01.02.2021 – L.dK Weekly

TAYLOR SWIFT COMMANDS CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS FOR SEVENTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK!

evermore & folklore continue their rule; Hayley Williams & Harry Styles re-enter the Top Ten!

Taylor Swift’s evermore collects a seventh successive week atop L.dK Weekly, and fifth frame in charge of Contemporary Albums; evermore also spent two weeks at the top on the Weekly Top 50 in 2020.

The album sold 124,000 copies in the latest tracking week (down 16 percent), and pushes the album’s total sales to 1.12 million units.

Also occupying the No.2 spot for a seventh consecutive turn, Swift’s folklore moves a further 63,000 copies (down 15 percent). The record – which ruled L.dK Weekly for fifteen weeks – has sold 2.59 million to date.

Three former chart-topping albums hold steady in the Top Five: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts at No.3 (50,000 – up 4 percent); Ariana Grande’s Positions at No.4 (32,000 – down 20 percent); Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! at No.5 (20,000 – down 5 percent).

The latter set nabs a record-extending 41st week in the Top Five, and record-padding 67th week in the Top Ten.

At No.6: Joji’s Nectar – which peaked at No.2 last year – goes 2 x Platinum in its 18th week on L.dK Weekly, with total sales of 609,000 units. The album sold 15,000 units this week (down 7 percent).

Fiona Apple’s No.4 hit Fetch the Bolt Cutters dips 6-7 (12,000 – down 25 percent); Hayley Williams’s No.3 peaking Petals for Armor blooms 11-8 (12,000 – up 9 percent); The Weeknd inches 10-9 with his chart-leading After Hours (11,000 – down 9 percent); Harry Styles’ former number one record Fine Line springs 14-10 (10,000 – on par).

Onto Next Week: Celeste could challenge for the No.2 spot on Top Contemporary Albums, as her debut album Not Your Muse could generate upwards of 50,000 sales in its first week. Taylor Swift is predicted to log an eighth week at the summit with around 100,000 sales of evermore.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary

No.14 – Piano Sketches / Birdy’s 2020 4-track EP reaches a new peak on the latest edition of Top Contemporary Albums, shooting 16-14 with sales of 9,000 copies. The EP rises to a new high following the announcement of Birdy’s upcoming fourth studio record Young Heart (due 30th April).

Top Contemporary Albums

1. [=/7] evermore – Taylor Swift (7)
2. [=] folklore – Taylor Swift (27)
3. [=] Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus (9)
4. [=] Positions – Ariana Grande (13)
5. [=] Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (74)
6. [+1] Nectar – Joji (18)
7. [-1] Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple (41)
8. [+3] Petals for Armor – Hayley Williams (38)
9. [+1] After Hours – The Weeknd (45)
10. [+4] Fine Line – Harry Styles (59)
11. [+4] Album No.8 – Katie Melua (15)
12. [-4] What’s Your Pleasure? – Jessie Ware (31)
13. [-1] Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass – Lana Del Rey (27)
14. [+2] Piano Sketches – Birdy (12)
15. [-2] Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (44)
16. [-7] SAWAYAMA – Rina Sawayama (8)
17. [+1] Live in Concert: the 24 Karat Gold Tour – Stevie Nicks (13)
18. [-1] Ungodly Hour – Chloe x Halle (33)
19. [+2] DISCO – Kylie Minogue (12)
20. [-1] Chromatica – Lady Gaga (35)
21. [-1] Such Pretty Forks in the Road – Alanis Morissette (26)
22. [+1] Map of the Soul: 7 – BTS (49)
23. [+1] BE – BTS (10)
24. [re] Compilation 1.1 – Celeste (11)
25. [-3] Love Goes – Sam Smith (13)

STEVIE NICKS THUNDERS TO NO.1 WITH CRYSTAL VISIONS!

Kate Bush climbs to new highs; Florence + the Machine re-enter the Top Five; Adele’s 21 makes the Top Ten!

After soaring to No.2 last week, Stevie Nicks goes all the way to No.1 this week with Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks, moving 20,000 units (up 11 percent).

This marks the first week at No.1 on Top Catalogue Albums for Stevie Nicks, although including the singer’s extensive reign on the Weekly Top 50, this is Nicks’ seventeenth week at No.1 across all albums.

Crystal Visions has now spent a total of four weeks at No.1 across the Weekly Top 50 and the new Top Catalogue Albums Chart.

Nicks is present again in the Top Ten: Bella Donna drops 7-9 with 10,000 copies sold (up 11 percent). The album has now sold a total of 1.501 million units, making it Nicks’ first album to be certified 5 x Platinum!

In-fact, Bella Donna is only the 17th album in history to exceed sales of 1,500,000 units.

Slipping from No.1 to No.2 after a total of three weeks in charge is Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection selling 18,000 copies (down 6 percent).

Kate Bush’s The Whole Story surges 5-3, selling 13,000 copies (on par). Story – Bush’s only compilation set to date – reaches its highest rank ever in its 82nd charting week, surpassing its prior peak of No.4, which it reached in 2018.

To date, Story is the only album from Kate Bush to surpass 1 million sales, having moved 1,067,000 since release.

Annie Lennox’s No.1 hit Diva remains at No.4 as it celebrates a full two years on L.dK Weekly (104 weeks)! Diva moved 12,000 copies this week (down 8 percent).

Florence + the Machine follow back-to-back in the Top Ten this week with their two most recent albums: former No.1 High as Hope rebounds 11-5 (12,000 – up 71 percent) and the No.3 peaking How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful springs 9-6 (12,000 – up 50 percent).

On the tenth anniversary of its release, Adele’s historic 21 flies onto Top Catalogue Albums at No.7 shifting 11,000 copies. The Platinum-certified set has now spent a total of 50 weeks on L.dK Weekly, after peaking at No.4 in 2019. Further down the Catalogue ranking, 25 (No.2 peak) is back at No.21 (4,000 copies), in its 107th charting week.

Two compilation sets round out the Top Ten: Alanis Morissete’s No.2 peaking The Collection tumbles 3-8 (11,000); Fleetwood Mac’s one-week number-one Greatest Hits slides 6-10 (8,000 – down 12 percent).

Onto Next Week: Tori Amos could be primed to earn her first No.1 hit as Under the Pink looks set to sell between 30-40,000 copies in its opening week. It follows her 1992 debut Little Earthquakes which climbed as high as No.2.

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue

No.13 – She’s so Unusual / Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 debut album ranks among the most successful sets in L.dK Weekly history. The album topped the Weekly Top 50 for six terms in 2019, and this week logs an 86th appearance on the ranking. To date, Unusual has sold a whopping 1,803,000 units – it is just the 12th album in history to be certified 6 x Platinum. Currently, Unusual is the 12th bestselling album of all time, trailing Lady Gaga’s Chromatica at No.11 (1,852,000 sold).

Top Catalogue Albums

1. [+1/4] Crystal Visions: the Very Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (47)
2. [-1] A Beautiful Collection – Carole King (32)
3. [+2] The Whole Story – Kate Bush (82)
4. [=] Diva – Annie Lennox (104)
5. [+6] High as Hope – Florence + the Machine (4)
6. [+3] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine (41)
7. [re] 21 – Adele (50)
8. [-5] The Collection – Alanis Morissette (42)
9. [-2] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks (124)
10. [-4] Greatest Hits – Fleetwood Mac (62)
11. [-1] Sweetener – Ariana Grande (106)
12. [+1] thank u, next – Ariana Grande (53)
13. [-5] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (86)
14. [=] Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (111)
15. [=] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware (98)
16. [+2] Medusa – Annie Lennox (78)
17. [re] Heart – HEART (39)
18. [-2] 50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush (10)
19. [-7] Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (60)
20. [-3] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos (58)
21. [re] 25 – Adele (107)
22. [+3] True Colors – Cyndi Lauper (23)
23. [-4] Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (37)
24. [-4] Bad Animals – HEART (74)
25. [-2] A Star is Born – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (99)

Industry Sales: Contemporary Albums record sales of 441,000 units this week (down 13.9%) while Catalogue Albums generated 230,000 units (up 1.7%). Contemporary was responsible for 65.2% of all consumption this week; versus 34.8% for Catalogue.

This week marks the lowest figure to date for Contemporary Abums: the previous low-mark for the format was last week’s haul of 512,000 units.

Total industry sales are down by a sharp 9.1% to 671,000 copies sold this week. Compared to the same week last year (when 494,000 albums were sold), activity is up by a whopping 35.8%!