Stormzy defeats Rag’n’Bone Man in one of the closest chart battles in recent memory to score the Official Number 1 album

Plus there are new entries for Future, Thundercat and Rhiannon Giddens in this week's Top 40.

Stormzy and Rag’n’Bone Man have been neck-and-neck the entire week, but Official Charts can today reveal that Stormzy has secured the Number 1 spot on the Official Albums Chart.

After switching between the Top 2 throughout the last seven days, it is Stormzy's debut studio album Gang Signs & Prayer that captured the top spot with combined chart sales of 69,000, according to Official Charts Company data.

A huge week for London’s Stormzy’s on UK streaming services, Gang Signs & Prayers has racked up the most first-week streams for a Number 1 album in chart history, surpassing the opening week of streaming giant Drake, and even surpassing the first-week streams of the powerhouse that is Justin Bieber and his latest album Purpose. Purpose still holds the record for most streams ever recorded in a single week, which it achieved in its second week on chart at the Number 2 position.

MORE: See this week's Top 100 Official Albums Chart in full

Stormzy tells OfficialCharts.com: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. Honestly, I wish I could take every person who bought and streamed the album out with me, have dinner with them, dedicate a whole night to them. I don’t take your support for granted. I can’t thank you enough.”

Stormzy sets a new bar for Grime’s commercial success, bettering the first week performance of many other huge albums from leading figures within the Grime music scene; Gang Signs & Prayer is faster-selling than Skepta's Konnichiwa, Kano's Made in the Manor and Giggs' Landlord. Going back even further, the album also pips the opening week of Dizzee Rascal's Mercury Prize winning Boy in da Corner from 2003 by nearly 10 copies to one.

Gang Signs & Prayer is arguably the first pure Grime album to hit Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart. Tinie Tempah's Disc-Overy is the only other Grime-influenced record to sit pretty at the coveted top spot.

Completing this week's Top 5 are Ed Sheeran's x, which rises once place to Number 3 in anticipation for his new album ÷ which was released today, the Trolls Original Motion Picture Soundtrack that has reached a new peak of Number 4, and Adele's 25 is stationery at Number 5.

New entries and high climbers

The BRIT Awards aftermath continues to influence the Official Albums Chart, with Bruno Mars' 24K Magic experiencing a rise of five positions to Number 7. George Michael's Ladies and Gentlemen is also up following the ceremony, hopping from 11 to Number 8.

There are more rises for Rick Wakeman - up five to Number 11 - with Piano Portraits, and Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Together experiences uplift thanks to their performance on the Let It Shine final last Saturday. The former Number 1 album jumps from 43 to Number 13.

Emeli Sande's Long Live the Angels propels fourteen places to Number 14 thanks to her BRITs spotlight, ahead of a new entry for Future with HNDRXX at 21. David Bowie's Blackstar returns to the Top 40 at 32 following his two BRIT Awards wins, and Train's A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat also rebounds into the top flight, up 51 placings to Number 36.

Finally, two new entries make it into the Top 40 after their first week on sale; Thundercat's Drunk lands at 37 and Rhiannon Giddens' Freedom Highway debuts at Number 39.