U.K. CHARTS: MENDES SHOOTS, HE SCORES

Young Island act Shawn Mendes has scored a U.K. #1 single with “Stitches,” thanks to the canny decision by his U.K. label boss—Virgin EMI’s Ted Cockle—to take the track back to radio for a second run. It’s had 3,993 plays across all U.K. radio this past week, putting it at #4 on the RadioMonitor charts, improving 58%, and knocking Justin Bieber from the top of the Official Singles Chart.

“Stitches” was 1.5k combined sales ahead of Bieber’s “Love Yourself” (Def Jam). It first entered the charts in Blighty at #97 17 weeks ago, hitting the Top 40 in December. Bieber is still king of streaming, however, with “Love Yourself” notching up 3.72 million plays over Mendes’ 3.05m.

Elsewhere, Bieber’s “Sorry” holds at #3, with “What Do You Mean” at #4. Rounding off this week’s Top 5 is 99 Souls - a new house act from Sony U.K.’s Nothing Else Matters RCA imprint, led by Danny Howard and Nigel Harding. Its debut single “The Girl Is Mine (feat. Destiny’s Child & Brandy)” jumps four places to #5.

Over on the Official Albums front, David Bowie fans continue to honor the late star with his swan song Blackstar (RCA) holding at #1 for a second week, adding 81k combined sales to its first week tally of 150k. Meanwhile, his 2002 retrospective Best of Bowie leaps from #18 to #3 and 2014 collection Nothing Has Changed, gives Bowie his third Top 10 entry this week at #6.

Adele’s 25 (XL/Columbia) is back up a place to #2 after being beaten by Elvis Presley last week. Panic! at the Disco, released by Max Lousada’s Warner in the U.K., has scored its third Top 10 album in Blighty with Death Of A Bachelor (Fueled by Ramen/DCD2) entering at #4. Bieber’s Purpose moves down one places to finalize the top five.