22.02.2021 – L.dK Weekly

TAYLOR SWIFT HOLDS TOP TWO SPOTS ON TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS WITH EVERMORE & FOLKLORE!

As evermore leads for a tenth week, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia blasts back into the Top Ten!

Taylor Swift’s evermore crowns Top Contemporary Albums for an eighth consecutive week (tenth in total, including two weeks atop the discontinued Weekly Top 50) selling 97,000 units over the most recent tracking period (down 5 percent).

evermore is just the fourth album to rule for at least ten weeks on L.dK Weekly. It is also Swift’s second album to achieve a double-digit reign, following folklore which stayed at the top spot for fifteen weeks in 2020.

Currently, Lana Del Rey is the only other artist to have two albums spend at least ten turns at No.1; Norman Fucking Rockwell! (seventeen weeks) and Lust for Life (eleven weeks).

folklore rises 4-2 this week selling 58,000 copies (up 1 percent), marking the ninth week that Taylor Swift has held the top two spots on L.dK Weekly.

This week, folklore becomes just the third album in history to spend thirty weeks inside the Top Five. Currently only NFR! (forty-one weeks) and Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born (thirty-one weeks) have spent longer inside the Top Five.

After debuting at No.2 last week, Hayley Williams’s sophomore solo set FLOWERS for VASES / descansos drops to No.3 on sales of 55,000 units (down 34 percent). The folky album has now been certified Gold for selling over 100,000 copies.

Williams’s debut solo effort Petals for Armor slides 7-10 on sales of 15,000 copies (down 32 percent) after reaching No.3 last year. The record has now shifted exactly 1,000,000 units since its release last May, becoming the 34th album to sell a million copies.

Miley Cyrus’s two-week chart-topper Plastic Hearts moves back up 5-4 on sales of 45,000 units (up 2 percent).

The Weeknd’s The Highlights falls to No.5 after debuting at a No.3 high last week. Sales are down 36 percent to 41,000 sold, and the compilation album has now been certified Gold (100,000).

Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia rockets 17-6 following the release of it’s Moonlight Edition. Sales exploded by 550 percent to 36,000 sold (up from 8,000 the week before), sending the album back into this week’s Top Ten.

Previously, Future spent eight weeks at No.1 on L.dK Weekly, and has sold 2.25 million copies to date.

Celeste’s debut studio album Not Your Muse steps down 6-7 after launching at No.3 earlier this month (26,000 – up 8 percent), ahead of Lana Del Rey’s NFR! which ticks 9-8 (17,000 – down 6 percent) in its record-extending 70th week inside the Top Ten.

Finally: Ariana Grande’s former three-week number-one Positions drops 8-9 (16,000 – down 24 percent) and achieves Triple Platinum status for shifting over 900,000 units. Positions is Grande’s third album to reach this milestone; it joins 2018’s Sweetener (6 x Platinum) and 2019’s thank u, next (4 x Platinum).

Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift’s evermore looks set for an eleventh week at the helm, potentially with a further 90,000 units. Meanwhile Ariana Grande’s Positions could gain ground following the release of the deluxe edition. Currently, the album is on track to sell around 30,000 units.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary

No.14 – Piano Sketches / Birdy’s four-track EP Piano Sketches rises 16-14 for a third week at its current peak. It sold 8,000 copies this week, and has moved 123,000 units to date.

Top Contemporary Albums

1. [=/10] evermore – Taylor Swift (10)
2. [+2] folklore – Taylor Swift (30)
3. [-1] FLOWERS for VASES / descansos – Hayley Williams (2)
4. [+1] Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus (12)
5. [-2] The Highlights – The Weeknd (2)
6. [+11] Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (47)
7. [-1] Not Your Muse – Celeste (3)
8. [+1] Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (77)
9. [-1] Positions – Ariana Grande (16)
10. [-3] Petals for Armor – Hayley Williams (41)
11. [=] What’s Your Pleasure? – Jessie Ware (34)
12. [-2] After Hours – The Weeknd (48)
13. [=] Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass – Lana Del Rey (30)
14. [+2/3] Piano Sketches – Birdy (15)
15. [+3] Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple (44)
16. [-4] Fine Line – Harry Styles (62)
17. [+2] Ungodly Hour – Chloe x Halle (36)
18. [-4] Nectar – Joji (21)
19. [-4] Album No.8 – Katie Melua (18)
20. [+2] Chromatica – Lady Gaga (38)
21. [+3] Love Goes – Sam Smith (16)
22. [-1] DISCO – Kylie Minogue (15)
23. [-3] Live in Concert: the 24 Karat Gold Tour – Stevie Nicks (16)
24. [-1] Such Pretty Forks in the Road – Alanis Morissette (29)
25. [re] In a Dream – Troye Sivan (17)

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

CAROLE KING LEADS CATALOGUE ALBUMS FOR FIFTH WEEK!

A Beautiful Collection continues to rule; Ariana Grande & Cyndi Lauper return to Top Ten.

Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection logs a fifth week at No.1 on Top Catalogue Albums with sales of 20,000 copies (on par with the previous week).

Currently, Beautiful ties with Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks as the longest-running compilation album in chart history.

Crystal repeats at No.2 this week moving 17,000 copies (down 11 percent) and is one of two Nicks albums present in the Top Ten this week. The second – her debut solo album Bella Donna – remains at No.7 with 9,000 sold (even week-over-week) in its record-furthering 127th frame on L.dK Weekly.

Kate Bush’s The Whole Story adds a third week at its No.3 highpoint on the Catalogue Albums Chart, shifting 16,000 copies (up 6 percent).

Alanis Morissette’s The Collection pushes 5-4 after peaking at No.2 for a total of nine weeks. The best-of set sold 12,000 copies (up 9 percent). This week, The Collection becomes just the seventh album in history to exceed sales of 2,000,000 units! Morissette’s hit is currently the seventh bestselling album ever (2 million copies) just behind Annie Lennox’s Diva at No.6 on sales of 2.05 million.

Interestingly, the positions are flipped on this weekly rundown, with Lennox’s No.1 hit Diva sitting one spot beneath The Collection at No.5 (down from No.4) with 12,000 units (even with last week).

Florence + the Machine keep at No.6 with their former chart-topper High as Hope (10,000 – up 11 percent); the band also move 9-10 with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (7,000 – down 13 percent) after it reached No.3 last year.

Two albums – both ranking among the biggest hits in L.dK Weekly history – re-enter the Top Ten this week. Ariana Grande’s three-week ruler Sweetener climbs 11-8, while Cyndi Lauper’s six-week leader She’s so Unusual rises 12-9. Both albums sold 7,000 copies this week (even with last week’s performance).

Onto Next Week: Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection could make history if it continues its rule into a sixth week. Currently, Beautiful looks set to sell around 21,000 units, and its closest competition will likely be Kate Bush’s The Whole Story which could sell 18,000.

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue

No.24 – A Star is Born / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s soundtrack – until last year, the bestselling album of all time – re-enters Top Catalogue Albums at No.24 this week selling 4,000 copies. The soundtrack clocks its 100th appearance on L.dK Weekly, entering an elite club of albums to spend as long on the list.

Top Catalogue Albums

1. [=/5] A Beautiful Collection – Carole King (35)
2. [=] Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (5)
3. [=/3] The Whole Story – Kate Bush (85)
4. [+1] The Collection – Alanis Morissette (45)
5. [-1] Diva – Annie Lennox (107)
6. [=] High as Hope – Florence + the Machine (7)
7. [=] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks (127)
8. [+3] Sweetener – Ariana Grande (109)
9. [+3] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (89)
10. [-1] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine (44)
11. [+8] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware (101)
12. [+1] Greatest Hits – Fleetwood Mac (65)
13. [-5] The Wild Heart – Stevie Nicks (83)
14. [+6] Medusa – Annie Lennox (81)
15. [=] True Colors – Cyndi Lauper (26)
16. [+1] Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (40)
17. [re] Bad Animals – HEART (76)
18. [=] Heart – HEART (42)
19. [-5] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos (61)
20. [+3] thank u, next – Ariana Grande (56)
21. [+3] A Different Kind of Human – AURORA (48)
22. [-6] Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (114)
23. [re] The Red Shoes – Kate Bush (60)
24. [re] A Star is Born – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (100)
25. [-4] 25 – Adele (109)

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 513,000 units (down 8.5%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 256,000 units (up 5.7%). Contemporary accounted for 66.7% of all consumption this week; versus 33.3% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales are down by 3.4% to 769,000 units sold this week. Compared to the same week last year (when 490,000 albums were sold), consumption is up 56.9%!

Catalogue sales reach a new peak this week, passing the 245,000 albums sold in the week ending February 8th.