Swedish DJ-producer Avicii has smashed the record for the U.K.’s fastest-selling single of 2013, debuting at No. 1 yesterday (July 21) with nearly 267,000 sales of “Wake Me Up” (Positiva/PRMD).
It deposed Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” (Interscope/Universal), featuring TI and Pharrell Williams, after five aggregate weeks at the top, but Thicke’s album of the same name gave him the major consolation of a No. 1 debut on that chart.
“Wake Me Up” finished the week more than 76,000 units ahead of the 190,000 Thicke sold to arrive at No. 1 on the singles survey early last month. The Official Charts Company confirms that the last single to sell more copies in a week than Avicii’s was the Justice Collective’s Christmas No. 1 “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (Metropolis), with 269,000.
It’s his second U.K. No. 1 single, only five months after “I Could Be The One,” billed as Avicii vs. Nicky Romero, became the first. The 23-year-old artist, born Tim Bergling, had reached No. 4 in the market with “Levels” towards the end of 2011, after guesting on Leona Lewis’ “Collide,” which also reached No. 4.
There were two more newcomers in the singles top ten: Selena Gomez started at No. 8 with “Come & Get It” (Hollywood/Universal), ahead of today’s release of her first solo album “Stars Dance,” and DJ-artist Breach, aka English DJ Ben Westbeech, came in at No. 9 with “Jack” (Dirtybird/Atlantic/Warner Music). Avril Lavigne’s “Here’s To Never Growing Up” (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment) opened at No. 14.
Like its title track single, Thicke’s new, chart-topping album success far outdoes anything he had previously achieved in the U.K. His only other appearance in the album chart came when “The Evolution of Robin Thicke” reached No. 30 in the summer of 2007. The “Blurred Lines” single sold its millionth copy in the U.K. last week.
After debuting at No. 1 last week, Jay Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” (Roc Nation/Universal) fell into runner-up spot. More than 27 years after their first album chart appearance in their home country, British electro-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys entered at No. 3 with “Electric.” Their 12th studio set, it’s also their first release on their own x2 label via Kobalt Music Services.
Scottish “superstar DJ” Calvin Harris saw his “18 Months” album (Columbia/Sony) rebound 21-8 after its latest single “Thinking About You,” featuring Ayah Marar, debuted at No. 28. Remarkably, it’s the ninth single from the double-platinum set, after Harris became the first artist in U.K. chart history to have eight singles from the same album all reach the top 10.
Meanwhile on the compilations chart, “Holiday Anthems” collection (Sony Music CG/UMTV/Universal) started a second week at No. 1.
