U.K. CHARTS: A RECORD RUN FOR SHOWMAN

The Greatest Showman soundtrack (Atlantic) has reached 465k combined sales in the U.K. as it spends an 11th week at #1 on the Official Albums Chart, matching Adele’s record-breaking run with 21 in 2011.

Further down, XXXTentacion finishes at #3 with ? (Bad Vibes) followed by Fratellis with In Your Sweet Time (Cooking Vinyl) at #5.

Over the last 30 years, the closest anyone has come to an unbroken 11 weeks at #1 in the U.K. is nine weeks. Claiming that feat previously were Madonna in 1990, Eurythmics in 1991, The Beatles in 2000 and Ed Sheeran in 2017. Of those 465k sales, 46% are physical, 38% come from streaming and 25% are digital downloads.

Sheeran is still at #2 with ÷ (Atlantic) and Dua Lipa has risen three places to #4 with her self titled debut (Warner Bros.).

The Decemberists land their highest charting album yet with I'll Be Your Girl (Capitol/Rough Trade) at #8. Indie pop band Fickle Friends enter at #9 with their debut collection, You are Someone Else (Polydor), and Brighton newcomers The Magic Gang open at #12 with their self-titled debut (Warner Bros.).

Over on the Official Singles Chart, Drake is #1 with “God’s Plan” (Island) for a ninth week. “These Days” (Asylum) by Rudimental finishes just 3.2k combined sales behind at #2.

George Ezra’s “Paradise” (Columbia) rises seven places to #5 as his new album, Staying at Tamara’s, arrives today.

The highest new entry this week is “Freaky Friday” (BMG) by Lil Dicky and Chris Brown at #16. XXXTentacion has two tracks in the Top 40 with “Sad!” at #20 and “Moonlight” at #31.

High climbers include Bebe Rexha f/Florida Georgia Line with “Meant to Be” (Parlophone) up eight places to #12 this week, followed by Sigala & Paloma Faith with “Lullaby” (Ministry of Sound) at #13.