TAYLOR SWIFT TIES FOR MOST WEEKS AT NUMBER ONE!
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) returns to the top; Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? celebrates new milestones!
Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) jumps 4-1 on Top Contemporary Albums this week, rising by seven percent to 41,000 copies sold.
It returns to the summit more than two months after initially debuting at number-one, logging a second week out in front. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is the singer’s third album to spend multiple weeks at the top spot, following folklore (sixteen weeks) and evermore (thirteen weeks).
To date, Swift has spent thirty-four weeks at number-one on L.dK Weekly, across her five chart-topping releases.
- reputation – one week
- Lover – one week
- folklore – sixteen weeks
- evermore – thirteen weeks
- Fearless (Taylor’s Version) – two weeks
Swift ties with Lana Del Rey for the most weeks at number-one in L.dK Weekly history.
- Thirty-four weeks – Lana Del Rey & Taylor Swift
- Nineteen weeks – Lady Gaga
- Eighteen weeks – Stevie Nicks
- Seventeen weeks – Joni Mitchell
Two other records from Swift follow inside the Top Ten: evermore rebounds 5-4 with 34,000 units (down three percent) and folklore steps up 8-7 with 24,000 sold (even with last week).
Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club elevates 3-2, shifting 40,000 units (down five percent), after spending six weeks at number-one; Olivia Rodrigo’s three-week-leader SOUR sinks 2-3 selling 38,000 units (down twenty-three percent).
London Grammar complete the Top Five as Californian Soil returns to the region for the first time in over two months, after debuting at its No.3 peak in April. Californian sold 28,000 units this week (up seven percent).
Beyond the Top Five: Birdy’s Young Heart stays at No.6 in its eighth week in the Top Ten (27,000 units – down twenty-one percent) after two weeks in first place; Swift’s folklore follows at No.7; MARINA’s Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land plummets 1-8 in its second week, sliding by sixty percent to 22,000 sold. The album has now been certified Silver for selling over 60,000 copies.
Steady at No.9 this week with 17,000 sold (twenty-three percent): Jessie Ware’s number-one What’s Your Pleasure? celebrates two new milestones this week.
Firstly, it becomes Ware’s second consecutive album to be certified Triple Platinum – joining 2017’s Pentuple-Platinum smash Glasshouse – as it has sold 900,000 copies to date.
Secondly, it becomes the singer’s second record to spend a full year (fifty-two weeks) on L.dK – again, it joins Glasshouse which has charted for 110 weeks to date.
Rounding out the Top Ten: Miley Cyrus’s former two-week leader Plastic Hearts rebounds 11-10 (16,000 units – on par with last week).
ONTO NEXT WEEK: Doja Cat’s Planet Her could compete for the top spot, as it is currently tracking to sell over 40,000 copies in its first week.
Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums!
No.12 – Blue Weekend / Three weeks after becoming the first Top Five hit for British rock band Wolf Alice, Blue becomes the outfit’s first effort to be certified Silver.
No.13 – Blue 50 – Demos & Outtakes / Joni Mitchell nabs her first hit on the Contemporary Albums Chart as Blue 50 – Demos & Outtakes debuts with sales of 12,000 copies. Mitchell’s new EP celebrates fifty years since the release of her ground-breaking 1971 album Blue.
Top Contemporary Albums
Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).
JONI MITCHELL‘S BLUE EQUALS RECORD FOR LONGEST-RUNNING NUMBER-ONE ALBUM EVER!
Blue tallies seventeenth week in pole position; Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits roars back into Top Five; Lorde’s Melodrama marks one year on L.dK.
Joni Mitchell makes history this week as Blue becomes just the second album in history to spend seventeen weeks at number one! The album sold 39,000 units this week (up eight percent).
It ties Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! as the longest-running number-one album in history! The list of longest-running chart-toppers is as follows:
- Seventeen weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell , Lana Del Rey & Blue , Joni Mitchell
- Sixteen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
- Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
- Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Lorde places two albums inside the Top Five this week: Pure Heroine repeats at its No.2 peak selling 22,000 copies (down thirty-two percent) and five-week-leader Melodrama slides 3-5 with 19,000 sold (down thirty-five percent). The latter album reaches a whole year on L.dK this week.
Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks springs 6-3 after five weeks in pole position, shifting 21,000 copies (up forty percent). Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits roars 12-4 selling 20,000 copies (up 150 percent).
Outside the Top Five: Lana Del Rey’s seventeen-week chart-topper Norman Fucking Rockwell! slides 3-6 (18,000 units – down six percent); Kate Bush’s No.3-peaking The Whole Story holds at No.7 (16,000 units – up six percent); Carole King’s six-week-leader A Beautiful Collection bounces 11-8 (15,000 units – up thirty-six percent); Annie Lennox’s number-one hit Diva springs 12-9 (14,000 units – up forty percent); Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One tumbles 5-10 after peaking at No.2 (13,000 units – down fourteen percent).
Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell is currently looking to sell over 30,000 copies of Blue. If it stays at the top for an eighteenth week, it would become the longest-running number-one album of all time. However, Mitchell’s greatest competition could be her own Song to a Seagull which will be released as part of the Reprise Albums Boxset. Seagull could sell over 40,000 units in its first week.
Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums!
No.21 – Red / Taylor Swift’s 2012 album re-enters L.dK Weekly at No.21 selling 6,000 copies following the announcement of Red (Taylor’s Version) – coming in November!
Top Catalogue Albums
Industry Sales
Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 391,000 units this week (down 16.5%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 403,000 units (up 215). Contemporary accounted for 49.2% of all sales this week; versus 50.8% for Catalogue.
This week marks the lowest sales week to date for the Contemporary format, dipping below the 428,000 albums sold in the week dated 24 May. It also marks the highest haul of the year for Catalogue Albums, topping the week dated 07 June when 380,000 records were sold.
In addition: this week is the first instance where Catalogue Albums have outperformed their Contemporary counterparts! It comes in the twenty-sixth week of the year, ending Contemporary’s twenty-five week rule.
Total industry sales stand at 794,000 units for the week, dropping 0.9% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 841,000 albums were sold) consumption is down by 5.6%.
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 