U.K. CHARTS: BRITS WINNERS RULE

Despite Jack Garratt leading the Official Albums race at midweeks BRIT Awards stars Adele and the late David Bowie have indeed scuppered the Island/Interscope newcomer’s chance of hitting the top spot with his debut, Phase, which sits at #3.

Adele’s significant airtime during the ceremony, at which she won four awards and closed the night with a spectacular performance, has propelled 25 back to the top spot. A touching David Bowie tribute from Annie Lennox, actor and friend Gary Oldman and a rendition of “Life On Mars” by Lorde (not to mention an instrumental medley of hits by his former band) drove the Thin White Duke to #2 with his Best of Bowie (Parlophone) retrospective.

BRITS Critics’ Choice winner Garratt appeared on screen for a short interview from the crowd once during Wednesday’s show, which was watched by an audience of 5.8m viewers. Would his chart spot have been different this week had he done a live TV performance?

Further down the Official Albums Top 5, International Male Solo Artist Justin Bieber slips a place to #4 with Purpose (Virgin EMI), while BRITs show openers and British Group victors Coldplay are at #5 with A Head Full Of Dreams (Parlophone). British Male Solo Artist winner James Bay has also enjoyed a significant BRITs boost as Chaos and the Calm (Virgin EMI) leaps 10 places to #7.

Over on the Official Singles side, Warner Bros.’ Lukas Graham at still at #1, with “7 Years” enjoying its highest chart sales total yet, notching up a combined figure of 131k. It was the most streamed song this week, with over 5.35m plays.

Rihanna’s steamy video for “Work” featuring Drake and very well received BRITs performance have taken the track one spot up the charts again this week to #2.

Jonas Blue rebounds a place to #3 with “Fast Car” (Positiva) while RCA's ZAYN drops two places with “Pillowtalk” at #4. And last but not least, Bieber’s “Love Yourself” (Virgin EMI) climbs two places to #5, no doubt helped by the masterfully executed live rendition of the track on Wednesday.