23.03.20 – L.dK Weekly

MAREN MORRIS DEBUTS AT NO.1 WITH GIRL!

Plus: Niall Horan debuts at No.2.

Maren Morris pays her first visit to L.dK Weekly as GIRL smashes onto the list at No.1, marking the largest week ever for a country album.

GIRL is the 47th record to reach No.1 on L.dK, and 7th to do so in 2020. As GIRL starts with a total of 114,000 units, it ties for the second-biggest week of 2020 for any album, matching the bow of Halsey’s Manic in January. Both records trail BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 which debuted with 123,000 in March.

Gold: Morris’ effort is the 6th album released in 2020 to sell more than 100,000 copies, earning a Gold certification.

While GIRL looks set to hold up pretty well going into next week, new releases from The Weeknd & Conan Gray may mean she is unable to hold onto the No.1 spot for a second week.

Another newcomer to L.dK follows Morris: Niall Horan bows at No.2 with his sophomore record Heartbreak Weather. The album launches with a combined 61,000 units, with 56,000 coming from first week sales and 5,000 being derived from single sales prior to the album’s release.

Silver: Heartbreak Weather is the 8th record of 2020 to sell over 60,000 units to be certified Silver!

HEART’s eponymous No.1 set falls 2-3 in its third week, selling 51,000 copies.

Meanwhile Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell slides to No.4 after logging a record-extending 17th week atop the chart last week. It moves 34,000 this week. Rockwell has now become Del Rey’s bestselling album to date with total sales of 2.482 million units – it surpasses Lust for Life‘s total sales of 2.455 million cop

Florence + the Machine’s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful regresses to No.5 from its No.3 peak (33,000) and this week becomes the band’s second record to be certified Platinum. They previously managed this with their 2011 release Ceremonials which spent three weeks at No.1 and has since sold more than 400,000 units.

Tori Amos vaults 12-6 this week with Little Earthquakes, moving 26,000 units. It marks the album’s highest rank since December when it debuted and peaked at No.2, and also the first time it has numbered in the Top Ten since later that month when it ranked at No.8.

Following in the Top Ten are three albums which have all sold more than 1,000,000 copies: Taylor Swift’s Lover (23,000) and Annie Lennox’ Medusa (21,000) both slip a position to No.7 and No.8 respectively, while Jessie Ware’s Glasshouse inches 10-9 with 19,000 sold.

Selena Gomez’ Rare rounds out the Top Ten, dropping 5-10 and moving 18,000 copies.

Onto next week: as previously mentioned, The Weeknd & Conan Gray are both set to impact L.dK. But in addition to the Weekly Chart there will also be the list of the Biggest Albums of 2020 to date – from Q1 – at the end of each quarter a new list will be uploaded to reflect the changes, and will culminate in the Year-End List uploaded in the final week of December, along with a list of the Greatest Albums of All Time the same day.

Important Moves in the Top 40!

No.24 – Sweetener / Ariana Grande’s 2018 record Sweetener is among the biggest albums ever released on L.dK Weekly, and this week it collects another accolade. The record, which spent three weeks at the summit in 2018, has now been certified 5 x Platinum – equal to 1,500,000 sales. It is just the 7th LP to achieve this feat, and Grande’s first.

No.23 – Back to Black / The late Amy Winehouse’s masterpiece first hit the charts in early 2017 and has been a mainstay on the list ever since. This week it nabs a 43rd frame on the chart, while becoming the 18th album to sell more than 1,000,000 copies.

No.29 – Dancing Queen / Cher’s ABBA covers album has achieved great success during its time on L.dK. Upon its release it peaked at No.2 and would go on to spend 27 weeks inside the Top Ten; earlier this year it surpassed 1,000,000 copies sold, and this week it becomes the 12th album to spend 52 weeks (1 year) on the ranking!

The Top 40

1. [NEW] GIRL – Maren Morris
2. [NEW] Heartbreak Weather – Niall Horan
3. [-1] Heart – HEART
4. [-3] Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Rey
5. [-2] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine
6. [+6] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos
7. [-1] Lover – Taylor Swift
8. [-1] Medusa – Annie Lennox
9. [+1] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware
10. [-5] Rare – Selena Gomez
11. [=] The Whole Story – Kate Bush
12. [-3] K Bye for Now – Ariana Grande
13. [+5] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
14. [-10] Manic – Halsey
15. [-1] Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks
16. [+1] Birdy – Birdy
17. [-2] Fine Line – Harry Styles
18. [-10] Map of the Soul : 7 – BTS
19. [=] A Different Kind of Human – AURORA
20. [+1] Compilation 1:1 – Celeste
21. [+1] Diva – Annie Lennox
22. [+2] Rock a Little – Stevie Nicks
23. [+9] Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
24. [re] Sweetener – Ariana Grande
25. [+12] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks
26. [+5] The Wild Heart – Stevie Nicks
27. [re] Dedicated – Carly Rae Jepsen
28. [+7] Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
29. [-2] Dancing Queen – Cher
30. [-2] Bad Animals – HEART
31. [-8] The Red Shoes – Kate Bush
32. [re] A Star is Born – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
33. [re] Queen – Nicki Minaj
34. [+5] Bloom – Troye Sivan
35. [-9] 21 – Adele
36. [-11] Lioness: Hidden Treasures – Amy Winehouse
37. [re] thank u, next – Ariana Grande
38. [re] Infections of a Different Kind – AURORA
39. [re] WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP … – Billie Eilish
40. [re] Don’t Feed the Pop Monster – Broods