Scottish postie-turned-TikTok sea shanty star sitting at number four ahead of Friday's Official Chart announcement

A former postie whose TikTok video of himself singing a sea shanty went viral is currently sitting at number four in the UK charts ahead of the Official Charts announcement on Friday.

Nathan Evans performing on Tiktok. The former postman, who was behind the viral sea shanty trend on the platform, has said the songs can united people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Nathan Evans, from Airdrie, quit his job as a postman after kick-starting a new viral craze of sea-shantying on TikTok (dubbed ShantyTok) and signing a record deal with Polydor Records.

The 26-year-old’s song Wellerman is currently sitting at number four in the charts, Radio One’s Official First Look programme hosts announced on Sunday evening.

The UK’s Official Chart will be confirmed on Friday, 29 January.

Evans told the PA news agency: “Back in the day when the shanties were sung, it was to bring everybody together, to keep them all in time, to keep the morale high.

Especially in this time when everybody’s stuck at home, they’re doing their remote working – they can join in, and it kind of brings everybody together.

“So I think it’s just kind of brought it into this day and age. It makes it feel like you’re all united.”

Wellerman is a cover of Bristol group The Longest Johns’ 2018 song, which also entered the Official Top 40 just last week.

Evans has released his own take on the shanty, plus a dance remix produced by 220 Kid and Billen Ted, which is tipped to enter the charts at number four.

Wellerman is the most downloaded song of the week so far, two days into the tracking week, the Official Charts Company said.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.