Billie Eilish Scores First UK No. 1 Single With ‘No Time To Die’
It’s the first Bond theme by a female artist to hit the top, and the UK’s fastest-selling track of 2020 to date.
Billie Eilish’s James Bond movie theme ‘No Time To Die’ has entered the UK chart today (21) at No. 1 to become the 18-year-old star’s first chart-topping single in the territory. It’s also the first Bond theme by a female artist to hit the top and the UK’s fastest-selling track of 2020 to date.
The Official Charts Company also reports that, according to available data, ‘No Time To Die’ has recorded the biggest-ever opening week for a Bond theme, in the 58-year history of the franchise. The OCC reports that opening combined units for the track total 90,000, which includes streams of 10.6 million.
The news ends an extremely successful week for Eilish in the UK, where on Tuesday night (18) she won a BRIT Award for Best International Female. The OCC also reports that she has now passed total UK streams for all of her music of one billion. Her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? moves back 6-4 today, in its 47th week on the chart.
The Bond series was already 53 years old when it achieved its only previous UK No. 1 single for a 007 theme, Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s On The Wall,’ from Spectre. After the opening film, 1962’s Dr. No, introduced the familiar theme music for the spy series, 1964’s From Russia With Love contained Matt Monro’s title song, which peaked at No. 20 in the UK.
Two themes, Duran Duran’s ‘A View To A Kill’ (1985) and Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ (2012) peaked at No. 2; the Adele song is also the longest-runner in the series’ history, staying on the chart for 32 weeks. Its opening sales of 84,000 would, in most modern-day chart weeks, have ensured a No. 1 placing. Ten other 007 theme songs made the top ten, but two of them (Lulu’s ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ in 1974 and Shirley Bassey’s ‘Moonraker’ in 1979) failed to chart at all.
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