Official Singles Chart on 24/8/2018

There were 7 new entries this week though?

sales chart is for people who want an interesting chart, actual chart is for people who want a realistic chart

How can you say the actual chart is realistic when there;s no rock music in there?

Because the majority of the general public don't listen to it, that's why

How come rock band gigs are sold out in minutes then

No the majority of the public take no notice of the charts because they don't reflect what people are listening to

There are a lot of rock fans, but they are just plain outnumbered by the kids and teens that stream pop, dance and rap on Spotify. That's the reality.

I agree Ted, that is my argument, and proves the Sales Chart is more accurate

Referring to Aretha Franklin's death, we can at least enjoy the fact that her great hit from 1967 "A Natural Woman" entered the UK Top 100 chart for the first time today...

Hey Piran! This week has definitely made up for how boring the Top 40 has been for most of the summer. Besides Sweetener (which genuinely sounds like a Bop It toy!), I do quite like the other 6 entries in the chart if I'm being perfectly honest- Happier, Promises, TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME, and breathin are all 8/10 or above for me, and All I Am + In My Mind would be a 7.

Happier in particular has especially surprised me, it's easily my favourite out of all of Marshmello's hits at the moment, and there's more of a Bastille flair on the track than I thought there would be. I'm also really hoping breathin will be Ariana's next song that gets pushed, it was given high placement on the New Music Friday playlist on Sweetener's week of release which has helped it, but we'll see how long it takes God Is A Woman to go down.

Looking ahead to next week, I'm certain that Promises will be #1, which would be a pretty good end to this summer, with it being a bit more down-beat than One Kiss. It's got strong downloads, isn't far behind In My Feelings on streams, and Shotgun had fallen to #5 on Spotify and iTunes the last time I checked, so Calvin should be in the clear for his tenth UK #1 single!

Personally I've enjoyed this summer's #1's much more than the ones we had last year for sure. Despacito was really overplayed, in fact I never thought it was a good song to begin with- and I thought all the other chart toppers weren't that all that good either, besides maybe New Rules. Both Shotgun and In My Feelings have had a nice 4 weeks at the top, and One Kiss would definitely be my choice for song of the summer, despite having been released earlier in the year.

I do think it's a shame that none of Aretha Franklin's music managed to crack the Top 40, the new ACR rules definitely killed any chance of them doing so- but even if they didn't exist, I think they would've had a hard time doing so anyway with how busy this week has been on the chart.

Finally I'm still pretty mad that Lucid Dreams still hasn't gone Top 10 yet, I know you're not much of a fan of it but this is annoying me just as much as when Meant It Be was stuck at #11 :/ It's especially frustrating when you consider the song has actually doing better than Taste on every platform besides Apple Music this week, where it is currently just one position above it! Unless there's a massive divide between the two on there, something can't be right here.

Regarding your comment on 'Taste' and 'Lucid Dreams', 'Taste' is #7 while 'Lucid Dreams' is #8 on Apple Music, though there could have been a much larger gap between them earlier in the week. For the weekly chart on Spotify, 'Lucid Dreams' is #7 with 2.3m streams, while 'Taste' is #12 with 1.96m streams. I assume that 'Taste' had to have done better on Apple Music earlier in the week, and that the gap between them was extremely small. It's also possible that 'Taste' got a much higher percentage of its streams from paying subscribers, giving it a better average streams:sales ratio than 'Lucid Dreams'. I agree, though, it is very frustrating to see 'Lucid Dreams' being so close to the Top 10 but not quite making it (yet).

Hey Piran! It's good to see 'Shotgun' at #1 again, but I'm pretty sure that its run will come to an end next week as 'Promises' looks all but guaranteed to hit #1. It's not looking like it'll be as big of a hit as 'One Kiss', but that could definitely change! I do quite like 'Promises', but I would have to say that I slightly prefer 'One Kiss'.

I like the vast majority of the other new entries as well, though like you I'm not really a massive fan of 'sweetener'. I do, however, absolutely love that 'God is a woman' and 'breathin' are in the Top 10! Those are definitely my two favourite tracks from 'Sweetener', with 'everytime' in a close 3rd and 'no tears left to cry' in a close 4th.

I like that 'Sweetener' hit #1, but I don't know if it'll stay there for next week. Streaming has died off for all tracks other than 'God is a woman' and 'breathin', and the album is only #7 on iTunes (#4 if we don't include albums that aren't eligible for the main albums chart). I think the #1 spot will go back to a soundtrack next week, though I couldn't predict which one.

Also very worth noting this week is that '÷' drops out of the Top 10 after spending 76 consecutive weeks in the region, beating the previous record for an artist album of 74 weeks held by Ed's own 'x'. Whether it can beat the non-consecutive record of 99 weeks, also held by 'x', will be very interesting to see.

I really like that 'Beautiful' and 'Be Alright' are edging their way closer to the Top 40, and since both of them reached new peaks on Spotify yesterday I can see them both making the Top 40 in the coming weeks! Sadly 'Be Alright' isn't even in the Top 100 on iTunes, but it is at #51 on Spotify, and since streams are much more important than sales nowadays it's definitely in with a shot. 'Beautiful' is at #57 on Spotify and #58 on iTunes, so that's in with a shot as well! Sadly both are being let down by Apple Music, though, where 'Be Alright' is #94 and 'Beautiful' is #109.

Hey Gameskiller! :)
Yeah, I'm amazed how well 'Shotgun' has held up over the summer, but this should be its last week at #1 as not only will 'Promises' get it like you said (almost twice the sales lead & now passed it in streaming), but the former is due for ACR very soon I think! For me, 'Promises' & 'One Kiss' are probably tied. The former impressed me more at first listen, but the latter is more catchy, so they're level for me in terms of quality right now.
Regarding 'Sweetener', I agree that it'll probably only get just this week at #1 as the soundtracks have gone ahead on sales again. It'll be close there, but I think 'Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again' is going to have the edge on streaming over 'The Greatest Showman'.
I guess 'Beautiful' & 'Be Alright' are benefitting from being newer songs, but are also generally consistent across streaming metrics. You don't really need to chart on iTunes nowadays to make the main chart, but you probably need to make it onto Spotify unless you have 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'-level sales!

Hey Ted! Yeah, I'm happy we got so many new entries into the Top 40 this week & a lot of quality it seems. A week was this was certainly needed! :D
Haha, I think I've seen somebody else make that comparison too, but it's true! The production from Pharrell seemed to let down 'Sweetener' as a whole; not only is it mediocre at best, but it just isn't tailored for Ariana's vocals very well.
I really liked the original 'Despacito', but didn't care anywhere near as much for the remix. 'One Kiss' is probably getting Song Of The Summer, however 'Shotgun' might be able to grab that title with how consistent its been on the charts over the past few weeks.
Regarding Aretha Franklin, at least 'Respect' & 'A Natural Woman' both finally debuted!
So next week, it's looking like 'Promises' will make Calvin Harris only the eighth artist ever to get a double digit number of #1s! Given how it's growing on me, it might end up as my favourite #1 of the summer. 'These Days' is probably my favourite #1 of the whole year so far (not counting 'Perfect', as that was released in 2017).
I'm very surprised 'Lucid Dreams' is getting stuck in 11th; it's not even on ACR yet & it seems consistent on iTunes & Spotify, as well as on most streaming platforms like you said.
It appears that YouTube might be causing the difference; in today's update, 'Taste' was at #7 & it appears 'Lucid Dreams' isn't even inside the Top 100.

Yeah, at least we have that! ;)
I only really have time to post reviews on the Top 40 though (as Top 100 ones would take me way too long, haha!).
Strange that 'Respect' is listed as a debut...

That's incredibly odd about Lucid Dreams on YouTube- I could've sworn it was at #4 on it earlier this week? Whereas I didn't even see Taste on the chart for it. Whatever's going on, I do hope Lucid Dreams does make the Top 10 this week!

Shotgun has been incredibly consistent, but it's already starting to drop off (currently at #5 on iTunes and #3 on Spotify, has also been lower than that recently), I'm thinking it will likely be on ACR the next chance it gets. In My Feelings could potentially take that title too though, it got massive streams those four weeks and is still the most streamed song on Spotify currently.

Perfect and These Days never really did it for me at all, so One Kiss is probably my favourite #1 of the year so far, though I did quite like God's Plan as well. If Promises is #1 next week, it will be the 13th #1 we've had this year-and at around the same point this time last year, Look What You Made Me Do was the 13th #1 of 2017. I was hoping we would be getting more songs going to #1 this year thanks to ACR, but that isn't looking to be the case!