Just over a week after Fleur East performed Uptown Funk on The X Factor, pre-empting the official version, Mark Ronson’s throwback single has become his first UK No 1. The overnight hit, rushed forward for release, sold 118,000 copies between Monday evening and midnight on Saturday.
“It’s pretty much the coolest thing ever,” Ronson told OfficialCharts.com. It’s certainly been marketed as a surprise: Uptown Funk was not scheduled to be released until 11 January, and East reportedly apologised to Ronson for giving it an early TV premiere. Then again, the official video has been available since mid-November, and conspiracy theorists have pointed to the links between Ronson’s Sony-owned record label and Simon Cowell’s Syco. Lily Allen suggested this spontaneous furore could have been a set-up.
Marketing gimmick or no, East’s X Factor performance helped Ronson’s version garner tens of thousands of downloads and 1.35m streams. By topping the chart, it bested Ronson’s two previous hits – Stop Me and Valerie, both of which reached No 2 in 2007.
Ed Sheeran’s song Thinking Out Loud has slipped one place to No 2, and Take That’s These Days one place to No 4. With its physical release, Band Aid 30’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? was newly ascendant, rising to No 3. The top five is completed by Oliver Helden’s new single, Last All Night (Koala).
Over on the official albums chart, Sheeran’s X spent its 10th non-consecutive week in the top spot. Sam Smith, Olly Murs, One Direction and George Ezra fill out the top of the list.
