Raye rises to first number one with Escapism – after going independent over record label row

Raye has risen to her first number one single, topping the UK charts as an independent artist after parting ways with her former record label.

Speaking to Sky News about the milestone – which puts her track Escapism ahead of Taylor Swift at number two – she said: “For someone who puts words together for a living, I don’t necessarily really have the best words to describe how crazy this is.”

Raye is a Brit and Ivor Novello-nominated performer and songwriter known as a vocalist on some of the biggest dance hits of recent years, including Jonas Blue’s By Your Side and Jax Jones’s multiplatinum-selling You Don’t Know Me, both in 2016; as well as Secrets, with Regard, in 2020; and Bed, with David Guetta and Joel Corry, in 2021.

She is also an acclaimed songwriter, having written for stars including Little Mix, Charlie XCX, David Guetta and even Beyonce, as well as an artist in her own right.

In a series of tweets in June 2021, the British star claimed her label, Polydor, was not allowing her to release her own album, despite being signed since 2014.

A few weeks later, she announced she had “parted ways” with the label.

Now, almost three months after its original release – and previous chart position of number two – her electro hit Escapism, featuring US rapper 070 Shake, has jumped from number 13 to the top of the UK charts thanks to a viral TikTok trend and huge streaming success.

Raye, whose real name is Rachel Agatha Keen, told Sky News that reaching number one as an independent artist after a difficult year makes her feel “like anything is possible – and I was right to back myself”.

She continued: “I’m still very much trying to process all of this because it’s just feels like it’s happened so quick and out of nowhere, and independently as well, which is just bonkers.”

‘Irony in its most hilarious and ridiculous form’

Not only can she now call herself a chart-topper, but the achievement comes just four weeks before she finally gets to release her debut album, titled My 21st Century Blues.

“Never give up on your dreams,” she said. “For someone who [felt] so, like, mediocre and… such a disappointment, actually, for so long, to just receive all the affirmation in the world that I was right to back my music is just…”

She added: “It’s also right in time for my debut album, money can’t buy that. That’s just crazy. Honestly, it feels like I’m going to wake up in a bit.”

The idea with her own music was about telling her own stories, she says, regardless of sales. “So this is like irony in its most hilarious and ridiculous form, that this is the biggest song of my entire career.”

As well as topping the UK charts, Escapism is also the most streamed song this week, with 5.6 million streams, according to Official Charts.

With Christmas songs moving down the charts this week, many other hits have moved up – including Swift’s previous long-running chart-topper Anti-Hero, which jumped from 53 to number two.

Swift’s album Midnights is also number one in the album chart for the fourth non-consecutive week following its release in October.