This week's Official UK Singles Chart

This week's Official UK Albums Chart

Many are the British chart achievements clocked up by Rihanna, from her 10 week spell at Number One with Umbrella in 2007, to the way she earlier this year became the first ever female solo artist to top the charts in five consecutive years. This week however she seems to have surpassed herself.

Trailing the new Olly Murs single Dance With Me Tonight for virtually the whole week, once again a final surge in sales over the weekend was enough to ensure that We Found Love remains atop the UK Singles chart yet again. For those keeping count, this is now its third week in a row, and more significantly its sixth week in total - enough to ensure We Found Love is the longest running Number One single since Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis notched up seven weeks straight at the end of 2007.

However it gets even more extraordinary. This week also saw the release of her sixth album Talk That Talk which inevitably charges straight to Number One itself, relegating the equally in-demand One Direction album Up All Night to the Number 2 position. Doing the singles and albums chart double is impressive enough but having already had simultaneous chart-toppers with What's My Name and Loud at the start of the year, Rihanna becomes the first female star in chart history to achieve the double twice in a calendar year with different singles and albums.

Such a feat is by no means totally unique, but it hasn't happened since 1972 when Marc Bolan and T-Rex performed the trick in the space of three months. Technically Gary Numan pulled off the trick too in 1979, but his first double was with a single and album credited to Tubeway Army whilst his second pairing was as a solo artist.

Even without this chart double, Rihanna would still have the honour of two different Number One albums in a calendar year, again making her the first solo female star ever to pull off the trick.

The arrival of Talk That Talk inevitably means she adds to the slew of singles bearing her name currently floating around the singles chart. The Jay-Z guested title track arrives at Number 25 and You Da One sits at Number 39, whilst the Drake single Take Care on which she also features rises three places to Number 9 to give her two singles inside the Top 10.

So something of a frustrating week for Olly Murs then as he can't quite manage a third Number One single (and a second of the year) although he is at least the highest charting of no less than three acts connected with X Factor to have new entries inside the Top 10 this week. As well as former runner-up and current "Xtra Factor" co-host Murs, current judge Kelly Rowland lands at Number 6 with her brand new single Down For Whatever. It is her highest charting single as lead act since Work peaked at Number 4 in January 2008, although she did feature on David Guetta's Number One single When Love Takes Over in June 2009. Also new to the Top 10 is 2010 contestant Rebecca Ferguson with Nothing's Real But Love who thus becomes the fourth act from last year's competition to hit the charts, hard on the heels of winner Matt Cardle, Cher Lloyd and One Direction. Notably however Ferguson is the first to fail to see her debut single top the charts.

The 2010 series of X Factor can thus rank as the most successful so far in spawning chart stars of its own, although the class of 2008 also resulted in four chart performers: Alexandra Burke, Diana Vickers and JLS all having singles chart hits and Eoghan Quigg managing a hit album.

The other big Top 10 new entry of the week is Levels by Avicii which is a new entry at Number 4. Those paying attention will note that this is the self-same track used as the instrumental base for Flo Rida's Good Feeling which sits one place higher. This is by no means the first time that the use of one track in another as a sample causes the original recording to subsequently become a hit, but for the two to sit side by side on the charts is something else altogether.

Speaking (still) of X Factor, the live performance shows have this week thrown up another rather surprising hit revival as En Vogue's 1997 Top 5 hit Don't Let Go (Love) makes a surprise reappearance at Number 23 following a performance by sole surviving group Little Mix on the show the weekend before last. The manufactured girl group (assembled from failed solo auditionees) remain in the competition as it reaches its semi final stage, the best performance by a female act in the history of the TV show. Meanwhile En Vogue find themselves back on the UK Top 40 for the first time since Riddle made Number 33 in the summer of 2000.

Finally, as the Christmas season approaches, the festive classics begin to make their presence felt in the sales rankings. Leading the charge as ever are Fairytale Of New York (Number 47) with All I Want For Christmas Is You at Number 64. Expect one or both to go Top 40 for the fifth year in succession by this time next week.