Sam Ryder and Harry Styles in battle for UK Number One single

UK Eurovision entrant Sam Ryder and Harry Styles are locked in a battle for the UK’s Number One single this week.

Last Saturday (May 14), Ryder achieved the UK’s best Eurovision result in 25 years, finishing second behind Ukraine with his song ‘Space Man’.

Per the Official Charts’ midweek update, ‘Space Man’ is closing the gap at the top of the singles chart to Styles’ ‘As It Was’, which is aiming for its sixth week at the summit.

Currently sitting at Number Two, ‘Space Man’ is only 1,800 copies behind ‘As It Was’ in the race for Number One, which will be decided on Friday.

In a recent interview Ryder told Rolling Stone UK about the honour of representing the UK at Eurovision.

“I think there’s been a huge shift in our method,” Ryder said of the UK’s new and improved approach to Eurovision. “It would be mad to not look at the mechanics of that, how we’re finding artists and getting that person onto the stage. What does that situation look like? Because, let’s be honest, what have we got to lose?”

He added: “I’ve been in my fair share of bad bands and did that thing where you play and play and play until the wheels fall off. You’re singing to empty pubs and clubs for years but you always love it. Of course you have dreams of stepping out on a stage and there’s folk there, but it’s not the be all and end all. If you love it, you’ll do it regardless and you’ll never stop.

“But the only thing that started creeping in for me before lockdown was this thing of overthinking and being too strategic, that would get in the way of the music a bit. I would make something and spend so much time on it that I’d suck the life out of it and then never share it. You’ve wasted your time and energy on something and your relationship with music deteriorates because of that.”

Styles, meanwhile, will release new album ‘Harry’s House’ on Friday (May 20). In a four-star review of ‘Harry’s House’, Rolling Stone UK wrote: “All considered, it’s a strong and consistently impressive effort as Harry – with two Wembley Stadium dates on the horizon – finally embraces the solo stardom that was written in the stars when he was with One Direction. While not entirely ripping up the rule book, there’s enough of a progression and growth to please his fans and, in the process, welcome a fair few more to ‘Harry’s House’ as a new era beckons.”