David Bowie secures first Top 10 single in two decades

David Bowie makes a showstopping return to the Official Singles Chart this week with Where Are We Now?, securing his first Top 10 hit in two decades.

According to the Official Charts Company, today (Jaunary 13) David Bowie secures his first Top 10 in the Official Singles Chart for 20 years, with Where Are We Now? becoming his highest charting hit since Absolute Beginners reached Number 2 in 1986.

The single arrives in the Official Singles Chart today at Number 6, based on just five days' sales, after the single arrived suddenly, without warning on Tuesday morning (January 8) to coincide with the singer’s 66th birthday, amid broad acclaim from critics and hardcore fans alike. 

It is the first single from the chart legend's first new studio album since Reality in 2003, The Next Day, which marks the renewal of Bowie's long-term relationship with producer Tony Visconti, who also produced worked on a range of seminal albums with the singer, including Low, Heroes, Lodger, Young Americans and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).

The arrival of Where Are We Now? on Tuesday sparked off a media buzz which saw it get off to a flying start - but as the week progressed, sales have steadied. Initially, the single did not appear in the Official Singles Update on Wednesday owing to retail data reporting issues, but these issues have now been resolved. At no point was the single ineligible or disqualified, contrary to some earlier inaccurate media reports.  

The release was linked to a pre-order promotion this week, through which fans who pre-order Bowie’s forthcoming album The Next Day receive the single as an immediate “instant grat” download. UK chart rules that are agreed in committee with the UK music industry and retailers, currently state that these “instant grat” incentives cannot count towards the Official Singles Chart.

The Official Charts Company has worked through the past week to identify the number of purchases of Bowie's Where Are We Now? that were bought outright by fans (and not part of the pre-order bundle). This has now been achieved to ensure that all chart qualifying sales have counted towards today’s chart position – and allow David Bowie to take his rightful place in the UK’s Official Singles Chart.

As a result, the single has finished the week's race at Number 6, behind a range of contenders which all benefitted from a full seven days sales since the chart poll began last Sunday morning.

Martin Talbot, Managing Director of the Official Charts Company says:

"It is great to see a great British musical icon such as David Bowie returning to the Official Singles Chart. He had has first Top 10 with Space Oddity in 1969 - so the fact he is still scoring chart hits more than 40 years later is quite remarkable. Welcome back, David."

You can see the Official Singles Chart Top 100 here at 7pm.

[If you were wondering, chart anoraks, even if the "instant grat" tracks - which were delivered to fans as a preorder incentive - were counted towards the chart position, Where Are We Now? would still have fallen short of the Number 1 spot.]