Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud tops UK singles chart
Ed Sheeran's track Thinking Out Loud has topped the UK Official Singles Chart, 19 weeks after it first entered the top 40.
The song charted in June when Sheeran's second album, X, was released and has slowly climbed to the top 10 since. It is the 23-year-old's second number one hit in six months, following the success of Sing. The Official Charts Company said the song has now sold more than 356,000 copies. It added that the track was also the most streamed of the week, having been listened to 1.6 million times, bringing its total number of streams to nearly 14 million to date. Sheeran's long climb to the top spot breaks the previous record held by Celine Dion, whose 1994 single Think Twice took 13 weeks to reach number one. "I'm not used to having number one singles and this is my favourite song on the album, my favourite song I've written, so I'm really proud it's getting this recognition," the singer said. Sheeran ended Meghan Trainor's four-week run at the top, pushing her to number two. Taylor Swift's Shake It Off climbed two places to three, while Jessie J's collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, Bang Bang, held firm at four. Don't Tell 'Em, by Jeremih featuring YG, rounded out the top five. The highest new entry was a reworking of Chris Issak's 1990 hit Wicked Game from German producer Parra For Cuva featuring Anna Naklab. In the album chart, Taylor Swift scored her second UK number one record with her latest effort, 1989. The album sold 90,000 over the past week, becoming the fastest-selling album of the year by a female artist. Sheeran's X climbed one place to number two, followed by Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour, which rose three spots to take third place. Last week's number one album, Ben Howard's I Forget Where We Were, fell to four with George Ezra's Wanted On Voyage climbing to five. The only other new entry in the top 10 was Annie Lennox's Nostalgia - her first release in four years - which came in at number nine. Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers entered the top 40 for the first time following their success on Wednesday, debuting at 35. The Scottish hip-hop trio had sold just 2,386 copies of their album Dead since its release in February, prior to their Mercury win. The Official Charts Company said the group's exposure boost had helped double the album's entire lifetime sales in just one week.