U.K. CHARTS: KENDRICK DEBUTS AT #2

Kendrick Lamar bows at #2, following Ed Sheeran on the Official Albums Chart as DAMN. (Polydor) sits 30k combined sales behind ÷ (Atlantic), which spends its seventh week at #1.Ben Cook’s Warner imprint is also the reigning champ at singles.

While DAMN is down one place on its predecessor, To Pimp a Butterfly, which hit the top spot in Blighty in 2015, the album secures Lamar’s best opening week to date across physical, digital and streams.

At singles, five songs from DAMN hit the Top 40. “Humble” leads at #6—Lamar’s highest as a lead artist—with “DNA” at #18, “Loyalty” f/Rihanna at #27, “Element” at #33 and “Love” at #39.

Further down on albums, Rag’n’Bone Man is at #3 with Human (Columbia), Drake is #4 with More Life (Island) and Take That and Wonderland (Polydor) are #5. Tinie Tempah has his third Top 10 with Youth (Parlophone) at #9, while John Mayer lands in the Top 20 with The Search For Everything (Columbia) at #16.

On the Official Singles Chart, Ed Sheeran is back on top. “Shape of You” is #1 for a 14th week after being briefly displaced by Styles last week. When it comes to non-consecutive chart toppers, only Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” has achieved more time at #1—it spent 18 weeks at the top over three stints back in 1953.

Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s “Symphony” (Atlantic) achieves a new peak at #2, while Sheeran is at #3 with “Galway Girl.” Styles is down to #4 with “Sign Of The Times” (Columbia)—coincidentally, the last act to spend one week at #1 in the U.K. was his former bandmate ZAYN with debut single “Pillowtalk" last year. Finally, Drake is at #5 with “Passionfruit” (Island).