Rihanna’s Diamonds knocks Gangnam Style off Number 1

In what has been one of the closest fought chart battles of 2012 so far, Rihanna’s Diamonds emerges victorious over One Direction’s Live While We’re Young, and Adele’s Skyfall in the race to take the converted Number 1 slot from K-pop sensation Psy’s Gangnam Style.

In Wednesday’s Official Chart Update, the Bajan singer’s latest track was a mere 250 copies behind One Direction’s new single, but today it finishes the week nearly 19,000 ahead of the British boyband with sales of over 105,000 copies. Diamonds is Rihanna’s sixth Official Singles Chart Number 1 as a lead artist and seventh overall.

With just 420 copies between the two, last week’s chart topper, Gangnam Style, slides one place to Number 2, while One Direction score their fourth Top 10 hit in twelve months with Live While We’re Young new in at Number 3.

Adele’s latest single, Skyfall, which is the theme song to the forthcoming James Bond film of the same name, has broken into the Official Singles Chart Top 5 after less than 48 hours on sale. The track, which was released at seven minutes past midnight (0:07) on Friday (October 5), debuts at Number 4 today, having sold over 84,000 copies. It is the first Bond theme to take its title from the film since Madonna’s Die Another Day, which reached Number 3 in 2002.

New Entries

In addition to Rihanna’s Diamonds (Number 1), One Direction’s Live While We’re Young (3), and Adele’s Skyfall (4) there are three other new entries on today’s Official Singles Chart.

Ellie Goulding scores her sixth Official Singles Chart Top 40 hit with Anything Could Happen - the lead single from her new album Halcyon, which is out tomorrow- debuting at Number 5. Taylor Swift is new in at Number 26 with the tile track from her upcoming fourth studio album, Red, while Bristol-based indie dance outfit The Other Tribe score their debut Top 40 hit with Skirts at Number 36.

The Official Singles Chart Top 10 is as follows:

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