17 May 2022
Sam Ryder's SPACE MAN closes gap on Harry Styles in race to Number 1 on the Official Chart following Eurovision success
As the country rallies behind Sam Ryder, could he end Harry Styles' six-week reign atop The Official Chart?
By Carl Smith
UK Eurovision hero Sam Ryder closes the gap on Harry Styles overnight in the race to become this week's Official UK Number 1 single.
After placing second to Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra and their winning track Stefania in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2022 last weekend, Essex singer and songwriter
Sam Ryder continues to rocket up the midweek
Official Singles Chart with SPACE MAN.
Sam scored 466 points at this year's competition in Turin, proving the UK's most successful entry since
Imaani's Where Are You in 1998, and today closes the gap on
Harry Styles in the increasingly-tight race for this
A very special Official Charts Company update shows Sam has rocketed overnight past
Cat Burns and her hit
Go, and now currently sits at Number 2. Just 1,880 chart sales separate SPACE MAN from Harry Styles' Number 1
As It Was. Will Sam be able to catch up? It's all to play for before the Official Singles Chart is unveiled this Friday - but he'll need the UK's help to get him there.
Could Sam end Harry's six-week reign at the top
and boast the
first Eurovision song to hit Number 1 since Gina G's Ooh Aah...Just a Little Bit in 1996? If the UK continues to embrace SPACE MAN, there's no telling how far this song could go - in what is proving to be the most exciting chart race of the year so far.
As the country gets behind Sam in his bid for Number 1, a Top 5 position looks very likely indeed. Should he manage it, SPACE MAN would prove the first UK Eurovision entry to reach the Top 5 since
Scooch's Flying the Flag (For You) back in 2007.
Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts Company, says: "The UK has gone Eurovision crazy this year, so it is fantastic to see Sam Ryder’s SPACE MAN making a genuine bid for Number 1 in the Official Chart this week.
"And, just as the nation was cheering him on last Saturday, they will no doubt be cheering him on through the rest of this week too. Let’s hope he can go one better than his second place in Turin and lead the field in the UK’s Official Singles Chart.”