ALBUMS
The X Factor seventh season third placed act One Direction fail to land their much-anticipated fourth number one single this week with Steal My Girl but Ella Henderson - who finished sixth in the ninth (2012) season of the show - storms to the top of the album chart with her first release, Chapter One, on sales of 43,824 copies.
At 18 years and nine months, Henderson is the youngest female solo artist to reach number one since Daina Vickers - who was fourth in the fifth (2008) season of The X Factor - opened at the summit with her 2010 debut album Songs From The Cherry Tree when three months younger than Henderson is now.
Henderson is the fifth artist from the seventh season of The X Factor to chart an album - the others being winner James Arthur, Jahmene Douglas (second), Union J (fourth) and Lucy Spraggan, who exited the competition after falling ill, effectively finishing ninth. Henderson's album is the 17th by an X Factor contestant to reach number one, a sequence that spans a little over nine years and includes releases from 14 different acts.
Chapter One's introductory single Ghost spent a fortnight at number one in June and rallies 22-16 (23,080 sales) this week, while second single Glow - the only track on the album that Henderson didn't have a hand in writing - sinks 7-17 (22,526 sales) on its second frame.
With sales to date of 841,064, Ghost was a massive debut single for Henderson and perfectly teed-up Chapter One - and its debut atop the chart is a major achievement, in a week in which there were also new releases from Jessie J and U2.
Jessie J's third album, Sweet Talker, is Henderson's nearest competitor among new entries in chart terms, debuting at number five, with first week sales of 16,773 - just 38.27% of Henderson's opening tally.
With introductory single Bang Bang (a collaboration with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj) debuting at number one three weeks ago and selling 258,331 copies to date, Jessie J might have hoped Sweet Talker to provide her first number one album. In fact, it opened with a much smaller first frame than her 2011 debut Who Are You which sold 105,859 debuting and peaking at number two behind Adele's 21, and follow-up Alive, which sold 39,270 copies when it opened at number three a little over a year ago. Who Are You has sold 1,257,049 copies to date, with Alive selling 184,828 copies.
That U2 didn't register their 10th number one studio album - and sixth in a row - with Songs Of Innocence is largely their own fault. The album debuts at number six on sales of just 15,998 copies, having been available for more than a month as a free download from iTunes before being released physically and in expanded download form on Monday. Its first week little more than a tenth of the 157,928 copies that last album, No Line On The Horizon sold on its chart-topping debut in 2009. It is also noticeable that Songs Of Innocence's digital sales for last week were a mere 3.57% of its overall tally, less than a tenth of last week's market average for artist albums of 38.52%. Unless Songs Of Innocence rallies, it will be U2's lowest charting studio album in the UK since second album October peaked at number 11 in 1981.
With the title track reaching number 34 in August and Say You Love Me reaching number 22 a fortnight ago, Jessie Ware has scored her first Top 40 singles with the first two tracks from her second album, Tough Love. The album itself debuts at number nine (10,684 sales) this week - that's lower (but on higher sales) than Ware's debut album Devotion, which was bereft of Top 40 singles but managed to debut and peak at number five on sales of 9,319 in 2012. It has sold 102,754 copies to-date.
Spandau Ballet are back in the Top 10 for the first time since reunion album Once More peaked at number seven in 2009, with The Story: The Very Best Of Spandau Ballet debuting at number eight (11,819 sales). Containing a trio of new recordings, it is the band's eighth Top 10 album, and was aided considerably by ITV's screening last Tuesday (14th) of their new special, True Gold, in which the band talked, performed and plugged their documentary Soul Boys Of The Western World and their upcoming (2015) tour of the same name.
Rose Ave. is the debut album of You+Me, a pop/folk duo made up of Canadian singer/songwriter Dallas Green who had two very minor chart albums as a member of the group Alexisonfire, and the formidable Pink, who has placed eight solo studio albums and compilations in the Top 15 since 2000. Rose Ave. debuts this week at number 10 (7,948 sales).
Number one for the last two weeks, George Ezra's debut album Wanted On Voyage sinks to number four (17,107 sales) while debut hit Budapest (15-18, 20,516 sales) and follow-up Blame It On Me (9-13, 25,841 sales) are also retreating.
Elsewhere in the Top 10: Ed Sheeran's X holds at number two (27,480 sales), Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour continues at number three (17,355 sales) and Barbra Streisand's Partners retreats 4-7 (12,362 sales)
Six albums depart the Top 10, these being The Script's No Sound Without Silence (6-11, 6,036 sales), Genesis' R-Kive (7-15, 4,677 sales), Hozier (5-17, 4,412 sales), Caribou's Our Love (8-32, 2,483 sales), Johnny Marr's Playland (9-33, 2,459 sales) and Gorgon City's Sirens (10-36, 2,391 sales).
Charlotte Jaconelli and Jonathan Antoine were runners-up (to Ashleigh & Pudsey The Dog) on Britain's Got Talent in 2012 and subsequently had two number five albums as Jonathan & Charlotte but dissolved their musical partnership earlier this year. Jaconelli was first to release a solo album, reaching number 40 (2,913 sales) with Solitaire in June. 19 year old Antoine fares better - although not as well as they did as a duo - debuting this week at number 13 (5,312 sales) with his first solo set, Tenore.
33 years after reaching number 14 with Diary Of A Madman, Ozzy Osbourne revisits the theme for Memoirs Of A Madman, a career-spanning survey of his solo career thus far. Freshly remastered and featuring a previously unissued 2010 version of Paranoid - one of his biggest hits fronting Black Sabbath - it debuts at number 23 (3,278 sales), becoming Osbourne's 17th charted album.
Formerly a member of The Dualers, with whom he released several uncharted albums, Si Cranstoun has more success with his first solo album, Modern Life, which debuts at number 30 (2,743 sales). The album has benefitted considerably from Radio Two's liking for first single Dance For Evermore - which it has played more than 20 times - as well as some recent high profile gigs from Cranstoun.
A new entry at number 16 exactly 35 years ago, Madness' debut album One Step Beyond eventually peaked at number two (behind The Pretenders' eponymous debut) and celebrates its birthday by returning to the chart (number 54, 1,678 sales) in an anniversary edition, expanded to two CDs by the inclusion of rehearsal recordings and supplemented by a DVD featuring BBC recordings and a documentary.
Also new to the chart this week: The Night Is Young (number 53, 1,689 sales) by 2 Bears, Blood Moon: Year Of The Wolf (number 60, 1,470 sales) by The Game and Blood In, Blood Out by Exodus (number 71, 1,172 sales).
Pharrell Williams' performance of Gust Of Wind on The X Factor's first results show of the season blows the song to number 79 (4,725 sales) on the singles chart. With contestant Lauren Platt including the album's million seller Happy in a mash-up the previous night also a factor, and Google Play slashing the price of the digital version to £2.99, parent album Girl vaults 60-12 (5,604 sales). That's its highest position for 20 weeks, and raise career sales of the album - which debuted at number one 32 weeks ago - to 271,492.
Number seven in September, Slash's latest album World On Fire surges 67-18 (4,369 sales) after the issue of a new CD version.
In the bargain basement with a 99p price tag at Google Play last week for its digital version, Stone Roses' eponymous 1989 debut consequently sold 5,303 copies and re-enters the budget album chart at number two. The album it couldn't pass? The Disney Sing-Along version of Frozen, which debuted at number two in June but has since racked up 19 straight weeks at number one. It sold 10,412 copies last week, raising its career tally to 172,043, with all but 571 of its sales occurring physically on CD. The related Disney Karaoke Series: Frozen has sold 5,419 copies (all on CD) in 24 weeks, 17 of them in the Top 200 of the compilation chart, where it climbs to a new high this week, improving 92-81 (440 sales). The Frozen soundtrack jumped 20-10 on the first compilation chart of 2014 and has remained in the Top 10 ever since - the last 40 of them in the top five. It moves 3-4 this week, with sales of 8,682 raising its overall tally to 749,061 - though even that pales into insignificance compared to the 2,650,531 copies the DVD/Blu-Ray releases of Frozen have sold in a video chart run that has thus far spanned 29 weeks, including six weeks at number one and a low position of number six. It sold 66,058 copies last week as it retreated 1-2. And let's not forget Idina Menzel's version of Let It Go. The biggest of several hits spun off from the film, it never climbed higher than number 11 but has thus far sold 702,811 copies, and falls 48-54 (7,168 sales) this week on its 45th straight week in the Top 75 - the longest run ever for a song that failed to make the Top 10.
On the compilation chart, Keep Calm And Chillout is number one for the fifth straight week, on sales of 17,454 copies.
Overall album sales are up 1.56% week-on-week at 1,248,841 - 7.33% below same week 2013 sales of 1,347,593.
SINGLES
Meghan Trainor's debut smash All About That Bass continues atop the singles chart with ease, becoming the first song to spend three consecutive weeks at the summit since Clean Bandit's Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne) in February. That song went on to achieve a million sales, and that's something that All About That Bass looks capable of achieving too - it actually increased sales week-on-week by 7.84% to 108,857 - including 15,491 streaming sales, the highest for a number one single since they were first counted in sales 16 weeks ago - in the latest frame, raising its cumulative tally to 382,988. It is the first song to increase its sales on its third week at number one since Justin Timberlake's Mirrors in March 2013.
In pursuit of their fifth and ninth number ones respectively, One Direction and Eminem would both have fallen short even if Trainor's single wasn't dominating. One Direction score their 11th Top 10 hit with Steal My Girl, the introductory single from their upcoming fourth album, Four, debuting at number three, while Eminem scores his 31st Top 10 hit (including four as a member of D12) as his new track, Guts Over Fear, lands at number 10 (29,649 sales). Taken from Shady XV - the new Eminem compilation which drops at the end of November - it is Eminem's 46th Top 75 entry (five with D12), and is a collaboration with Australian singer Sia, for whom it is the 10th Top 75 hit and sixth Top 10 hit. It is considerably more successful than the pair's previous collaboration, Beautiful Pain, which reached number 67 last November.
The Vamps score their fifth Top 10 hit from debut album Meet The Vamps with latest single Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart) exploding 46-9 (31,442 sales). Based largely on the Paul Simon song Cecilia, with which Suggs, Louchie Lou and Michie One had a number four hit in 1996, it does include some variations from the original, which result in its writer credits ballooning from one to nine. Although she doesn't receive a credit on the chart, the version which is selling most copies is the one featuring Canadian singer Shawn Mendes. Meet The Vamps climbs 32-27 (3,010 sales) this week, registering its highest position for six weeks. The album debuted six months ago at number two, and has sold 158,722 copies.
It has been hard-earned - but Taylor Swift scores the third number two hit of her career as Shake It Off jumps 4-2 (55,687 sales) on its ninth straight appearance in the Top 10. The first single from Taylor Swift's upcoming fifth album 1989, the track previously peaked at number three and has actually been been in the top six continuously since its release. It is just one week away from equalling Swift's longest running Top 10 hit, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.
Swift's pal Ed Sheeran also reaches a new peak with his latest single Thinking Out Loud jumping 10-4 (47,689 sales) to give him his fifth top five hit.
Elsewhere in the Top 10: Bang Bang dips 2-5 (45,230 sales) for Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, Don't Tell 'Em reverses 5-6 (36,077 sales) for Jeremih feat. YG, Changing rallies 8-7 (34,968 sales) for Sigma feat. Paloma Faith and Blame dips 6-8 (34,648 sales) for Calvin Harris feat. John Newman.
The latest French house act to chart is Watermat, whose introductory hit Bullit debuts at number 15 (24,275 sales).
Also new to the Top 75 this week are: Dirty Love (number 20, 20,051 sales) by Wilkinson feat. Talay Riley, Drunk And Incapable (number 27, 15,876 sales) by Krishane feat. Melissa Steel, Break The Rules (number 35, 12,865 sales) by Charli XCX and Burnin' Up (number 73, 5,011 sales) by Jessie J feat. 2 Chainz.
Climbing to new peaks: Break Free (23-19, 20,152 sales) by Ariana Grande feat. Zedd, Animals (63-60, 6,071 sales) by Maroon 5 and Hot N***a (75-74, 4,958 sales) by Bobby Shmurda.
Overall singles sales are up 0.30% week-on-week at 5,656,718. Streaming accounted for 3,072,821 sales last week – a record 54.32% of the total. Under previously existing criteria where only paid-for purchases were included, overall singles sales are down 1.61% week-on-week at 2,583,897 – 9.08% below same week 2013 sales of 2,841,893 and the 62nd consecutive week in which they have declined versus a year ago.