Robbie Williams scored his first U.K. No. 1 single for eight years yesterday with “Candy” (Universal Island) to move into joint second place with Gary Barlow and Cliff Richard on 14 chart-toppers, behind only the four members of the Beatles. Scottish DJ-artist Calvin Harris achieved his second No. 1 album as “18 Months” (Columbia/Sony Music Entertainment) debuted at the top.
“Candy,” co-written by Williams, his Take That colleague Barlow and Terje Olsen, sold 137,000 copies last week to become the fastest-selling male artist track of the year to date, according to the Official Charts Company. It’s his first British No. 1 since “Radio” in 2004 and extends his run of solo chart-toppers to 14 years, since “Millennium” made the summit in 1998. It pushed last week’s new entry at the top, Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful” (Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment), featuring Emeli Sandé, down to No. 2.
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Grime star Wiley entered at No. 3 with “Can You Hear Me (Ayayaya)” (One More Tune), featuring Skepta, JME and Ms. D. The other notable top 20 climbers were fun.’s long-running “We Are Young” (Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic/Warner Music), featuring Janelle Monae, which responded to their “X Factor” performance by rebounding 52-13, and Paloma Faith’s INXS cover “Never Tear Us Apart” (RCA/Sony Music Entertainment), up 29-20.
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Calvin Harris makes it two U.K. No. 1 albums in a row, having led the way in 2009 with “Ready For The Weekend.” His new set denied Kylie Minogue a No. 1 with “The Abbey Road Sessions” (Parlophone/EMI), which entered in runner-up spot. The deluxe version of Emeli Sandé’s “Our Version Of Events” (Virgin/EMI) dipped 2-3 as fun.’s “Some Nights” raced 33-4 after that primetime TV exposure.
Longtime Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall’s second solo album “American Soul” (simplyred.com/ATCO/Warner Music) arrived at No. 6 and “X Factor” graduate Matt Cardle’s “The Fire” (So What) at No. 8. Longtime pop favorites Madness started at No. 10 with their new album “Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da” (Cooking Vinyl). There were also top 20 entries for Neil Young and Crazy Horse with “Psychedelic Pill” (Warner Bros./Warner Music) at No. 14 and Peter André’s “Angels and Demons” (Snapper Music) at No. 18. “BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge 2012” (Sony Music/UMTV/Rhino) debuted at No. 1 on the compilations chart.