OLIVIA RODRIGO CROWNS TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS AGAIN WITH SOUR!
Rodrigo leads for third week; Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend debuts at No.5.
Olivia Rodrigo spends a third successive week atop the Contemporary Albums Chart with her debut album SOUR. The album sold 60,000 units this week (down 22 percent).
Two former chart-toppers follow in the Top Five: Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club sticks at No.2 after a total of six weeks at the summit, selling 52,000 this week (down 9 percent); and Birdy’s Young Heart keeps at No.3 – moving 40,000 copies (down 7 percent) – after two weeks in the lead.
Taylor Swift’s evermore ticks 5-4 shifting 39,000 copies (up 18 percent) as it celebrates a whole six months inside the Top Five, after previously spending thirteen weeks at number-one. Outside the Top Five, Swift places a further two records, both of which peaked at the top spot: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is down 4-6 (35,000 units – although up 2 percent) and folklore is down 6-8 (25,000 units – down 11 percent).
folklore has now sold an incredible 3.467 million units since its release last July, making it the second bestselling album of all time! It passes Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born – OST which has moved 3.448 million to date!
Star had ranked as the bestselling album ever (and was the first to sell three million copies) between March 2019 and September 2020 when that honour went to Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! which has shifted 4.113 million units as of this week.
The ten bestselling albums of all time are as follows:
- Norman Fucking Rockwell! / Lana Del Rey – 4,113,000
- folklore / Taylor Swift – 3,467,000
- A Star is Born – OST / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – 3,448,000
- Lust for Life / Lana Del Rey – 2,646,000
- Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition / Dua Lipa – 2,617,000
- Diva / Annie Lennox – 2,236,000
- evermore / Taylor Swift – 2,198,000
- The Collection / Alanis Morissette – 2,165,000
- Sweetener / Ariana Grande – 2,007,000
- Rumours / Fleetwood Mac – 1,963,000
Wolf Alice make their first appearance on L.dK Weekly as Blue Weekend launches at No.5 selling 36,000 units.
Between Swift’s two former leaders: London Grammar’s Californian Soil repeats at No.7 (27,000 units – up 8 percent) after hitting No.3.
A pair of chart-toppers cap the Top Ten: Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition ascends 10-9 (18,000 units – up 5 percent) and Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts falls 9-10 (17,000 units – even with last week).
Onto Next Week: Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR & Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club are both looking to sell roughly 50,000 copies in the next tracking week. SOUR is competing for a fourth week in the lead while Chemtrails is fighting for a seventh stay at the top. MARINA could launch in the Top Five as Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is tracking to top 30,000 units sold.
Top Contemporary Albums
Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).
JONI MITCHELL ACHIEVES RECORD-BREAKING FIFTEENTH WEEK AT NO.1 ON TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS!
Plus: Carole King & Alanis Morissette re-enter the Top Ten!
Joni Mitchell’s Blue makes history this week as it breaks the record for the longest successive reign atop L.dK Weekly, with fifteen weeks out in front; both Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! and Taylor Swift’s folklore spent their first fourteen weeks at number-one.
Currently, Blue is the third longest-running number-one album in history, behind only the reigns of NFR! and folklore:
- Seventeen weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
- Sixteen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
- Fifteen weeks – Blue , Joni Mitchell
- Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
- Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Lana Del Rey’s NFR! rebounds 3-2 as it sells 20,000 units (on par with last week) as it claims a record-padding fifty-sixth week in the Top Five, and record-extending eighty-sixth week in the Top Ten.
Del Rey also ranks at No.10 with Born to Die: the Paradise Edition (down from No.9 – selling 10,000 copies – down 9 percent).
Two greatest-hits collections are next up in the Top Five: Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One slips 2-3 in its second week, shifting 19,000 units (down 42 percent); Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks leaps 7-4 moving 17,000 copies (up 21 percent) after five weeks at the top.
Capping the Top Five: Florence + the Machine’s High as Hope descends 4-5 after peaking at No.1, selling 15,000 copies (down 6 percent).
Outside the Top Five: Kate Bush’s No.3-peaking The Whole Story stays at No.6 (15,000 units – even with last week); Annie Lennox’s former chart-topping Diva moves 8-7 (11,000 units – down 8 percent); Carole King’s six-week-leader A Beautiful Collection surges 12-8 (11,000 units – up 37 percent); Alanis Morissette’s The Collection rises 11-9 following it’s nine-week stay at No.2 (10,000 units – even with last week).
Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell’s Blue may collect a record-extending sixteenth consecutive week at No.1, possibly selling around 40,000 copies.
Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums
No.12 – Greatest Hits / Fleetwood Mac’s best-of set flies 17-12 in its eighty-first term on L.dK Weekly. The collection – which sold 8,000 copies in the past seven days – has now been certified Quadruple Platinum denoting sales of over 1.2 million units. Hits is the Mac’s second bestselling effort, behind only 1977’s Rumours (1.963 million).
Top Catalogue Albums
Music Industry Sales
Contemporary Albums generated sales of 470,000 units this week (down 1.5%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 369,000 units (down 2.95). Contemporary accounted for 56% of all consumption this week; versus 44% for Catalogue.
Total industry sales stand at 839,000 units for the week, dipping 2.2% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 926,000 albums were sold) consumption is down by 9.4%.
Note
This chart reflects my own personal music consumption; 1 song = 1,000 units. Top Contemporary Albums measures the performance of albums released within the past 18 months; Top Catalogue Albums ranks the performance of albums released prior to the past 18 months.
L.dK Music 