U.K. CHARTS: DRAKE SCORES SECOND #1

Drake has his second #1 on the U.K.'s Official Albums Chart, as Scorpion (Island) shifts 64k combined sales. Over on singles, which includes video streams for the first time, George Ezra remains at #1 for a second week with “Shotgun” (Columbia).

Fifty thousand—or 78%—of Scorpion’s sales came from streaming, meaning Drake has the second-biggest-ever opening week of streams for an album in U.K. chart history. Only Ed Sheeran has more, with Divide (Atlantic) tallying 79k in March last year. On the Official Singles Chart, Drake has three tracks in the Top 5: “Don’t Matter To Me” f/Michael Jackson, which is the most streamed track at #2, “Nonstop” at #4 and “Emotionless” at #5.

The second-highest new-albums entry today is Florence + the Machine, with High as Hope (Virgin EMI) at #2 on 40k combined sales.

Elsewhere, Gorillaz open at #5 with The Now Now (Parlophone), and Guns N’ Roses’ remastered box-set edition of ’87 classic Appetite for Destruction (UMG) follows at #6.

On the Official Singles Chart, “Shotgun” shifted 76k combined sales this week. That was made up of 18k downloads, 5.8m plays on audio streaming services and 3m video views. The track has the second highest chart sales for a #1 this year, behind Calvin Harris—also a Columbia artist—for “One Kiss” f/Dua Lipa.

Thanks in part to 2.67m video streams, Maroon 5 rise from #13 to #10 with “Girls Like You” f/Cardi B (Polydor), while Jonas Blue f/Jack & Jack’s “Rise” (Virgin EMI) is up to #11.

Ahead of England’s World Cup quarter-final, Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds’ classic “Three Lions” (Epic) zooms into the Top 40, up 18 places to #24.