Ed Sheeran has topped the charts again this week with his newest single ‘Bad Habits’.
An array of football anthems found themselves in the Top 100 this week due to the EURO 2020 games, further escalated by the final on Sunday. But amid the anthems, Ed Sheeran’s 2021 single ‘Bad Habits’ has extended its top billing.
This week marks the second week at number one for the ‘Shape of You’ singer, ‘Bad Habits’ was teased on popular app TikTok in late June of this year where the singer debuted the single’s horror-esque look. Within the video, the artist also gave fans a glimpse into the aesthetic of the new single’s video. The single, released on 25th June 2021 through Asylum Records is the lead single off the 30-year-old singer’s upcoming fifth album. The track also marks the artist’s first solo release from a studio album in four years.
The artist took to his Instagram page to post an acoustic version of the hit single.
The single has racked up an impressive sales count and has outsold its opening week, selling 103,000 chart sales including 10.9 million streams. The release outsold the six football anthems which entered the chart this week. Out of the newly introduced anthems, it is no surprise that ‘3 Lions’ by David Baddiel, The Lightning Seeds and Frank Skinner is the forerunner, climbing 18 spots to reach number 4. Another popular football song that entered the charts this week, ‘Vindaloo’ by Fat Les came in at number 36, its highest position since 2010. The track was originally released in 1998 and was co-written by Alex James, bassist for Blur. Much like any other anthem, the track had a purpose, it was written and recorded for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The charts appeared to follow a theme this week as the pub classic ‘Sweet Caroline’ re-entered the charts at number 48, originally released in 1971 by Neil Diamond, the song has been adopted in recent years as an English classic.
Sheeran’s newest single also outsold Olivia Rodrigo’s hugely popular release ‘Good 4 U’ this week, which remains at number 2. Stealing the bronze this week is ‘Heartbreak Anthem’ by Swedish DJ Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix. The collaboration is Little Mix’s first release since the single ‘Confetti’ on 30th April 2021, the newly made trio took part in this year’s record store day with a release of 2021 album ‘Confetti’ on Vinyl with a new decorated cover. Just below ‘3 Lions’ at number five is ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave’ by Maneskin, the Italian band famously won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Zitti e Buoni’.
Unlike the 1990s a specific football anthem has not been written for this year’s games, although we have seen plenty of old-school favourites get their second chance in the charts. Perhaps ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran is the unofficial anthem for the EURO game. However, this weekend’s game may provide a different answer, depending on the result we may see an anthem at number one next week.
