01.08.2022 – L.dK Weekly

Joni Mitchell returns to the No.1 spot!

As Mitchell returns to No.1 with Court and Spark, she also hits the Top Ten with Hejira!

Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark bounces back to No.1 for a fifth non-consecutive week at the summit, selling 74,000 copies this week (up 1 percent). Court is now the second longest-running chart-topper of 2022 to date; only Adele’s 30 has spent more time in pole position, leading for a staggering twelve weeks.

Mitchell doubles up in the Top Ten this week as her 1976 album Hejira enters the region for the first time, jumping 12-9 on sales of 25,000 copies (up 31 percent). Hejira is the singer-songwriter’s fifth album to hit the Top Ten, following Blue (No.1 for twenty-one weeks); Court; A Song to a Seagull (No.2); and Clouds (No.3).

Further down the list, two of her late-career albums also make appearances, as Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter starts at No.18, and Night Ride Home opens at No.24. Mitchell’s chart history is as follows:

Blue – No.1 for twenty-one weeks
Court and Spark – No.1 for five weeks (so far)
A Song to a Seagull – No.2
Clouds – No.3
Hejira – No.9 (so far)
Both Sides Now – No.12
Blue 50 – Demos & Outtakes – No.15
Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter – No.18
Ladies of the Canyon – No.20
Night Ride Home – No.24

A quartert of chart-toppers make up the remainder of the Top Five: Lizzo’s Special falls to No.2 after its debut atop the chart, selling 44,000 in its sophomore frame (down 57 percent). Adele’s 30 holds steady at No.3 with another 40,000 sold (even with last week), while Sam Fender’s Seventeen Going Under also maintains its rank at No.4 with 34,000 copies sold (down 3 percent). HAIM cap the Top Five this week as Women in Music Pt. III lifts 6-5 in its landmark 52nd week inside the Top Fifty; it earned 31,000 units this week (down six percent).

Beyond the Top Five: Conan Gray’s No.4-peaking Superache backtracks 5-6 (29,000 units – down 12 percent); Taylor Swift’s juggernaut folklore roars 19-7 following its 2nd-year anniversary (27,000 units – up 92 percent); and Florence + the Machine’s chart-topping Dance Fever keeps at No.8 once again (25,000 units – up 4 percent).

Kate Bush rounds out this week’s Top Ten as Hounds of Love dives 7-10 (25,000 units – down 24 percent) after it spent two weeks at number-one earler in the year.

Onto Next Week: Three albums look set to debut within the Top Five of the L.dK Weekly Top Fifty, and it currently seems like any of them could take the top spot. Beyonce and Maggie Rogers will be vying for domination with their new sets – Renaissance and Surrender – while Elvis Prelsey’s 30 #1 Hits could shoot to No.1 following its retrospective release. Currently, all three albums are tracking to sell upwards of 70,000 in their opening stanzas, and Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark is looking to do the same.