Express & Star

Stormzy and Chase And Status sail to number one on UK chart with Backbone

The rapper impressed fans last weekend when he took a helicopter from a wedding he had attended to perform at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes.

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Chase And Status and Stormzy pose with their official number one single awards

Stormzy and Chase And Status have sailed to number one in the UK singles chart with their collaborative offering Backbone.

The track merges their worlds of grime and drum and bass and has become the electronic duo’s first number one single and Stormzy’s fourth.

The rapper, known for songs including Big For Your Boots and Shut Up, impressed fans last weekend when he took a helicopter from a wedding he had attended to play the National Bowl in Milton Keynes as a guest act of Chase And Status, before going back to the wedding party in the evening.

Stormzy watches D-Block Europe from the side of the stage at Glastonbury Festival
Stormzy watches D-Block Europe from the side of the stage at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in June (Ben Birchall/PA)

The electronic duo, Saul Milton and Will Kennard, told the Official Charts Company: “We knew that connecting with Stormzy was going to create something special, but we didn’t expect a KO reaction like this.

“To see him running out at our show at The Milton Keynes Bowl, in his best man’s suit, straight from a wedding and in front of 45,000 people was insane!

“One of the greatest British MCs to ever do it, spitting over DnB & for it to go straight into number one? It couldn’t get any better for us.”

Their song has ended the week as the most-streamed track in the country over the last seven days with 6.4 million streams, according to the Official Charts Company.

Chase And Status, known for tracks including Program and Blind Faith featuring Liam Bailey, formed in the noughties and won the Brit Awards producer of the year gong earlier this year.

Chase and Status on stage after winning the Producer of the Year award during the Brit Awards 2024
Chase and Status on stage after winning the Producer of the Year award during the Brit Awards 2024 (James Manning/PA)

Elsewhere in the UK’s singles chart, Birds Of A Feather by Oscar-winning musician Billie Eilish has been bumped to number two while Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan remains at number three.

This is followed by Charli XCX’s Guess remix featuring Eilish and Stargazing by English singer Myles Smith.

In time for her 66th birthday, pop superstar Madonna has seen one of her biggest hits, Like A Prayer, re-enter the UK top 40 for the first time in 35 years, according to the Official Charts Company.

The song, which has landed at number 27, features in the new Hollywood blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine and was originally released in 1989 where it spent three weeks at number one.

Over in the UK albums chart, This Is How Tomorrow Moves from Filipino-British singer-songwriter Beabadoobee has landed at number one.

Beabadoobee celebrates her Official Number one album
Beabadoobee with her official number one album award for This Is How Tomorrow Moves (Official Charts Company/Thomas Davis/PA)

The music artist, real name Beatrice Laus, previously hit the top 10 on the chart with 2020’s Fake It Flowers, which peaked at number eight, and 2022’s Beatopia, at number four.

Reacting to the news, she said: “I just got a number one! I am so over the moon.

“I want to thank the fans for buying and streaming this record and getting this album to number one on the albums chart.

“I am so, so happy. This is my first ever number one, it’s really heavy and I wouldn’t have done it without you guys and everyone who’s worked on this record so thank you. I love you all so much.”

The rest of the albums chart top five is comprised of Chappell Roan’s The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, Charli XCX’s Brat, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Will Young’s Light It Up.

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