Ariana Grande's emotional appearance at the One Love Manchester concert could propel her to the top of the U.K. singles chart.
The U.S. pop singer’s “One Last Time” (Republic) was downloaded 15,000 times in the 24 hours after Sunday’s all-star concert at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, according to the Official Charts Company, and it’s now challenging Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” (Def Jam/RBMG/Republic/UMLE) for the weekly chart crown.
"One Last Time" has been repackaged on iTunes with 76p (US$0.98) from each 99p (US$1.28) download supporting the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund in coordination with the British Red Cross and Manchester City Council. More than $13 million has already been raised for the initiative, which will "help alleviate immediate suffering and ensure victims and their families do not face short-term financial difficulties," the British Red Cross explained in a tweet.
The single, lifted from her second studio album My Everything, is at No. 2 on the midweek chart, well up on its peak of No. 11 from two weeks ago. Grande has enjoyed life at the chart summit on two occasions (both in 2014) with "Problem" featuring Iggy Azalea, and her "Bang Bang" collab with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj.
Grande was joined on stage by a host of stars including Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Pharrell Williams, Niall Horan and Take That at the concert just two weeks after a terrorist detonated a bomb following a Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people.
The benefit concert drew the biggest U.K. TV audience of the year for the BBC.
Standing in the way of the Official U.K. Singles Chart title is Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, which leads the Official Singles Chart Update. The four-week reign for “Despacito” is the longest run at No. 1 for a foreign language song in U.K. chart history.
There’s a lot of activity at the top end of the midweek albums chart, where Roger Waters takes the lead with his new solo album, Is This The Life We Really Want (Columbia). The former Pink Floyd singer has an edge over All Time Low’s new album, Last Young Renegade (Atlantic/Fueled By Ramen), which is No. 2 on the Official Albums Chart Update, while the 50th edition of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (EMI) drops 1-3. Mercury Music Prize winners Alt-J bow high with Relaxer (Infectious Music), new at No. 4, while Ed Sheeran’s juggernaut Divide (Asylum) falls to No. 5.
