TAYLOR SWIFT LOGS HISTORIC THIRTIETH WEEK AT NO.1!
Swift commands Top Contemporary Albums for thirteenth week with evermore; Zara Larsson’s Poster Girl launches at No.3.
Taylor Swift snares a thirteenth consecutive frame at No.1 this week with evermore; the album has been at the helm since its No.1 debut on the chart dated 21 December, and has ruled Top Contemporary Albums for its entire eleven-week lifetime.
evermore moved 81,000 units this week (down 5 percent). Now with thirteen weeks at the top spot, it becomes the third-longest running chart-topper in L.dK Weekly history, passing Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born soundtrack (twelve weeks). Only Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! (seventeen weeks) and Swift’s own folklore (fifteen weeks) have spent longer in pole position.
30 Weeks at No.1: After claiming the record of most weeks at No.1 among all artists, Swift extends that record this time around. She is the first artist in history to accrue a total of thirty weeks at No.1; Del Rey follows with twenty-eight weeks at the summit.
Swift makes another showing at No.2 with folklore on sales of 63,000 copies (up 8 percent): this marks the twelfth non-consecutive week that the singer has simultaneously held the top two positions on L.dK Weekly. The album has now spent its first thirty-three weeks inside the Top Five, marking the longest ever consecutive stay in the region. Previously, Del Rey’s NFR! held the title after spending its first thirty-two weeks in the tier.
Zara Larsson nabs a No.3 placement with her sophomore studio album Poster Girl, as it opens with sales of 42,000 units. The set – which is the second Top Ten hit for the Swedish star – follows 2017’s chart-topping So Good. That album has since been certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 copies.
Hayley Williams follows as her No.2 peaking FLOWERS for VASES / descansos steps down 3-4 with 41,000 sold (down 13 percent); the Paramore-front-woman also keeps at No.9 with the No.3 hit Petals for Armor (17,000 – up 30 percent).
Capping the Top Five: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts bullets at No.5 selling 41,000 copies (up 20 percent) after peaking at No.1 for two weeks in December.
The Weeknd’s The Highlights exits the Top Five for the first time (4-6) after debuting at its No.3 in February (40,000 – down 14 percent); Dua Lipa’s eight-week-leader Future Nostalgia sinks 6-7 (29,000 – even with last week); Celeste’s No.3 peaking Not Your Muse reverses course 7-8 (23,000 – down 5 percent).
Beneath Williams’s Petals, Ariana Grande’s former three-week number-one Positions drops 8-10 (16,000 – down 12 percent).
Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift should easily rule for a fourteenth week with evermore. The album looks set to sell another 70,000 units.
Top Contemporary Albums
Certifications: Silver (60,000) Gold (100,000) Platinum (300,000) Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.) Diamond (3,000,000).
JONI MITCHELL SPENDS SECOND WEEK ATOP TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS WITH BLUE!
Plus: Stevie Nicks’s 1985 hit Rock a Little races back into the Top Ten!
Joni Mitchell’s seminal Blue (1971) tallies a second week in the penthouse on Top Catalogue Albums, moving 64,000 copies in its second frame (down 15 percent). The iconic collection has already been certified Gold, and with sales of 139,000 units has become the third bestselling Catalogue Album of the year!
Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection rebounds 3-2 after a six-week command, selling 24,000 units in the latest tracking period (up 33 percent). The best-of set has now been certified Pentuple Platinum, exceeding sales of 1,500,000 units since its release! Beautiful is just the nineteenth album in history to sell over 1.5 million copies, and currently ranks as the nineteenth bestselling album ever!
Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! slips 2-3 – although gains by 15 percent to 22,000 sold – as it registers a record-extending forty-third week in the Top Five, and seventy-third week inside the Top Ten. NFR! previously commanded the discontinued Weekly Top 50 for a record seventeen weeks across 2019 and 2020.
Stevie Nicks is steady at No.4 with her five-week leader Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks selling 19,000 (up 18 percent).
Further down the Top Ten, Nicks takes the No.9 spot this week with 1985’s Rock a Little (on sales of 11,000 copies) which peaked at No.2 in 2017 and has sold just over 1,000,000 copies. Rock re-enters at No.9 following its relevant episode of Nicksology: the Stevie Nicks Podcast, and nabs a twenty-ninth term inside the Top Ten. This also marks the album’s eightieth week on the ranking overall.
Kate Bush anchors the Top Five this week with the stationary compilation The Whole Story, moving 16,000 units (up 6 percent) after peaking at No.3.
Alanis Morissette’s The Collection bounces back up 8-6 (12,000 – up 9 percent); Florence + the Machine’s former number-one High as Hope holds at No.7 (12,000 – on par with last week); Annie Lennox’s one-week-ruler Diva descends 6-8 (11,000 – down 9 percent); Florence + the Machine are steady again at No.10 with the No.3 hit How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (9,000 – on par with last week).
Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell’s Blue could sell a further 40,000 copies, which would earn the album a third stay at No.1!
Notable Moves on Top Catalogue
No.13 – So Good / As she enters the Top Five on Top Contemporary Albums with her new release Poster Girl, Zara Larsson’s 2017 collection So Good makes its first appearance on L.dK Weekly in almost four years: it ranks No.13 this week with 8,000 copies sold. It is the album’s first visit to the Catalogue Chart, but ninth week overall on L.dK Weekly. The Platinum-certified LP debuted at No.1 in 2017 and at the time was the fastest-selling record of all time – with opening week sales of 223,000 units (it is still the thirteenth biggest debut ever, and fourteenth biggest weekly figure overall).
No.15 – All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend / AURORA’s debut full-length album debuts at No.15 on Top Catalogue Albums (selling 6,000 copies) in celebration of its five-year anniversary. Demons earns the Norwegian singer her third Top Twenty hit, following the No.6 peaking EP Infections of a Different Kind and her No.2 hit album A Different Kind of Human. The latter set retreats 17-20 this week.
No.17 – Glasshouse / Jessie Ware’s most successful album to date has now clocked 104 weeks on L.dK Weekly: a whole two years on the chart. Glasshouse is just the sixth album to reach this historic milestone, following juggernaut records by Stevie Nicks (Bella Donna), Fleetwood Mac (Rumours), Ariana Grande (Sweetener), Annie Lennox (Diva), and Adele (25).
No.18 – Honeymoon / Lana Del Rey’s 2015 set re-enters at No.18 (selling 6,000 units), marking its first charting week on Top Catalogue Albums, and first showing since mid-2020. The Gold-certified set re-enters in anticipation of Del Rey’s upcoming album Chemtrails Over the Country Club – due March 19th.
Top Catalogue Albums
Industry Sales
Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 497,000 units this week (up 6.6%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 377,000 units (up 15.6%). Contemporary accounted for 56.9% of all consumption this week; versus 43.1% for Catalogue.
This marks the lowest share on record for Contemporary Albums; it drops beneath the previous lowpoint of 58.8% registered last week (dated 08 March). Meanwhile, Catalogue Albums registers its greatest share of sales, passing the 41.2% last week (08 March).
Total industry sales reach a new yearly high, rising by 10.3% to 874,000 – their highest level since the charted 21 December 2020 when 939,000 albums were sold. Compared to the same week last year (when 581,000 albums were sold), consumption is up by 50.4%!
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%!
L.dK Music 