Ed Sheeran is only the second recording artist in chart history to occupy the top two positions in the singles chart for four weeks in a row, with Shape Of You (105,456 sales, including 58,632 from streams) emerging as No.1 again with the simultaneously released Castle On The Hill continuing at No.2 (76,074 sales, 41,686 from streams).
In more than 64 years of singles charts, it is only the second instance of an artist holding the top two for this long, the first being Justin Bieber, who dominated for the whole of December 2015, with Sorry at No.1 ahead of Love Yourself on the first week, with the positions reversed for a further three weeks.
Sean Paul secures his 11th Top 10 single - 13th if we include collaborations with Little Mix and Clean Bandit not recognised by OCC - and Dua Lipa her first as their collaboration No Lie rises 11-10 (27,519 sales). As well as securing her first Top 10 entry, Dua Lipa nearly scores a second, with latest solo effort, Be The One, climbing 21-11 (25,146 sales), and makes it three songs in the Top 25 as Scared To Be Lonely, her collaboration with the Netherlands' Martin Garrix - which is No.5 in Garrix's homeland - debuting at No.23 (15,525 sales).
Paris climbs 7-5 (36,672 sales) to become the third top five hit for The Chainsmokers.
Completing the Top 10: You Don't Know Me (3-3, 49,779 sales) by Jax Jones feat. Raye, Touch (4-4, 38,533 sales) by Little Mix, Call On Me (6-6, 35,344 sales) by Starley, Human (5-7, 35,004 sales) by Rag'N'Bone Man, Rockabye (9-8, 30,620 sales) by Clean Bandit and September Song (8-9, 30,103 sales) by JP Cooper.
Zara Larsson's I Would Lie exits the Top 10, falling 10-12 (23,971 sales) but the Swedish singer/songwriter second album So Good surrenders its fifth Top 75 hit as the title track (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) debuts at No.44 (9,923 sales).
Major Lazer score their sixth Top 75 single, PartyNextDoor his third and Nicki Minaj her 35th with Run Up, the second hit from Major Lazer's upcoming fourth album, Music Is The Weapon, being the highest placed of 10 new arrivals in the Top 75 this week at No.20 (17,866 sales).
His breakthrough hit Human bows out of the top five after seven weeks, but Rag'N'Bone Man - who was 32 on Sunday - now has a second hit to his credit, with Skin debuting at No.35 (12,666 sales). Both singles are from the Brits awards' Critics Choice winner's debut album, also called Human, which is released next Friday (10th).
As James Arthur's No.1 comeback single Say You Won't Let Go drifts 12-15 (21,191 sales) on its 20th appearance in the Top 20, follow-up Safe Inside springs 103-49 (9,141 sales) to become his fifth Top 75 entry.
Izzy Bizu appeared on The Graham Norton Show last Friday to sing new single Talking To You, which duly becomes her first chart entry, debuting at No.56 (8,971 sales), while her first album, A Moment Of Madness, enjoys a 222.69% leap in sales week-on-week to jump 110-23 (3,427 sales), thus eclipsing the No.28 position in which it debuted and previously peaked 21 weeks ago.
London rap duo Dave & J Hus make their chart debut with Samantha (No.63, 7,307 sales).
Also making their Top 75 debuts this week are Issues (85-69, 6,228 sales), the first hit for US singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Weak (101-71, 5,926 sales), the introductory hit by a fraternal trio from New York, comprising Adam, Jack and Ryan Met, whose forename initials thus make up their collective name, AJR.
With 50 Shades Darker set to make a big splash at cinemas a week hence, Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift's I Don't Wanna Live Forever, from the soundtrack album, enjoys a pleasing updraft. The track, which debuted and previously peaked seven weeks ago at No.16, advances 18-13 (23,669 sales). It is the first time that I Don't Wanna Live Forever has charted higher than the simultaneously-released Just Hold On, Malik's former One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson's collaboration with Steve Aoki. Just Hold On slips 16-17 this week (18,641 sales) but its overall sales tally of 278,307 is 38.44% higher than the 201,035 copies that I Don't Wanna Live Forever has sold thus far.
There are also new peaks this week for: Bad And Boujee (34-31, 13,767 sales) by Migos, Text From Your Ex (35-34, 13,005 sales) by Tinie Tempah feat Tinashe and Solo Dance (63-55, 8,133 sales) by Martin Jensen.
It is another banner week for singles, with overall sales up 2.72% week-on-week to top the 12m mark for the first time ever, at 12,025,245 – 31.83% above same week 2016 sales of 9,121,835. Streams topped a billion for the second week in a row, accounting for a best-yet 10,523,862 sales, 87.51% of the total. Even paid-for sales are up, though only 1.22% week-on-week at 1,501,383 – 29.53% below same week 2016 sales of 2,130,409 and below same-week, previous-year sales for the 183rd week in a row.
