 1957 and a fourth by Tommy Steele in the same year.

New entries and high climbers

George Ezra’s Shotgun slips to Number 2 after two weeks at the top, and Drake’s In My Feelings from his new album Scorpion is new at Number 4.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, Years & Years’ If You’re Over Me climbs three places to hit a new peak at 6, and Jonas Blue claims his fourth Top 10 hit with Rise ft. Jack & Jack, up four spots to 7.

Further down, a Facebook campaign to get Green Day’s American Idiot back into the charts in time for President Trump’s UK visit lands at Number 25, and Cheat Codes x Little Mix’s Only You rebounds 12 places to 28.

Finally, two songs make their Top 40 debut this week: Fine Girl by South London newcomer Ziezie lifts eight spots to 38, and club hit Panic Room by Au/Ra & Camelphat hops five places to 39.

View this week's Top 100 Official Singles Chart in full