Captain Tom Moore claims victory on the Official Chart with You'll Never Walk Alone, becomes the oldest artist to reach Number 1

Captain Tom Moore racks up another incredible victory in his quest to raise money for the NHS as his rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone debuts at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart just in time for the 99 year-old war veteran’s 100^th birthday, the Official Charts Company can confirm.

The song, with Michael Ball and The NHS Voices Of Care Choir, was released last week on Decca Records, in his continued efforts to help the NHS during the coronavirus crisis. Having already raised over £28 million, Captain Tom has become a symbol of hope and unity across the UK during these uncertain times.

MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2020 so far

After taking an early lead at the start of the week it looked as if Captain Tom’s closest competitor, The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights, would overtake him at the end of the week – until a tweet from the Canadian star last night asking his fans to support the 99-year-old war veteran just hours before the final whistle helped keep the captain’s chart dreams on course.

You’ll Never Walk Alone clinches this week’s Number 1 spot with combined chart sales of 82,000, with The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights trailing in second place on 69,000. Proceeds from the single go to NHS Charities Together.

Watch Radio 1's Scott Mills break the news to Captain Tom on the Official Chart show: 

Captain Tom Moore said: "[The NHS] have done so much for me and they're doing such a magnificent job at the moment under very difficult circumstances. I think we've got to accept that what's going on at the moment is very serious. I think we must also remember that things will get better. Eventually things will get better and the sun will shine again." 

Michael Ball told to OfficialCharts.com: “This is the most extraordinary thing, one of the most proudest moments of my career," Michael Ball told OfficialCharts.com. "But it’s not about me, it’s about Captain Tom. Thank you for giving him a Number 1 on his 100th birthday. You are the best, God bless ya.”

By landing at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, Captain Tom Moore and Michael Ball rack up an incredible list of achievements, including a UK chart record:

• At 99 years and 11 months, Captain Tom is the oldest artist to reach Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart in the near 70-year history of the chart.
  
  
• At 57 years old, Michael Ball also features in the Top 10 oldest credited Number 1 artists. See the Top 10 list of oldest artists to land a UK Number 1 single here.

• Captain Tom will be the first centenarian to score an Official UK Number 1 single as he’ll turn 100 on Thursday while he’s still at the top of the chart.
  
  
• Captain Tom pre-dates the Official Chart! He was 32 years, 6 months when Al Martino topped the first singles chart with Here In My Heart in November 1952.
  
  
• A Number 1 debut single: Captain Tom Moore shares a relatively rare chart feat with Whigfield, she was the first act in history to go straight in at Number 1 with a debut single (Saturday Night, Sept 1994). Captain Tom is the latest to achieve this.
  
  
• You’ll Never Walk Alone is the official fastest-selling single of 2020 so far, racking up 80,000 downloads this week. The fastest-selling single since LadBaby’s Christmas Number 1 2019 (I Love Sausage Rolls, 83,000 downloads).
  
  
• Though he has 4 Number 1 albums, You’ll Never Walk Alone is the first Number 1 single of Michael Ball’s career.
  
  
• Good things come to those who wait… Michael Ball joins a rare breed of artists who achieved their first Number 1 single decades after their first chart appearance. His debut single Love Changes Everything first charted 31 years ago in 1989. Only two other artists have waited longer for their chart-topping success - Ozzy Osbourne (33 years – Changes with Kelly Osbourne) and Tony Christie (34 years – Is This The Way To Amarillo with Peter Kay). Find out who else waited three decades to hit the top spot.
  
  
• You’ll Never Walk Alone today joins an elite club of songs that have had four different versions go to Number 1 - only two other songs in history have managed this – Unchained Melody and Do They Know It’s Christmas. The other chart-topping versions of YNWA are: Gerry and the Pacemakers (1963), The Crowd (1985) and Robson & Jerome (1996, a triple A-side with What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted / Saturday Night At The Movies) and now Captain Tom & Michael Ball with the NHS Voices Of Care Choir.
  
  
• Ground control to Captain Tom… Captain Tom lands at Number 1 nearly 45 years after Major Tom reached Number 1 in David Bowie’s Space Oddity, Nov 1975. 

MORE: Look back over every Official UK Number 1 single ever

Martin Talbot, chief executive Official Charts Company, said: "The sight of Captain Tom Moore and Michael Ball at the top of the Official Singles Chart this week should lift everybody’s spirits in these extraordinary times. We are absolutely delighted to see them at the pinnacle and setting new landmarks as they go – including a record as the oldest Number 1 Singles artist of all time.

“It has been a roller coaster week, starting with a big initial lead for Capt Tom, before The Weeknd closed the gap yesterday to almost nothing – before a massive surge in the final day by Capt Tom. Huge thanks to the Weeknd for lending his support at the eleventh hour. But this is Captain Tom’s week – congratulations sir and happy birthday for next week. You are a hero to us all.”

There's another impressive achievement on this week's Official Singles Chart. The BBC Radio 1 Stay Home Live Lounge charity single, a cover of Foo Fighters’ Times Like These by the Live Lounge Allstars – featuring Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, Bastille and AJ Tracey and many more – enters the Top 5 at Number 5 less than 24 hours after its release. More on that story here.

Outside the Top 10, Sam Smith & Demi Lovato’s I’m Ready debuts at Number 20, earning Sam an 18^th and Demi her 13^th UK Top 40 hit.

Britain’s Got Talent star and paediatric nurse Beth Porch enters at Number 25 with You Taught Me What Love Is following her emotional audition on last week’s show; DaBaby’s Rockstar ft. Roddy Ricch is new at Number 29; Part Of The Plan by Nafe Smallz ft. M. Huncho lands at 38; Gerry Cinnamon’s Where We’re Going zooms 51 places to Number 39 to become his first UK Top 40 single.

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

Article image: Michael Ball/Emma Sohl - Capture The Light Photography (Capt Tom Moore)