Harry Styles ends Sheeran’s chart reign with debut single
HARRY Styles has ended Ed Sheeran’s reign at the top of the UK Charts.
The former One Direction singer has managed to score himself his first number one hit as a solo artiste with his debut single ‘Sign of the Times’ which was released last week, as it climbed to the top of the UK Singles Chart on Friday.
According to the Official Charts Company, the 23-yearold singer’s track managed to rack up 40,000 downloads and 3.5 million streams in the week after its release, beating the number two track — Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ — by just 3,000 copies.
Style’s chart-topping single brings an end to the 13-week run that 26-year- old Sheeran has had at the top spot, with ‘Shape of You’ slipping down from number one to number two, and pushing next single ‘Galway Girl’ down to third.
And Style’s victory comes after it was recently reported he could have faced a tight race to the finish line after a glitch on Spotify’s search engine made it impossible for users to stream his track on the day of its release.
“The Spotify malfunction meant many of his fans simply couldn’t find his song to listen to online when they searched for it,” a source said.
Meanwhile, Styles is “a bit worried” about toilet breaks now he’s a solo artiste.
The singer used to be able to step off stage to relieve himself mid-show when he was touring with One Direction, but now he’s going it alone, all eyes will be on him and he won’t be able to discretely disappear for a few minutes.
He said: “I mean, when 1D used to tour, there used to be times when I could pop off stage and go for a wee during the show if I needed to, because someone else was doing something — and I can’t do that anymore. I’m a bit worried about it.”
While Styles is now with Colombia records, he still values the opinion of his former Syco label boss, Simon Cowell.
He told radio station Key 103: “I did play (my single) for Simon actually. I will still be asking him to download it though.
“It was amazing to be able to work with him for so long and now it’s amazing to be able to go to him and ask what he thinks of my song and talk to him as a friend.”
As well as Cowell, the 23-yearold hunk also values the opinions of fellow singers Adele and Sheeran.
He said: “I love the way (Adele) does things. She’s classy and I think she very much leads by example in terms of doing things you believe in.
“I think Ed is one of the most talented dudes I’ve met. He’s definitely a special person.
“Obviously, as you can see from how the new album’s done, he’s an outrageous musician.” — BANG Showbiz