Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill to No.1!
Plus: Cher goes Platinum!
Kate Bush collects her second chart-topper this week as Hounds of Love – originally released in 1985 – flies to the top spot, becoming the 83rd album to reach No.1 on the L.dK Weekly Top Fifty. Hounds sold 97,000 copies this week, jumping by 27 percent from the previous week where it shifted 76,000 units. To date, the album has moved over 800,000 units.
Hounds is Bush’s second album to reach number-one, following her 1980 record Never for Ever which claimed the crown in mid-2019. The album originally topped out at No.4 in 2017, before springing to a then-new high of No,3 two weeks ago following the viral success of “Running Up That Hill”.
To date, the alternative icon has scored two chart-topping albums, while sending five efforts into the Top Five, seven into the Top Ten, and placing ten albums inside the Top Twenty! Her chart history is as follows:
- Hounds of Love – No.1 for one week
- Never for Ever – No.1 for one week
- The Red Shoes – No.2
- The Whole Story – No.3
- The Sensual World – No.4
- 50 Words for Snow – No.9
- Aerial – No.15
- The Dreaming – No.16
- The Kick Inside – No.17
- Lionheart – No.19
Bush places two more albums in the Top Ten this week: The Whole Story improves 7-6 with 28,000 sold (up 3 percent); and The Sensual World sails 13-7 with 24,000 copies (up 33 percent). The Red Shoes also sits on the verge of entering the Top Ten, skipping 12-11 this week.
Joni Mitchell retreats 1-2 with the jazz-pop infused Court and Spark, after the hit spent a week at the summit. It sold 72,000 units this week (down 12 percent). Harry Styles’s Harry’s House dips 2-3 after spending two weeks at number-one, selling 62,000 copies (down 17 percent). House has now sold more than half-a-million copies since release.
Adele’s 30 rebounds 5-4, shifting 47,000 copies (down 4 percent) after previously ruling for seventeen non-consecutive weeks. It became the fastest-selling album ever upon its release in November (650,000 units) and set the record for the fastest album to sell 1 million (three weeks); 2 million (12 weeks); and 3 million copies (29 weeks).
HAIM round out the Top Five this week as their one-week-leader Women in Music Pt. III sinks 4-5 on sales of 44,000 copies (down 14 percent).
Beyond the Top Five: Tracy Chapman’s chart-topping self-titled set repeats at No.8 (23,000 units – down 11 percent); Florence + the Machine’s former-number-one Dance Fever tumbles 6-9 (22,000 units – down 22 percent); and Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time collection holds at No.10 after peaking at No.7 (21,000 units – down 4 percent). Time has now been certified Platinum for selling over 300,000 copies, becoming the singer’s third record to achieve this.
Onto Next Week: Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love could be bound for a second week ontop with sales of 70-80k units. Mitchell’s Court and Spark should produce a similar figure, and could challenge for a return to the top spot.
L.dK Weekly Top Fifty
Notable Moves in the Top Fifty
No.15 – Boys for Pele / Tori Amos’s third studio album (1996) launches at No.15 with first week sales of 18,000 copies, notching the alternative singer her fourth consecutive Top Twenty hit. Her debut (Little Earthquakes) and sophomore (Under the Pink) records rise to No.25 and No.39 respectively.
No.16 – Blue Banisters / Lana Del Rey’s eighth studio album ruled the roost for three weeks in late 2021, and has since spent thirty-four consecutive weeks inside the Top Twenty. This week it climbs from No.20 to No.16 and becomes Del Rey’s fourth album to sell more than 1.5 million copies, following Norman Fucking Rockwell! (5.18 million); Lust for Life (2.90 million); and Chemtrails Over the Country Club (1.95 million).
No.43 – Happier than Ever / Billie Eilish’s sophomore album ticks 45-43 this week, and becomes the singer’s first album to be certified Multi-Platinum, with sales of just over 600,000 to date. Both her debut EP (don’t smile at me) and album (WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?) have achieved Platinum status.
L.dK Weekly Top Artists
Note
Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).
L.dK Music 