Californian band Haim have beaten Justin Timberlake to the top spot in the UK album charts this week, denying the pop star his fourth consecutive number 1 album. Timberlake’s album The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 had topped the midweek charts, but was overtaken by Haim’s Days Are Gone, with only 2100 copies standing between the two records. Competition was similarly fierce in the UK singles chart, with only 1150 copies separating The Vamps’ ‘Can We Dance’ and One Republic’s victorious ‘Counting Stars’, with The Official Charts company saying it had been “the closest race of the year.”
Days Are Gone has been eagerly anticipated by fans of the US sisters Este, Danielle and Alana, after they won the BBC’s Sound of 2013 poll in January. The debut offering includes their hit singles ‘Falling’, ‘The Wire’ and ‘Don’t Save Me‘. The band performed at a number of UK festivals this summer, including Reading and Leeds and Glastonbury.
Last week’s chart topper, Kings of Leon’s Mechanical Bull failed to maintain its peak position, slipping to number 3, while Artic Monkey’s AM remained at number 4. Elsewhere in the charts, Dizzee Rascal secured his fourth Top 10 album in a row with The Fifth, which entered at number 10. His new single ‘Something Really Bad’ (which features will.i.am) was similarly successful, entering the singles chart in the same position.
