Sam Smith tops albums streaming chart

CRI, March 2, 2015

British singer Sam Smith has topped off another award-winning week by becoming the first act to top the albums chart with sales that include streams.

Sam Smith [Photo: verycd.com]

Smith has beaten rivals including Ed Sheeran and Royal Blood in the race to top the Official Albums Chart.

Smith's debut album "In The Lonely Hour" finished last week with sales of 41-thousand, just ahead of Ed Sheeran's "X," which sold 38-thousand.

This is the first week in which the chart sales reflect audio streaming of albums from official services such as Spotify and others.

The singles top five is unchanged from last week, with Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do" staying at Number 1, followed by Hozier's "Take Me to Church" and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk."