U.K. CHARTS: MURS KEEPS SONY
AT #1

RCA artist Olly Murs has hit #1 with 24 HRS on combined sales of 58k, awarding Sony its fifth consecutive week at the Official Albums helm in Blighty, while Atlantic breakout act Clean Bandit score a second week at #1 on the singles side with “Rockabye.”

Murs now has four #1 albums to his name, joining SYCO’s One Direction as the only two U.K. X Factor acts to achieve the feat.

Virgin EMI’s Emeli Sande has finished at #2 with her second album, Long Live The Angels, which has done so despite no boost from a Top 20 single. Sande peaked at #22 with “Hurts”; Murs’ highest charting release from 24 HRS was “You Don’t Know Love” at #15.

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s Together (Decca) drops one place to #3, while Cliff Richard is new at #4 with Just … Fabulous Rock ’N’ Roll (Sony Music CG). Rounding off the Top 5 is Elvis Presley with The Wonder of You, which is also a Sony Music CG release in the U.K.

The final studio album from the late Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker (Columbia), climbs 22 places to re-enter the Top 10 at #7 while his The Essential collection is also back in the Top 40 this week at #26.

Over on the Official Singles Chart, Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye” has notched up 76k combined chart sales (34.4k downloads and 4.18m streams) during its fourth week on sale to take the top spot for the second time. The track features Sean Paul and up-and-comer and label-mate Anne-Marie—who, alongside Clean Bandit, features in HITS’ upcoming U.K. special. Also included are SYCO acts James Arthur and Little Mix, who are currently at #2 and #3 with “Say You Won’t Let Go” and “Shout Out To My Ex,” respectively.

This week’s highest riser is Rae Sremmurd f/Gucci Mane with “Black Beatles” (Polydor) zooming 32 places to #4 thanks in part to its use as the unofficial theme of the #MannequinChallenge. For the uninitiated, it’s a bizarre viral phenomenon featuring videos of people remaining frozen in action. Meanwhile, The Weeknd f/Daft Punk’s “Starboy” (Island) is down one place to #5.