28.12.2020 – L.dK Weekly

TAYLOR SWIFT NABS FINAL NO.1 OF 2020!

As evermore continues to rule, folklore holds in second place; Lana Del Rey also re-enters the Top Ten!

For a second consecutive week, Taylor Swift’s evermore ranks as the bestselling album on L.dK Weekly.

After debuting at the top spot last week, the album moves another 169,000 units, falling just 26 percent from the week before when it sold 226,000.

evermore has already been certified Platinum with sales of 395,000 since its release. It marks Swift’s fourth Platinum hit, and second released this year,

Compared to the performance of folklore, while evermore debuted with just over 30,000 fewer units, the newer set has now pulled ahead in sales. After two weeks, folklore had moved 390,000 units: 5,000 less than evermore!

It’s second week haul of 169,000 also represents Swift’s greatest non-debut sales week.

Speaking of folklore: on the newest instalment of L.dK Weekly, folklore holds in the No.2 spot with sales of 86,000 copies (down 18 percent).

After spending a whopping fifteen weeks at the summit earlier this year, the LP logs a 22nd week in the Top Five. It passes Alanis Morissette’s The Collection, Adele’s 25 & Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection to become the fifth longest-running Top Five album in history.

• 38 weeks – Lana Del Rey / Norman Fucking Rockwell!
• 31 weeks – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper / A Star is Born
• 28 weeks – Lana Del Rey / Lust for Life
• 28 weeks – Fleetwood Mac / Rumours
• 22 weeks – Taylor Swift / folklore

For a second week, Taylor Swift holds both the No.1 & No.2 spots on L.dK Weekly. She made history last week by becoming the first artist ever to achieve this feat!

The remaining three albums inside the Top Five repeat their positions from last week: Miley Cyrus’s two-week leader Plastic Hearts is at No.3 with 59,000 units (down 21 percent); Ariana Grande ranks at No.4 with her three-week ruler Positions, selling 47,000 copies (down 10 percent); Rina Sawayama’s SAWAYAMA places again at No.5 after reaching No.4 – it sells 29,000 copies (up 3 percent).

Just outside the Top Five, Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection bullets at No.6 moving 25,000 units (up 4 percent).

Roaring 12-7 in its 69th week in the Top 50: Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! earns 20,000 units this week (up 25 percent). The album – which commanded the Top 50 for a record 17 weeks, and ranks as the bestselling project ever – nabs a record-padding 62nd week in the Top Ten!

Rockwell! is closely followed by Fiona Apple’s No.4 hit Fetch the Bolt Cutters with 18,000 units (up 5 percent).

Two former No.1 hits anchor the Top Ten: Fleetwood Mac are down 7-9 with Greatest Hits (18,000 – down 22 percent), and Harry Styles falls back one spot to No.10 with Fine Line (18,000 – down 6 percent).

Industry Sales: Album sales totalled 865,000 across all releases this week: down 7.9% from the week before. Although, its up a huge 33.4% compared to the same week last year when 648,000 units were sold.

Onto Next Week: Next week shall mark the first chart week of 2021, and a big change is coming to L.dK Weekly! More on that at the end of this week’s article…

Notable Moves in the Top 50

No.18 – The Whole Story / Kate Bush has achieved many things in her time on L.dK Weekly. The art-pop Queen has earned herself five Top Five hits, including the No.1 hit Never for Ever and ranks among the most successful artists ever. But this week marks a first for Bush, as her 1986 compilation set The Whole Story becomes her first collection to sell over 1 million copies! With 1,004,000 sold to date, Bush’s only best-of set is the 31st album to sell 1 million units among all artists. Other than Story, Bush’s highest-selling studio album is 1993’s The Red Shoes on sales of 824,000 copies.

No.23 – Such Pretty Forks in the Road / After earning one of the year’s biggest releases with her 2005 compilation The Collection, the stakes were high for Alanis Morissette’s newest project. Forks would debut at No.2 (matching the peak of The Collection) while her other album was still in the Top Five. This week, as it rises 30-23, it becomes Morissette’s second album (in as many tries) to be certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 units. While Forks is still dwarfed by The Collection‘s hefty 1.91 million to-date-sales, it is certainly a success in its own right.

Top 50

1. [=/2] evermore – Taylor Swift (2)
2. [=] folklore – Taylor Swift (22)
3. [=] Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus (4)
4. [=] Positions – Ariana Grande (8)
5. [=] SAWAYAMA – Rina Sawayama (3)
6. [=] A Beautiful Collection – Carole King (27)
7. [+5] Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (69)
8. [+2] Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple (36)
9. [-2] Greatest Hits – Fleetwood Mac (57)
10. [-1] Fine Line – Harry Styles (54)
11. [-3] Nectar – Joji (13)
12. [+1] Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (39)
13. [+5] The Collection – Alanis Morissette (37)
14. [+11] After Hours – The Weeknd (40)
15. [+9] Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass – Lana Del Rey (22)
16. [=] Diva – Annie Lennox (99)
17. [+9] Petals for Armor – Hayley Williams (33)
18. [-4] The Whole Story – Kate Bush (77)
19. [-8] BE – BTS (5)
20. [-5] Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (55)
21. [-4] What’s Your Pleasure? – Jessie Ware (26)
22. [+6] Chromatica – Lady Gaga (30)
23. [+7] Such Pretty Forks in the Road – Alanis Morissette (21)
24. [-1] Album No.8 – Kate Bush (10)
25. [-4] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks (119)
26. [-4] Live in Concert: the 24 Karat Gold Tour – Stevie Nicks (8)
27. [-8] Sweetener – Ariana Grande (101)
28. [+3] Piano Sketches – Birdy (7)
29. [+7] A Star is Born – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (94)
30. [-3] thank u, next – Ariana Grande (48)
31. [-11] Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (106)
32. [-3] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos (53)
33. [-1] 50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush (5)
34. [-1] DISCO – Kylie Minogue (7)
35. [+3] Ungodly Hour – Chloe x Halle (28)
36. [-2] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (81)
37. [+7] Medusa – Annie Lennox (73)
38. [+1] Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (32)
39. [-4] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware (93)
40. [re] The Sensual World – Kate Bush (52)
41. [-4] Infinite Things – Paloma Faith (6)
42. [re] Rock a Little – Stevie Nicks (74)
43. [+5] 25 – Adele (105)
44. [-1] Back to Black – Amy Winehouse (83)
45. [=] Map of the Soul: 7 – BTS (44)
46. [=] Love Goes – Sam Smith (8)
47. [re] Crystal Visions – Stevie Nicks (43)
48. [-1] Christmastide – Tori Amos (2)
49. [re] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine (36)
50. [re] Bad Animals – HEART (71)

Certifications: Silver (60,000), Gold (100,000), Platinum (300,000), Multi-Platinum (600,000, 900,000 etc.), Diamond (3,000,000).

New Chart Rules:

As of the first week of 2021, L.dK Weekly will now be comprised of two separate charts: Contemporary Albums & Catalogue Albums.

Contemporary Albums: This chart – 25 positions deep – will rank the performance of albums officially released in the past 18 months (78 weeks).

Catalogue Albums: This chart – also 25 positions deep – will rank the performance of albums officially released more than 18 months (78 weeks) ago.

In terms of Year-End rundowns, there will now be four lists as opposed to the current two. Contemporary & Catalogue will each have an albums chart for the year, and an artist’s chart for the year.

Top Contemporary Albums: Ranks the most successful contemporary albums of the year.

Top Catalogue Albums: Ranks the most successful catalogue albums of the year.

If an album places on the weekly Contemporary Chart at one point during the year, and is then moved onto the Catalogue Albums Chart due to age, then it is entirely possible for an album to chart on both Year-End tallies should it generate enough sales & points.

Top Contemporary Artists: Ranks the most successful artists of the year by the performance of their albums on the Contemporary Chart only.

Top Catalogue Artists: Ranks the most successful artists of the year by the performance of their albums on the Catalogue Chart only.

For All-Time Charts, there shall be just one list for albums & another for artists.