At this point, seeing the words ‘Ed Sheeran on top of the charts’ might seem less like news and more like a report on the status quo, but with less of his tracks appearing in the singles charts for this week, could we finally be seeing the Englishman’s stranglehold on the charts starting to diminish?

This week’s albums charts show Sheeran’s third album ÷ (Divide) top of the charts for its third solid week, with his previous albums X and +, slowing falling down the top ten once again. However, Sheeran’s biggest competitor for the week seems to have been Drake and his new ‘playlist’ More Life. The Canadian rapper’s long-awaited collection of songs debuted at number two on the charts, knocking Adele’s 25 down to number three, and giving us our first new artist in the top two in quite a few weeks.

Aussie talent is also seeing a far better representation this week, with 14 records by Aussie artists making their way in. Our highest reaching artists, The Waifs, sit at number eleven with their previously chart-topping record Ironbark, while Hillsong Worship’s Let There Be Light, and Keith Urban’s Ripcord trail behind at numbers 15 and 19, respectively. The biggest drops this week for Aussie talent seem to belong to  Kingswood’s After Hours, Close To Dawn, which has dropped from #21 to #37 in a week, and Tash Sultana’s Notion, which has dropped ten places to number 24 this week.

Interestingly, compilations make up a large number of the Aussie appearances this week, with Cold Chisel, The Wiggles, Crowded House, and Play School all featuring with retrospective releases. Likewise, news of Chuck Berry’s death last week has driven his Definitive Collection into the charts for the first time, reaching #48, twelve years after its release.

The singles charts however is where the largest amount of interest should be given this week, as Ed Sheeran continues to work on breaking records. As Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ reaches its eleventh week on top of the charts, it reaches record-breaking territory. The last song to stay on top of the charts for eleven weeks straight was the Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’, back in 1997, while the last song to exceed eleven weeks, was Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’, back in 2002, which managed a total of twelve weeks on top of the charts. Could we be witnessing chart history with ‘Shape Of You’? Well, another week or two, and we’ll have our answer.

The rest of the singles chart sees Sheeran relax his grip, as only nine more of his tracks fill up the rest of the top 50, down from 14 last week, and 16 the week before. The second and third positions are held by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay’s ‘Something Just Like This’, and Sheeran’s ‘Castle On The Hill’, which have both reversed their positions from last week’s charts. Meanwhile, Drake’s ‘Passionfruit’, the newest single from his More Life project, debuts at #16. Considering More Life was streamed more then 600 million times worldwide in its week, who knows how high ‘Passionfruit’ will climb.

Sadly, a grand total of five Aussie tracks make up the top 50 this week, with Pnau’s ‘Chamelon’ at #21, Amy Shark’s ‘Adore’ at #25, the Ryan Riback remix of Starley’s ‘Call On Me’ at #27, Sheppard’s ‘Keep Me Crazy’ at #38, and Peking Duk’s ‘Stranger’ rounding out their 22nd week in the charts with a #49 position.

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While Sheeran’s dominance on the charts is still driving fans of Aussie talent crazy, his diminishing number of singles in the charts, and the appearance of Drake in the top two of the albums chart might just show that Sheeran is slipping, and we’ll eventually see some new talent on top of the charts soon enough.

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