Sam Smith Beaten By Lana Del Rey To Billboard No.1

Besides a promising musician, Sam Smith’s debut record has also shown him to be a savvy businessman – but not enough. In an effort to boost US sales and get the album to Number 1 on the Billboard 200, Smith’s management kept In The Lonely Hour off Spotify. The album did well, selling 166,000 copies in its first week, but ultimately fell short of Lana Del Rey’s sophomore effort Ultraviolence. The sultry pop record sold 182,000 units for Capitol Records, making it the biggest (bigger) debut of Lana’s career.

Still, it wasn’t a bad week for Smith. Besides the respectable debut of In The Lonely Hour, the singer-songwriter also discovered a lost connection recently. The saga of Smith’s relation to Lily Allen and her brother, Game of Thrones actor Alfie Allen unfolded over Twitter, when Smith tweeted at the Sheezus hitmaker that, according to his parents, they were third cousins. To his surprise, Lily quickly responded, confirming his suspicion.

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"She's my cousin but I've only met her once in my entire life. My family told me for years that she's my cousin,” Smith later explained, according to The Daily Mail. "I never believed them so I tweeted her and she tweeted me back saying that we are cousins."

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So all in all, not a bad week for Smith – even if he did fall short of the Billboard win.