Official Chart Flashback 2012: Tulisa's carefree party anthem debuts at Number 1 in the UK

Forgive her for what she's done, she's Young!

Turn your mind back to the year 2012; Tulisa Contostavlos was riding the crest of a very public wave, after becoming Cheryl Cole's defacto replacement on the new-look panel of The X Factor in 2011, by then comfortably the biggest programme in the country and a proper national obsession. 

By the next summer, it was time for Tulisa to follow Cheryl's lead and launch a solo career, now with the eyes of the UK as a whole fixed on her. The first single to launch Tulisa as a solo artist, the carefree party anthem Young, was an inspired choice.

Co-produced by Tulisa's former N-Dubz bandmate Fazer, Young is an irrestible slice of dance-pop, which its eye turned directly towards the dancefloor. "Musically it had to be boom, here I am," Tulisa told the Guardian about the track's appeal. "And it had to represent me, even thought it has an urban edge, it also has an Ibiza edge...because I'm in an Ibiza baby."

This week in 2012, Tulisa debuted at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart with Young. During its first week alone, the single shifted over 121,000 chart sales - becoming the highest first-week sales of the year so far. 

Entering at Number 1, Young unseated Carly Rae Jepsen's proto-viral hit Call Me Maybe after a month-long stint at the top of the Official Singles Chart, although Young itself only spent one week at Number 1.

To date, Official Charts Company data reveals that Young has chart sales in excess of 498,000 - as well as over 8.1 million combined streams. Young is to date Tulisa's one and only Top 10 hit in the UK - follow-up singles Live It Up feat. Tyga and Sight Of You peaked at Numbers 11 and 18 respectively. In December 2012, Tulisa's debut album The Female Boss debuted and peaked at Number 35 on the Official Albums Chart.

Elsewhere on the Official Charts 10 years ago, there were new entries from Bajan band Cover Drive with the feather-light Sparks (4), Sub Focus feat. Alice Gold with Out of the Blue (23), Avicii's Silhouettes (26) and Flux Pavillion's Daydreamer (39). 

Marina and the Diamonds was also on the rise a decade ago - her ego-tastic banger Primadonna jumped to its peak position of Number 11, it remains Marina's highest-charting single in the UK. Read more about the influence of Primadonna and its parent album Electra Heart 10 years on here.

Check out the full Official Singles Chart from this week in 2012 here.

Listen to the UK Top 40 from this week in 2012 on Spotify below. Also available on Apple Music | Deezer