06.04.20 – L.dK Weekly

DUA LIPA TOPPLES THE WEEKND AS FUTURE NOSTALGIA LAUNCHES AT NO.1!

Plus: After Hours goes Platinum in its second week, Lana Del Rey ties a record, and both Tori Amos and Harry Styles make big gains!

Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia makes it official chart debut at No.1 on L.dK Weekly, earning Lipa her first chart-topper in the process. Future is the 49th album to land at No.1 on L.dK.

Biggest Week of 2020: With first week sales of 289,000 units overall – comprising 38,000 pre-sales and 251,000 copies from its first seven days of activity – Future nabs the largest debut of 2020 by a fairly large margin. It comes just a week after The Weeknd’s After Hours opened with 249,000 to become the fastest-selling set of the year. Just as After Hours did, Future would also have claimed the record without its hefty pre-sales figure.

Lipa’s First No.1: Before Future, Lipa had climbed as high as No.2 with her self-titled debut album in 2017. This week that album surges 20-13 on sales of 19,000 units, going Platinum in the same move.

Fifth-Biggest Debut Ever: Replacing the Weeknd’s After Hours, Future scores the fifth-biggest opening week in history. It’s surpassed by Lana Del Rey’s Lust for Life (639,000), Lorde’s Melodrama (345,000) and Lover (310,000) & reputation (309,000) both from Taylor Swift.

After nabbing a short-lived record last week, After Hours dips to No.2. After launching with 249,000 units, sales drop by just 45 percent, and the album shifts 137,000 in its second week. It marks the largest non-debut sales week of the year, and the third biggest week overall behind its own debut and this week’s launch from Future Nostalgia. After has sold a total of 386,000 copies in just 14 days, earning it Platinum status – its the 68th album to sell over 300,000 copies.

Impressively, The Weeknd now nabs the two greatest sales weeks ever for a male artist, with the first two frames of After Hours.

Rising from No.4 to No.3 this week is HEART’s eponymous LP, moving 46,000 units (up 2 percent).

Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes pays its first visit to the Top Five since November 2019 as it scrambles 6-4, gaining by 25 percent to 39,000 sold. The alternative album has sold 356,000 copies to date – including 204,000 in 2020.

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell sticks at No.5 for a second week on L.dK (36,000 – on par with last week). The juggernaut record – which has sold in excess of 2.55 million copies – has now spent 31 weeks inside the Top Five, tying Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born for the longest ever stay in the region. Star spent 31 weeks in the top tier between 2018 and 2019 and would remain in the Top Ten for a total of 42 weeks. Rockwell has ranked inside the Top Five for its entire 31-week tenure – and could soon up that shelf-live to 32 weeks, nabbing the record for itself.

Maren Morris’ GIRL drops 3-6 in its third week, dropping by 35 percent to 32,000 sold. It holds above Conan Gray whose Kid Krow dives 2-7 with sales sliding by 59 percent to 28,000 sold.

Re-entering the Top Ten for the first time since the chart dated 24th Feb. is Harry Styles’ Fine Line (24,000 – up 100 percent) flying 19-8! With total sales of 468,000 to date, Styles’ former No.1 has now become the bestselling album ever by a solo male artist: it passes Troye Sivan’s Bloom which has shifted 457,000. It also ties Bloom as the longest-running Top Ten by a male solo artist – both have logged 11 weeks in the region.

Florence + the Machine see How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful slip 8-9 with 23,000 sold (down 12 percent) after peaking at No.3, while Selena Gomez’ Rare sits at No.10 for a third week as it claims a 12th frame in the Top Ten (21,000 – on par with last week).

Industry Tops 1 Million: Overall, 958,000 sales were recorded for the chart dated March 30th, at the time becoming the biggest week in music history. This week, total consumption surpasses 1,000,000 for the first time as 1,028,000 sales were generated.

Onto next week: Both Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and The Weeknd’s After Hours could generate more than 100,000 units each. There are no major releases scheduled.

Important Moves in the Top 40!

No.15: Rock a Little / After the tracklist swelled thanks to the addition of five demo tracks from its 1984-1985 recording sessions, Stevie Nicks’ third studio album Rock a Little blasts 24-15 moving 18,000 units. The album has sold 873,000 to date in the UK, and this week logs its 61st appearance on L.dK Weekly.

The Top 40

1. [NEW] Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa
2. [-1] After Hours – The Weeknd
3. [+1] Heart – HEART
4. [+2] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos
5. [=] Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Rey
6. [-3] GIRL – Maren Morris
7. [-5] Kid Krow – Conan Gray
8. [+11] Fine Line – Harry Styles
9. [-1] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine
10. [=] Rare – Selena Gomez
11. [-4] Lover – Taylor Swift
12. [-3] Medusa – Annie Lennox
13. [+7] Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa
14. [-3] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware
15. [+9] Rock a Little – Stevie Nicks
16. [-3] The Whole Story – Kate Bush
17. [-3] Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks
18. [-6] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper
19. [-4] K bye for Now – Ariana Grande
20. [-4] Map of the Soul: 7 – BTS
21. [-4] Heartbreak Weather – Niall Horan
22. [-4] Diva – Annie Lennox
23. [=] A Different Kind of Human – AURORA
24. [-2] Birdy – Birdy
25. [+5] Dedicated – Carly Rae Jepsen
26. [-5] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks
27. [-2] Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
28. [+10] Queen – Nicki Minaj
29. [+6] Sweetener – Ariana Grande
30. [+4] The Wild Heart – Stevie Nicks
31. [-5] Heart of Stone – Cher
32. [+7] Bloom – Troye Sivan
33. [+7] 21 – Adele
34. [+3] Bad Animals – HEART
35. [-2] Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
36. [-7] Infections of a Different Kind – AURORA
37. [re] Don’t Feed the Pop Monster – Broods
38. [-7] Compilation 1:1 – Celeste
39. [-3] Dancing Queen – Cher
40. [-8] Rumours – Fleetwood Mac