Nicki Minaj & Alexandra Burke can't knock Gotye & Kimbra off Number 1

Gotye continues his seemingly unstoppable reign at the top of the Official Singles Chart today with a fourth consecutive week at Number 1, five weeks non-consecutively. 

Despite a midweek chase from X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke’s new single Elephant, and US rapper Nicki Minaj, neither competition was enough to knock the Australian-Belgian singer/songwriter from his throne with his smash hit Somebody That I Used To Know FT Kimbra. Gotye claims the top prize by a margin of 20,000 copies.

Nicki Minaj’s Starships pushes upwards yet again this week to Number 2 in its fifth week on the chart, during which period it has climbed 16-7-5-3-2. Securing a Number 2 today on the Official Singles Chart puts Nicki Minaj amongst one of the highest charting solo female rappers in the UK, bettering the solo personal bests of even Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Neneh Cherry and Eve. The track which has not had an official video to date is taken from forthcoming album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (out in April), though the singer was spotted earlier this week in Hawaii filming a video to accompany the track. 

New entries

Alexandra Burke’s new track Elephant, produced by global DJ and Subliminal Records label owner Erick Morillo, closes the week in a respectable third place today. 

Officialcharts.com caught up with the singer backstage at Celebrity Juice this week to hear all about the track.  Alexandra said that it’s “unreal” being back in the Top 10 after taking eighteen months out to record her second album.  Her cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is second only to Adele’s Someone Like You in the Top 20 biggest selling songs of the 21st Century by female artists.

The singer also revealed that she’s feeling incredibly nervous about performing Elephant live on The Official Chart with Reggie Yates on BBC Radio 1 tonight.

“It’s very nerve racking, I’m very nervous full stop!,” she said. “But my mum always says to me ‘having nerves shows that you care’, so I guess I’ll worry the day that the nerves go away! Now? I want them to stay, right here in my heart.”

Watch the video below:

Official Charts - Official Charts: Alexandra Burke interview (15/03/2012) on MUZU.TV.

Swedish House Mafia have recently teamed up with Absolut Vodka to pen a track for the alcohol brand’s advertising campaign in the US.  The song entitled Greyhound has sky rocketed 27 places since midweek to finish just outside the Top 10 at Number 11.

Jason Mraz enters the chart at Number 16 with new track I Won’t Give Up taken from forthcoming album Love Is A Four Letter Word.

Today’s highest climber inside the Official Singles Chart Top 40 comes courtesy of Azealia Banks’ controversial 212, climbing 22 places to Number 24.  The 20 year old New York rapper rose to UK public consciousness when she topped the NME Cool List in 2011 and came in third on the BBC Sound Of 2012 poll.

See this week's Official Singles Chart Top 100 here after 7PM.