James Blunt 'overtakes' Ed Sheeran in singles charts

Ed Sheeran has dominated the charts for four weeks, but it looks like his reign is finally over. Fellow crooner James Blunt shared an amusing snap of his desire to dethrone his close pal.

Shared with his 1.43 million followers, the doctored image shows the singles chart but instead of Sheeran occupying every spot on the top ten, the image tells a different story. The artwork for 5th studio album The Afterlove is plastered over Sheeran's Shape of You avatar and red ink has been used to change the track titles to represent Blunt's new record.

It was captioned: "Since my album came out on Friday, I've completely changed the way the charts look."

Within hours, Blunt's handy work had amassed over 16k likes, with some fans offering their photoshop and graphic design services and others admiring his bromance with Sheeran.

Blunt unveiled his new project on 24 March, following a four-year hiatus. The record peaked at number 6 on the album chart.

Ahead of his release, Blunt hinted to fans that he would be taking his music in a new direction. "It's a bit different, its not necessarily me on my guitar, writing weepy miserable songs," he said during an appearance on Chris Evans' Radio 2 breakfast show. "It's got a bit of a different vibe to it so I'm a bit nervous about putting it out really. I'm asking people to have an open mind to it."

Dubbed the 'the king of comebacks' the King of Comebacks' – with his hilarious Twitter feed making even his biggest haters chuckle – Blunt was recently urged to do stand-up following his appearance on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch. He impressed viewers with his quick-witted jokes and banter which left hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer in fits of laughter throughout the segment.

One comment said: "@JamesBlunt on #SundayBrunch I know you're supposed to insult James on twitter but I can't help myself. I ❤him he's funny as! "