08.03.2021 – L.dK Weekly

TAYLOR SWIFT BREAKS RECORD FOR MOST WEEKS AT NO.1!

evermore nabs twelfth week at No.1 on Top Contemporary Albums; folklore continues at No.2!

This week, Taylor Swift breaks the record for the most weeks spent at No.1 on L.dK Weekly, notching a twenty-ninth frame at the top spot across her four chart-topping records.

Her latest blockbuster – evermore – lodges in first place for a twelfth consecutive week (dating to its No.1 debut on the chart dated 21 December). The album sold 85,000 copies this week (down 11 percent).

Now with twelve weeks in command, evermore ties Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born as the third longest-running number-one in history.

1. Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (seventeen weeks)
2. folklore – Taylor Swift (fifteen weeks)
3. A Star is Born – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (twelve weeks)
4. evermore – Taylor Swift (twelve weeks)
5. Lust for Life – Lana Del Rey (eleven weeks)

Swift passes Lana Del Rey who previously held the record with twenty-eight weeks in charge across her two No.1 records Lust and NFR! . The singer’s twenty-nine weeks at the spot are owed largely to 2020’s folklore and it’s sister record evermore. Both 2017’s reputation and 2019’s Lover each ruled for a single week each.

Swift also takes the runner-up position on Top Contemporary Albums this week with folklore. The set sells a further 59,000 copies (down 2 percent) as it tallies a thirty-second consecutive week inside the Top Five. Currently, it’s the secnd-longest running Top-Five album ever, behind only Del Rey’s NFR (more on that later…)

Hayley Williams makes two appearances once again in this week’s Top Ten: her No.2 peaking FLOWERS for VASES / descansos keeps at No.3 moving 47,000 copies (down 12 percent) and her No.3 hit Petals for Armor steps up 10-9 on sales of 13,000 units (down 8 percent).

The Weeknd strengthens at No.4 with bestof set The Highlights following its No.3 debut a month ago. The collection moves 46,000 units this week (up 4 percent).

Capping the Top Five: Miley Cyrus’s two-week chart-topper Plastic Hearts rebounds 6-5 with sales of 34,000 copies (up 3 percent).

Beyond the Top Five: Dua Lipa backtracks 5-6 with her eight-week-ruler Future Nostalgia (29,000 – down 20 percent); Celeste’s No.3 hit Not Your Muse reverses course 8-7 (24,000 – up 4 percent); Ariana Grande’s Positions sinks 7-8 following a three-week command last year (18,000 – down 38 percent); Williams’s Petals is at No.9; and Jessie Ware’s sole No.1 record What’s Your Pleasure? inches 11-10 (11,000 – even with last week).

Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift’s evermore could be bound for a thirteenth week at the summit, potentially with around 80,000 units. Zara Larsson could also nab a Top Ten debut with her new Poster Girl; the album – currently tracking to sell roughly 30,000 copies – would be the singer’s second Top Ten hit and first since 2017’s So Good.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary

No.11 – Ungodly Hour / Chloe x Halle’s sophomore studio album rockets 21-11 on this week’s Contemporary Chart, selling 10,000 copies in the lastest tracking period – up 150 percent from the frame before. By hitting No.11, Ungodly records its best rank since last July when the album ranked No.8 (it’s sixth and final week inside the Top Ten). In June last year, the R&B set debuted and peaked at No.5, and has since been certified Platinum!

No.17 – Life Support / Madison Beer’s debut full-length set begins at No.17 with first week sales of 7,000 copies. Previously, the album had been projected to debut in the Top Ten with upwards of 30,000 units.

Top Contemporary Albums

1. [=/12] evermore – Taylor Swift (12)
2. [=] folklore – Taylor Swift (32)
3. [=] FLOWERS for VASES / descansos – Hayley Williams (4)
4. [=] The Highlights – The Weeknd (4)
5. [+1] Plastic Hearts – Miley Cyrus (14)
6. [-1] Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (49)
7. [+1] Not Your Muse – Celeste (5)
8. [-1] Positions – Ariana Grande (18)
9. [+1] Petals for Armor – Hayley Williams (43)
10. [+1] What’s Your Pleasure? – Jessie Ware (36)
11. [+10] Ungodly Hour – Chloe x Halle (38)
12. [=] Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass – Lana Del Rey (32)
13. [+1] Fine Line – Harry Styles (64)
14. [+2] Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple (46)
15. [+3] Nectar – Joji (23)
16. [-1] Album No.8 – Kati Melua (20)
17. [NEW] Life Support – Madison Beer (1)
18. [-1] After Hours – The Weeknd (50)
19. [-6] Piano Sketches – Birdy (17)
20. [=] Such Pretty Forks in the Road – Alanis Morissette (31)
21. [-2] Chromatica – Lady Gaga (40)
22. [=] DISCO – Kylie Minogue (16)
23. [=] Love Goes – Sam Smith (18)
24. [re] In a Dream – Troye Sivan (18)
25. [-1] Live in Concert: the 24 Karat Gold Tour – Stevie Nicks (18)

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

JONI MITCHELL BOWS AT NO.1 WITH BLUE!

The legendary 1971 set earns the biggest debut to date on Top Catalogue Albums!

Joni Mitchell launches at No.1 on the latest tally of Top Catalogue Albums with her 1971 album Blue. The LP starts with sales of 75,000 copies – marking the biggest sales week since the conception of Top Catalogue Albums in January! It also positions the record as the tenth bestselling catalogue album of the year afer only seven days!

Now offically older than eighteen months, Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! marks its first appearance on Catalogue Albums after a seventy-eight week run on the contemporary counterpart. It surges onto the list at No.2 with sales of 19,000 copies, nabbing a record-extending forty-second week in the Top Five and record-padding seventy-second week in the Top Ten!

Last week’s No.1 – Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection – tumbles to No.3 after a six-week reign. The compilation moved 18,000 copies this week (down 6 percent).

Stevie Nicks’s five-week-leader Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks descends 2-4 with 16,000 sold (on par) as it celebrates a fifty-second turn on L.dK Weekly. Nicks currently boasts six albums that have spent at least a year on the chart: 1981’s Bella Donna (129 weeks), 1983’s The Wild Heart (eighty-four weeks), 1985’s Rock a Little (seventy-nine weeks), 1991’s Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks (sixty-one weeks), 1989’s The Other Side of the Mirror (fifty-four weeks) and now Crystal.

Kate Bush rounds out the Top Five with her No.3 peaking The Whole Story (down 3-5) selling 15,000 units this week (even with last week).

Two former chart-toppers follow in the Top Ten: Annie Lennox’s Diva retreats 5-6 (12,000 – up 9 percent); Florence + the Machine’s High as Hope slips 6-7 (12,000 – up 9 percent). Both albums spent a single week at the summit.

Alanis Morissette’s No.2 peaking The Collection slides 4-8 (11,000 – down 22 percent).

Billie Eilish’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? returns at No.9 following the release of her Apple documentary this week. The album – which debuted and peaked at No.2 in 2019 – re-enters with sales of 9,000 copies.

Capping the Top Ten: Florence + the Machine take a second Top Ten slot with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (9,000 – up 12 percent) after it reached No.3 last year.

Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell’s Blue is currently on track to sell at leat 50,000 copies in the coming week, which will easily earn it a second week out front.

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue

No.17 – A Different Kind of Human / AURORA’s second full-length album – and third project overall – re-enters Top Catalogue Albums at No.17 this week selling 5,000 copies. The album – which last week was certified Double Platinum for exceeding sales of 600,000 units – reaches its highest position since October 2019 when it ranked No.14. Human opened at No.5 in June 2019 and climbed to its peak of No.2 the following week. Currently, AURORA boasts two certified releases: Human (Double Platinum) and the EP Infections of a Different Kind (Platinum).

Top Catalogue Albums

1. [NEW] Blue – Joni Mitchell (1)
2. [NEW] Norman Fucking Rockwell! – Lana Del Rey (79)
3. [-2] A Beautiful Collection – Carole King (37)
4. [-2] Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks – Stevie Nicks (52)
5. [-2] The Whole Story – Kate Bush (87)
6. [-1] Diva – Annie Lennox (109)
7. [-1] High as Hope – Florence + the Machine (9)
8. [-4] The Collection – Alanis Morissette (47)
9. [re] WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Eilish (27)
10. [-1] How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine (46)
11. [-4] Bella Donna – Stevie Nicks (129)
12. [-4] Sweetener – Ariana Grande (111)
13. [-3] She’s so Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (91)
14. [-1] Greatest Hits – Fleetwood Mac (67)
15. [+1] Melodrama – Lorde (45)
16. [-5] thank u, next – Ariana Grande (58)
17. [re] A Different Kind of Human – AURORA (49)
18. [-6] True Colors – Cyndi Lauper (28)
19. [+2] Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (42)
20. [-6] Glasshouse – Jessie Ware (103)
21. [+4] Lust for Life – Lana Del Rey (74)
22. [-4] Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos (63)
23. [-4] Medusa – Annie Lennox (83)
24. [-4] Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (116)
25. [-3] Bad Animals – HEART (78)

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 466,000 units this week (down 6.8%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 326,000 units (up 28.3%). Contemporary accounted for 58.8% of all consumption this week; versus 41.2% for Catalogue.

This marks the lowest market share on record for Contemporary Albums; it falls beneath the previous lowpoint of 65.1% registered on the chart dated 08 February. Meanwhile, Catalogue Albums registers its greatest share of sales, passing the 34.9% on the 08 February chart.

Total sales industry sales are up by 5% to 792,000 sold this week. Compared to the same week last year (when 576,000 albums were sold), consumption is up by 37.5%!