ARLO PARKS SOARS TO NO.1 WITH MY SOFT MACHINE!
As Parks scores her first chart-topper, Tina Turner’s Private Dancer enters the Top Five for the first time, and Taylor Swift’s Midnights returns to the region!
Arlo Parks collects her first chart-topping album on the L.dK Weekly Top 50, as My Soft Machine premieres in pole position with a whopping 216,000 combined sales – comprising of 91,000 pure sales, and a further 125,000 pre-sales derived from singles released prior to the album’s release.
It far outpaces the singer’s debut LP – Collapsed in Sunbeams – which moved 34,000 in its opening week to debut at No.3. Sunbeams would prove to be a chart mainstay, selling over 800,000 copies and charting for upwards of 60 weeks. The album re-enters the Top 50 at No.32 this week with 7,000 copies sold.
With 216,000 sold, Machine handily becomes the 2nd fastest-selling album of 2023, behind only Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd which debuted with 305,000 sold in the first week of April.
Machine is the 95th album to reach the summit of the Top 50, and is the 8th to do so this year.
Del Rey’s Ocean Blvd sits at No.2 for a fifth successive week, moving 75,000 copies (down 19 percent). Meanwhile, the star’s Norman Fucking Rockwell remains at No.10 with 21,000 sold (down 4 percent) in its record-padding 148th week in the Top Ten!
Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! tumbles to No.3 after four consecutive weeks at number-one, moving 69,000 units (down 37 percent). As a consolation prize for being dethroned after a month at the summit, Good! becomes the 10th bestselling album of 2023 to date, having sold 524,000 copies. It passes Del Rey’s NFR! at No.11 on sales of 504,000, and trails Taylor Swift’s evermore at No.9 with 535,000 sold.
Tina Turner makes her maiden voyage into the Top Five this week as Private Dancer bolts 6-4 on sales of 63,000 copies (up 125 percent) following the first full tracking week since the icon’s passing. Dancer has now 91,000 copies, meaning it has become Turner’s first Silver-certified hit!
Boosted by the release of the ’til the dawn edition, Taylor Swift’s Midnights spikes 17-5, moving 62,000 copies (up 376 percent). The hit celebrates its first Top Five showing since the chart dated 06 February when it placed at No.3, and first Top Ten appearance since the chart dated 06 March when it ranked at No.10. Midnights previously ruled the roost for twelve non-consecutive weeks.
Outside the Top Five: Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE slides 4-6 after five weeks at number-one (45,000 copies sold – up 7 percent); Joni Mitchell’s twelve-week-ruler Court and Spark dives 3-7 (36,000 units – down 16 percent); Adele’s seventeen-week-leader 30 slips 7-8 (26,000 units – down 3 percent); and Caroline Polachek’s No.2-peaking Desire, I Want to Turn Into You tumbles 5-9 (25,000 units – down 11 percent).
Onto Next Week: A three-way battle for No.1 currently seems to have no obvious leader, with Parks’s Machine, Del Rey’s Ocean Blvd, and Ware’s Good! all tracking to sell upwards of 70,000 copies.
L.dK Weekly Top 50
Notable Moves in the Weekly Top 50
No.15 – This is Why / Paramore’s latest studio album dips to 11-15 this week after spending its first 14 weeks inside the Top Ten, during which time it peaked at No.3. With weekly sales of 16,000 units, Why has now become the band’s first album to be certified Multi-Platinum for selling over 600,000 copies!
No.41 – The Fame Monster / Lady Gaga’s sophomore effort rises 42-41 to reach a new highpoint, moving 6,000 copies.
No.48 – Making Movies / Dire Straits claim their first Silver-certified hit with Making Movies. The album – which peaked at No.41 – sold a further 5,000 copies this week, bringing its total sales draw to 60,000 units.
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 