With 11 weeks at the top, Ed Sheeran now has a chance to do what Drake just failed to achieve last year and beat the record for longest ever runner at number 1. Can he actually do it?

I wouldn't mind him taking it to 17 but it won't happen. Galway Girl is looking good to be #1 in the next couple of weeks if not taking it next week!

I personally think this'll be his last week, and Galway Girl will overtake after. I'd like to think the next number 1 will be something non-Ed Sheeran but it's too good to be true, Galway Girl is its logical successor.

Thinking 2 more weeks now with Harry Styles' single out on 7th April knocking him off :D

A couple more weeks by default I guess

Too many

It's not even if it's about being a good song to top the charts anymore. It's all about just getting enough hype.

Another week and then Galway Girl.

I'd like Clean Bandit to achieve it with symphony!

the more you want it go the more it will stay

Galway Gurls will overtake this week soo 11.

 

Drake's song was utter w*** and undeserving of 1q weeks, esp by such a talentless douche, so at least it matched that however.

It's not even if it's about being a good song to top the charts anymore. It's all about just getting enough hype.

 

Shape Of You has been the biggest hit for most of its run to be fair but yeh the length of stay for a lot of the No1s is far too long due to streaming!

It's not even if it's about being a good song to top the charts anymore. It's all about just getting enough hype.

 

Not even that - you just need to be popular with streamers...

14 weeks.

Harry Styles will be along to end his run in a couple of weeks if he hasn't ended it himself by then with Galway Girl.

 

I do agree with Jack though, it's all about hype and status now with one superstar after another taking an extended turn at the top...Ed, Clean Bandit, Drake, Bieber etc...

 

I'm not saying their songs don't necessarily deserve to go to #1, as many of them are very good, but I'd like to see more acts with no previous major chart history getting to #1 if they've got songs good enough to do so, regardless of their a-list status.

 

I suppose James Arthur was arguably the last as that was quite a comeback...but regardless, he'd had a #1 single before...so tracing back the last 'unknown' to top the charts, purely because the song and not the artist was popular was Mike Posner a year ago - or Lukas Graham if you discount somebody without a previous chart history.

Edited March 26, 20178 yr by gooddelta

I reckon Galway Girl will be #1 this week, but will be dethroned not long afterwards by Symphony. Passionfruit and Something Just Like This also pose threats at the moment although they could both peak at #2 and I'd be quite happy.

12 weeks.

 

“Shape Of You” still has a significant 1.5 million lead on streaming (as of last week) and the sales of “Galway Girl” are at record low levels for the #1 so I don't quite see an overtake this week. Anything could happen next week, but I expect Clean Bandit might be able to increase enough to climb to #1.

Harry Styles will be along to end his run in a couple of weeks if he hasn't ended it himself by then with Galway Girl.

 

I do agree with Jack though, it's all about hype and status now with one superstar after another taking an extended turn at the top...Ed, Clean Bandit, Drake, Bieber etc...

 

I'm not saying their songs don't necessarily deserve to go to #1, as many of them are very good, but I'd like to see more acts with no previous major chart history getting to #1 if they've got songs good enough to do so, regardless of their a-list status.

 

I suppose James Arthur was arguably the last as that was quite a comeback...but regardless, he'd had a #1 single before...so tracing back the last 'unknown' to top the charts, purely because the song and not the artist was popular was Mike Posner a year ago - or Lukas Graham if you discount somebody without a previous chart history.

 

That's exactly it though! If the song is good/popular enough it WILL become a monster hit, just like 7 Years last year.

 

It was becoming a little embarrassing when complete nobodies were scoring #1s week after week in 2014 so at least now we're back to some semblance of genuine popularity being reflected in the Charts.

 

And that's still not to say previously unknown artists aren't able to have big hits. Look at Martin Jensen right now for example, huge top 10 hit & presumably a very long runner too based on current evidence. Yeah he may he been a #1 if we were still in the heldback era but it would have fallen off a cliff after that.

I suppose what's 'great' depends entirely on whether you began following charts for entertainment or just because you love measuring accuracy and popularity. For those of us that are the former, the chart has become meaningless, dull and broken.

That's exactly it though! If the song is good/popular enough it WILL become a monster hit, just like 7 Years last year.

 

It was becoming a little embarrassing when complete nobodies were scoring #1s week after week in 2014 so at least now we're back to some semblance of genuine popularity being reflected in the Charts.

 

And that's still not to say previously unknown artists aren't able to have big hits. Look at Martin Jensen right now for example, huge top 10 hit & presumably a very long runner too based on current evidence. Yeah he may he been a #1 if we were still in the heldback era but it would have fallen off a cliff after that.

 

It's just that No.1 itself seems to be locked out right now to anyone but the very biggest a-listers, which is a shame.

 

I take your point that unknown artists can and indeed do still have hits, but they never seem to be able to rack up the weekly streaming numbers to get them to the very top, because there are always some streaming superstars in the way.