Harry Styles ends Ed Sheeran's reign at top of singles chart

One Direction's Harry Styles has ended Ed Sheeran's chart domination just weeks before Sheeran would have been able to claim a new record.

Styles' debut solo effort, Sign Of The Times, has knocked Sheeran from the top spot on the singles chart after a 13-week success streak for his song Shape Of You.

This is Styles' first number one as a solo artist and the first song to be released from his self-titled debut album which is due for release on May 12.

The song claimed the top spot by shifting just over 3,000 copies more than Sheeran's song, the Official Charts Company reports.

According to their figures, the song has seen just under 40,000 downloads and has amassed 3.5 million streams during its first week of release.

Sheeran's chart presence is still cemented in the top five as Shape Of You shifts to second place and his song Galway Girl sits in third place on the singles chart.

The Official Charts Company said Shape Of You is the most streamed song of the week, with close to seven million plays.

On the album charts, Sheeran is still ruling the roost with his third album Divide in first place. Rag'N'Bone Man's debut record Human is in second spot and Take That's Wonderland is in fifth position.

The newest offering from Mike + The Mechanics, Let Me Fly, has jumped to the ninth position on the albums chart. The new addition to the chart marks their return to the Top 10 for the first time since 1996.

If Sheeran had maintained his top position on the singles chart, he would have been in the running to match previous records set by Bryan Adams, Wet Wet Wet and Drake.

Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You dominated the charts for 16 weeks in 1991, while Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around (1994) and Drake's One Dance (2016) both reigned supreme for 15 weeks.

Styles' solo chart success makes him the second member of One Direction to do so, after Zayn Malik topped the chart in 2016 with Pillowtalk.

Fans went into a frenzy on Social Media as Styles announced the release date of his album and tweeted a picture of the cover artwork showing him topless in a pool of water.

The 10-song album will feature tracks with names such as Carolina and Only Angel. One song titled Ever Since New York sparked speculation it was about his former rumoured love interest, Taylor Swift.