Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 16/2/2018

Probably because it's classified as a country song and country music doesn't really get played much, or even at all, outside the US.

Kendrick Lamar getting 4 songs in the top 100 is either a mistake by the charts company or they're counting him as a featured artist in 'Pray For Me'

I think that is it as it fits the rules, but it seems a little unfair when you compare the 2 soundtracks, then add that other versions of the chart including 4 or more tracks for the Greatest Showman. To further throw question at it, I'm thinking Ed Sheeran's track with Eminem seemingly doesn't count, whilst the one with Taylor Swift does even though Itunes credits that as 'featuring'? I'm only surmising of course that if not he would have a third solo track in there - most likely Galway Girl, looking at its performance across other versions of the charts, likewise Million Dreams from Greatest Showman would be too. The whole system is big an unnecessary mess. Anybody from the official chart company able to clarify?

Kendrick's actually got five songs in the chart, 'All The Stars' (#11), 'Pray For Me' (#13), 'Black Panther' (#42), 'King's Dead' (#53) and 'Big Shot' (#55), though he is only the lead artist on three of them (ATS, BP, BS) - whilst he is credited as the joint lead on the other two he isn't the primary artist so I suppose the OCC are counting those as featured credits. The rules are meant to be that one artist can only have three hits as the lead, but oddly, technically Kendrick is the lead on all five here.

Ed Sheeran had three solo tracks in the chart last week (Perfect, Shape Of You, Castle On The Hill) alongside his features on River and End Game. It appears this week Castle has naturally dropped out due to all the new entries from the Black Panther OST, and Galway Girl clearly hasn't sold enough to make the chart this week either.

I guess that 'The Weekend/Kendrick Lamar' count as a different artist to 'Kendrick Lamar'. Same with 'Kendrick Lamar & SZA' and 'Kendrick Lamar & Travis Scott'

Hey Piran! I don't mind seeing 'God's Plan' get another week at #1, though I also wouldn't mind seeing 'These Days' reach #1, so I'm pretty happy with the top of the chart at the moment. I can see 'These Days' doing something similar to 'Anywhere' though and getting stuck at #2 without ever reaching #1. In the week before this one, 'God's Plan' outsold 'These Days' by over 17,000, and there was a 7,000 sales gap between them this week. Much less than the week before, but still a large gap. In the week before this one Drake got 47,500 streaming sales with 9,000 pure sales for 56,500 total, while 'These Days' managed 18,000 pure sales but only 21,500 streaming sales for 39,500 total.

I really like that 'FRIENDS' is this week's highest new entry! I really like the song and Anne-Marie is quickly making her way up the list of my favourite artists. She may even be able to make it into my Top 10 soon! I'm also glad that she's Ed's UK support act again for his tour later this year. She was great when she performed when I went to see Ed last year, and I'm sure she'll be great again when I go to see Ed again in June!

I didn't really like 'Look Alive' or 'Wild Love', though, and 'Mine' is only OK for me at the moment, though I can see it growing on me in the future.

It's really interesting to see that 'The Greatest Showman' is still continuing to grow in popularity, and I find it extremely impressive that '÷' is still managing to sell 15,000+ copies every week almost a year after its release! At the moment 'The Greatest Showman' is the best selling album of 2018 by far with over 200,000 copies, trailed by '÷' in 2nd and 'The Thrill Of It All' in 3rd. I can definitely see it becoming the biggest album of the year, though if '÷' were to sell exactly 15,000 copies every week this year (and I can see it selling more on average because of the BRITs and his stadium tour) it would end up with 780,000 in total, so 'The Greatest Showman' will have some pretty tough competition.

I really like that 'Diamond In The Dirt' managed to debut at #4 on the album chart, though it is slightly annoying that 'Black Panther' isn't eligible as I'm certain that it would've made #2. On the bright side, though, 'Black Panther' manages to chart 11 tracks inside the Top 100 because they're all classed as different artists!

Speak to you soon! :D

Hey Gameskiller! :)
I think one advantage that 'God's Plan' has going into next week is the official video. While YouTube doesn't directly affect the chart as we've previously discussed, it will cause the song to improve on trending, boosting overall streaming & potentially even sales too. It'll be close again, but I think 'God's Plan' will still have a slight edge on Friday, although I expect it to crash hard when it eventually reaches the 300:1 streaming ratio.
It also appears that 'Fifty Shades Freed' isn't eligible for the albums chart either. Given the performance of its tracks in the singles chart, it could've had a chance to hit the Top 5, or at least the Top 10.

Yeah, I think that 'God's Plan' will be #1 next week as well as they've made sure to put a lot of interruptions in the official video, driving people to listen to the song on other streaming services so they don't have the interruptions.

The week after that will be a very interesting one, though, as that's when the BRITs will have a proper effect on the chart. Couple that with the fact that 'God's Plan' should be losing popularity by then and I can definitely see a new #1 then. I just don't know whether it'll be 'These Days' or something else.

I can definitely see 'Happier' going to #1 that week if Ed debuts it at the BRITs, especially if he debuts a new remix of it like he did with 'Shape of You' last year (and Stormzy is also at the BRITs this year... could we potentially see a 'Happier (Stormzy Remix)'?). 'IDGAF' could also be in with a serious shot at #1 if Dua performs that at the BRITs, and there could be a brand new song that gets debuted at the BRITs that could reach #1. It will be a very interesting week for sure!

I'm not too sure if we'll have a new #1 that week.
I think Ed will probably debut a new song at the BRITS, but I'd see it reaching #2 & #3 & then get the top spot a couple of weeks later. Since Camila is apparently attending, maybe it could be 'The Boy'?
That said, I think with 'Perfect' on the decline & being hit by that new streaming ratio, he should focus on promoting 'Happier'. Speaking of Ed, what did you think of the official video for 'River'?
By the way, I just found out that Camila announced UK tour dates & the tickets were released on Friday! Are you thinking of going to see her? ;)

Either way, the week after the BRITs will be a very interesting one for the charts! I didn't even think of Ed & Camila debuting 'The Boy' at the BRITs. I'd absolutely love for that to happen, but I'm not going to get my hopes up just yet as I think that Camila would've put it on her album if it were going to get released.
Ed should definitely focus on promoting 'Happier' now. 'Perfect' is well past its prime and is falling pretty heavily now because of the 300:1 ratio, while 'Happier' is by far the strongest performing non-single from '÷' and has a genuine chance of going to #1 with enough promotion.
I didn't even know that the video for 'River' had been released, so I had to go check it out right after I read your comment! I think that it's a pretty good music video and really helps to amplify the emotional effect of the song, but 'Havana' is still my favourite music video by far.
I would've loved to go see Camila on tour, and I looked at the tickets as soon as the pre-sale went out on Thursday, but the 3 venues are all too far away from me. With me living in Yorkshire, the closest venue would've been Birmingham which is still 4 hours away and extremely expensive on the train. Plus, with it being during exam time and all 3 dates being on weekdays it likely wouldn't have been possible anyway. It would've been amazing though as she's performing on the 5th, 6th and 12th June, and I'm going to see Ed in Newcastle on the 10th of June so I would've been able to see my 2 favourite artists live within a week of each other!

I don't get why 'The Boy' wouldn't be on the album though, you'd think with it featuring Ed Sheeran, it would be a massive hit. Maybe it's because 'Havana' & 'Perfect' were both at their peak at the same time, so both artists were busy promoting their own music at the time?
I think Camila had a song called 'Scar Tissue' with Charli XCX than never made it on the album either.
We know that 'Happier' is definitely the next single, but if debuts it at the BRITS, then I wonder when the video will be released.
That's a similar issue with me, as I live in Cornwall & like you, Birmingham is the nearest venue & that's four hours away. Also, according to her Twitter, her tour is already sold out, but I'll keep checking the resale tickets!
It's cool that you're seeing Ed twice! Ideally, I'd like to go Radio 1's Biggest Weekend, but I know the tickets are going to be extremely hard to get.

I think that 'The Boy' likely wasn't on the album because of the massive change of direction that Camila had when making the album. It was probably a song that she and Ed wrote, but when she changed the style of the album she felt like it didn't really fit anymore, and that she didn't feel the same way about what was in the song anymore. The same probably happened with 'Scar Tissue'. 'The Boy' would definitely have been a massive hit, but I think that making the album that she wanted to make is more important to Camila than having a massive hit. There is still the small chance that it'll be released at the BRITs, but I'm not holding my breath.
I would say that the video for 'Happier' will probably be released in mid-late March if the song does debut at the BRITs.
I hope you manage to get the tickets for Camila's tour! While I likely won't be able to go even if I could get some resale tickets, from videos I've seen Camila is fantastic live so hopefully you can get your hands on some! :D
I nearly wasn't able to go see Ed either of the times, as last year I just managed to get some resale tickets after all tickets were sold out instantly, and this year his dates for the 8th and 9th in Newcastle sold out instantly, but he added an extra date on the 10th a couple of days later which lasted for about an hour before it sold out so I was able to get tickets for then!