Official Singles Chart on 3/8/2018

Hey Piran! It's been a really quiet week on the chart, it's going through a bit of a summer lull I think as there's not many big new releases at the moment. Hope things get a bit more interesting come autumn though. Both of the Top 40 entries aren't that notable, I can't remember much about Ay Caramba already, and while I think No Brainer is a better song than Caramba, it's still one I'm not going to be listening to.

Hey Piran! It'll be really interesting to see who has the most weeks at #1 by the end of the decade. I think that 'In My Feelings' will get at least 5 weeks at the top, allowing Drake to at least match Ed Sheeran, but I also think that both of them and Justin Bieber will have more #1s before the end of the decade. It really just depends on which one of them will be the next to have a mega hit.

As I've said to you before, I'm not really a fan of 'No Brainer', and I wasn't really a fan of 'Ay Caramba' either. I do like the climbs for 'Body' and 'Eastside', though. I also saw your other comment where you hoped for 'Rise' to reach #1. I'd love that as well, but I'm not sure it's very likely. 'In My Feelings' and 'Shotgun' are too far ahead at the moment. Last week, 'In My Feelings' had 95,000 sales and 'Shotgun' had 83,000, while 'Rise' "only" had 46,000.

I like that 'Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again' is #1 on the albums chart, and there a couple things that I noticed this week. First is the fact that '÷' has now spent 74 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10, which matches the 74 consecutive weeks enjoyed by Ed's previous album 'x'. As far as I'm aware, both of them now hold the record for the longest consecutive run in the Top 10 by an artist album, and since I doubt that '÷' will be dropping out next week it should take the record. Do you think it'll manage to make it to 2 years? Or could it beat the current non-consecutive record of 99 weeks, also held by 'x'?

Next is on the singles chart, where 'Havana' spends its 52nd consecutive week in the Top 100. Not many singles manage a full year on the chart, especially not after ACR, so I'm really happy for 'Havana'. 'Shape of You' also spends its 82nd consecutive week on the chart, edging ever closer to the 2 year mark. Have any singles had a longer consecutive run in the Top 100? I know that 'Shape of You' holds the record of the ACR era, but what about of all-time?

Hey Gameskiller! :)
If Ed releases his fourth album at some time next year, then he'll definitely pass Drake, but I think he's going to hold off until 2020 at least before he releases a follow-up to '÷'.
Now that the official video to 'In My Feelings' is out & it's been #1 on trending ever since, while it also comfortable passed 'Shotgun' in sales recently, that should be enough to give it possibly its safest week at #1 yet next Friday.
Given that '÷' is currently at #7 & was one place lower the past three weeks (in fact, the lowest its ever charted), I don't think it'll last another 30 weeks in the region if I'm being honest. The earliest week it'll probably drop out of the Top 10 for the first time is when 'Sweetener' by Ariana Grande & maybe 'Queen' by Nicki Minaj impact the region at the end of this month,
To answer your final question, yes, but Ed Sheeran himself also holds the record for that! 'Thinking Out Loud' appeared the Top 100 for 95 consecutive weeks, so no song has lasted two whole years on the chart without dropping out at least once. Could 'Shape Of You' be the first song to do so?

Yeah, only two new Top 40 arrivals. I'd like to think next week will be busier!
There's usually more of a shake-up at the top after the summer. September is a big time for artists to release new music. :D

Yeah, I think that his next album will come out in 2020 as well, since he's had a 3-year gap between all of his others so far. However, he could still get to #1 with either a single from the album that releases in 2019, a random single or as a featured artist. He may also release a '÷ (Wembley Edition)' later this year, which could yield a #1 single. I think that 'In My Feelings' will have its strongest sales week next week as well, and could very well reach 6 weeks to pass Ed.
Isn't '÷' up 1 place this week? It's spent the past 3 weeks at #8 and is now at #7, unless I'm missing something. That said, I don't know if it'll manage another 30 weeks either, unless we do see a '÷ (Wembley Edition)' type album, but it only needs 4 more weeks to reach a year and a half which would still be an incredible achievement.
I think that 'Shape of You' will manage to beat the 95 weeks of 'Thinking Out Loud', but I don't think it'll make it to 2 years. I reckon it'll drop out in December when Christmas songs take over the chart and then re-enter in January when they drop out. That said, I keep going back to a potential '÷ (Wembley Edition)', which could help prop 'Shape of You's sales and especially streams up enough to keep it in the Top 100 despite the slew of Christmas songs.

Maybe. It surprises me that after a hugely successful run of singles, 'Happier' is doing hardly anything on the charts, although he hasn't been promoting it as much as his other singles.
Which single from the '÷ (Wembley Edition)' (if one will exist) would give him another #1 though?
Oh yeah, that's what I meant. It's at #7 this week & has been #8 the past three weeks, sorry for the confusion!
Christmas songs are going to be held back this year though due to ACR, although the same will of course apply to 'Shape Of You'. I wonder when the next time we'll see an X Factor winners' single debut, or even reach #1 again.

Yeah, 'Happier' has surprised me as well. I expected it to return to the Top 10 once being released as a single, since it's been the most popular album track, but all it got was a couple of extra weeks in the Top 100. It's still doing very well for an album track, usually in the Top 100 on Spotify, but it's nowhere near single levels of streams.
I'm not sure if any single from the potential '÷ (Wembley Edition)' would go to #1, I was just spitballing to be honest. He could start promoting 'Happier' a lot more with the release of the album, or he could promote one of the new songs as a single, and either of those could go to #1, but really I was just thinking about all possibilities.
Even with ACR and the demotion of free streams (meaning that most Christmas songs are going to have a streaming ratio of around 1:1000, since they get more of their streams from free users than regular songs!), the top Christmas songs were getting close to 1 million streams every day last year, and a lot of them passed 1m on Christmas day itself, so enough of them could enter the Top 100 to push the lower-charting songs out for a few weeks.
I don't know if an X Factor single will ever reach #1 again. It really had its peak in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but it's declined in both viewership and the interest in the singles quite heavily since then. Rak-Su did really well by debuting at #2 last year, but even they fell out pretty quickly and we haven't heard from them since.

I thought it might not have had any sales because everyone had a version of it on the album anyway. Also, even though it had some streaming, the value of that would've been halved given how long it had been charting beforehand anyway.
Yeah, if the past few years have told us anything, between 'Rockabye & 'Perfect', non-festive songs now have the best chance of getting Christmas #1 & maybe a charity song could do it once every three years, then a comedy song once every five to ten years.

True, sales were probably lower given that the album had insane sales, so most people interested will have already owned it, though if it had been more heavily promoted and played on radio it could've reached a new audience and boosted its sales and streams. He did release an acoustic version of it earlier this year, but that didn't really do anything on sales or streams either.
Also, I've just realised that 'x' only needs 1 more week in the Top 40 to have made it 4 years in total in the region, which is insane. It's still at #19 as well! It's even managed to never leave the Top 75 since release, giving it 215 consecutive weeks in the region!

Yeah, I've hardly heard 'Happier' on the radio at all. I know deeper, more emotional songs, hardly get played on mainstream radio over the summer, but if I've been hearing 'Supermarket Flowers' a couple of times, I thought I would've heard 'Happier' too (this is mostly Radio 1 & Capital).
Speaking of Ed Sheeran, did you know that he apparently co-wrote 'Eastside'? I really hope that'll eventually hit at least the Top 10! :)

I've never heard 'Happier' on the radio either, though I don't listen to it a massive amount. Still, I have Capital set as an alarm, so I end up listening to that for 1-2 hours any morning that I need to be up by a certain time, and I've still never heard it.
I didn't know that, actually, but after checking the credits for the song on Spotify I found out that Cashmere Cat helped produce it as well. It's no wonder I like it then!

Would you say your ranking of the tracks from '÷' or 'Camila' have changed significantly since either album got released?
Yeah, Cashmere Cat's production has grown on me a fair bit this past year! I'm surprised he wasn't credited as an artist on the song, considering it appears like he contributes more to the production than Benny Blanco does.

For 'Camila' I would say that my rankings would be almost identical, with 'She Loves Control', 'Real Friends' and 'Havana' at the top and 'Consequences' as my least favourite (though I still love the song), but '÷' has changed a bit more. When it released I would probably have said that 'New Man' was my favourite, followed by 'Dive' and 'Shape of You', but now I'd say that 'Eraser' is my favourite, followed by 'Happier' and 'Galway Girl'.
One album's tracks that have really changed rankings for me would be 'beerbongs & bentleys'. When it first released I would've said that my favourite was 'Same es', then 'Blame It On Me', then 'rockstar' with 'Better Now' somewhere in the middle and 'Candy Paint' and 'Stay' at the bottom, but now 'rockstar', '92 Explorer' and 'Same es' are really close at the top, while 'Better Now' would be #4 and 'Candy Paint' would be in the middle, while 'Takin' Shots' would now be my least favourite. The tracks are all still changing as well, as I seem to have a new favourite almost every week!

For me, 'She Loves Control' used to be my least favourite & now it's probably 'All These Years'.
'Never Be The Same' & 'Consequences' have both shot up my rankings, while 'Inside Out' has fallen. 'Havana' & 'Real Friends' are near the top for me too, as is 'In The Dark'.
'Dive' was my least favourite from '÷' initially, now I think 'Hearts Don't Break Around Here' is bottom for me. 'Castle On The Hill' has always been top for me too, but honourable mentions to: 'Perfect', 'Galway Girl', 'Barcelona' & 'Supermarket Flowers'.
As for 'Beerbongs & Bentleys', 'Psycho' has a narrow lead as my favourite, by 'Candy Paint' is a close second. Others I really like from that album are: 'Same es', 'Zack & Codeine' & 'Spoil My Night'. 'Rockstar', 'Over Now' & 'Takin' Shot's are the least favourites from that album in my opinion.

We're really similar with 'Havana', 'Real Friends', 'Galway Girl', and 'Same es', but we differ the most on 'She Loves Control', 'All These Years', 'Perfect' and 'rockstar'. 'She Loves Control' is definitely my favourite from 'Camila', and would almost definitely make it into my Top 5 songs of all time, while 'All These Years' would be my #4 from the album. 'Perfect' would be one of my least favourites from '÷', but I'd say that 'Hearts Don't Break Around Here' is my least favourite as well.
'rockstar' I would say has a very slight lead over '92 Explorer' as my favourite from 'beerbongs & bentleys', but both of them and 'Same es' are all really close. 'Takin' Shots' would be my least favourite as well, but 'Over Now' would be somewhere in the middle, probably closer to the top than the bottom.
Really though, I don't actually dislike any of the tracks from any of the 3 albums. There's just some tracks that I like more or less than the others.