JADE BIRD SCORES SECOND NO.1 ALBUM!

Different Kinds of Light tops the Contemporary Albums Chart.

This week’s Contemporary Albums Chart is crowned by Jade Bird’s new set – Different Kinds of Light debuts with combined sales of 65,000 units.

Light is Bird’s first studio effort since 2018’s Jade Bird which debuted at No.1 on the chart dated 15 July 2019. The album has since been certified Gold for selling over 100,000 copies.

Of the album’s solid debut, 60,000 units stem from first-week sales while a further 5,000 units are derived from singles released prior to the album.

Light dethrones Billie Eilish’s Happier than Ever; pushing the Gold-certified hit down to No.2 after two weeks in charge. Happier sold 52,000 copies this week (down twenty-four percent).

Two former chart-topping juggernauts from Taylor Swift follow in the Top Five: evermore holds at No.3 with 30,000 sold (up three percent) as folklore slides 2-4, shifting 29,000 units (down ten percent).

Lana Del Rey anchors the Top Five as Chemtrails Over the Country Club falls 4-5 after spending nine weeks in the lead on the Contemporary Albums Chart; the set moves a further 25,000 units this week (down eleven percent).

Four No.1 smashes follow outside the Top Five: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts keeps at No.6 (19,000 units – on par with last week); Birdy’s Young Heart dips 5-7 (14,000 units – down forty percent); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition retreats 7-8 (13,000 units – down twenty percent); and Taylor Swifts Fearless (Taylor’s Version) descends 8-9 (12,000 units – down twenty percent).

Rounding out the Top Ten: Hayley Williams slips 9-10 with the No.3-peaking Petals for Armor (10,000 units – down nine percent).

Onto Next Week: Lorde’s long-awaited third studio record Solar Power is a lock for No.1, currently tracking to sell over 50,000 copies in its first week!

TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS

STEVIE NICKS RECLAIMS THE NO.1 SPOT ON TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS!

Crystal Visions adds a sixth week at the summit; Jade Bird & Lizzo chart in Top Ten!

Stevie Nicks reclaims control of the Catalogue Albums Chart with her best-of collection, Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks, selling 21,000 units this week (up ten percent).

Crystal has now logged a total of six weeks at number-one on L.dK Weekly, dating back to September 2018 when the record first reached No.1 on the discontinued Weekly Top 50.

Joni Mitchell sticks at No.2 with twenty-week-leader Blue, selling 20,000 copies this week (down five percent).

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! slides 1-3 after nabbing a record-tying twentieth week, moving 19,000 units (down fourteen percent).

Kate Bush’s The Whole Story holds at No.4 after hitting No.3, selling 14,000 copies (on par with last week) while Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits lifts 6-5 with 12,000 units (even with last week).

Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One falls 5-6 after peaking a No.2 (11,000 units – down sixteen percent); Alanis Morissette’s No.2-peaking The Collection ticks 8-7 (10,000 units – even with last week).

Jade Bird’s 2018 self-titled debut re-enters L.dK Weekly at No.8 (10,000 sold), reaching its highest rank since it charted at No.1 for the week dated 15 July 2019.

Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You makes its first appearance on Top Catalogue Albums as it jumps onto the list at No.8 (10,000 units sold). Love debuted and peaked at No.2 in June 2019 on the discontinued Weekly Top 50.

Annie Lennox rounds out the Top Ten as the chart-topping Diva steps down 9-10 with 9,000 sold (down ten percent).

Onto Next Week: Lorde’s Pure Heroine & Melodrama should both re-enter in the Top Ten alongside the release of Solar Power.

TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 360,000 units this week (up 3.1%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 295,000 units (down 21%). Contemporary accounted for 55% of all sales this week; versus 45% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales stand at 655,000 units for the week, decreasing by 9.3% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 736,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 11.1%!

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.

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

BILLIE EILISH REMAINS AT NO.1 ON TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

As Eilish earns her first multi-week leader; Birdy flies back into the Top Five!

After scoring her second chart-topping album, Billie Eilish holds atop the Contemporary Albums Chart with Happier than Ever. The LP drops by twenty-eight percent this week, selling a further 68,000 units in its second outing.

With total sales of 162,000 to date, Happier has already been certified Gold for selling over 100,000 copies! It is Eilish’s third release to achieve this feat; her two previous discs don’t smile at me & WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? have both been certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 units.

Two chart-topping juggernauts from Taylor Swift follow in the Top Five: folklore bullets at No.2 as it swells by six percent to 33,000 sold; and evermore ascends 4-3, improving by seven percent to 29,000 sold.

Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club slides 3-4 after spending nine weeks at No.1. The album sold 26,000 this week – a drop of fourteen percent from the previous week.

Birdy’s Young Heart makes a surprise return to the Top Five this week as it zooms 15-5, shifting 21,000 units (up 162 percent)! Young became Birdy’s first effort to reach No.1 on L.dK Weekly upon its release earlier this year, and this week it becomes the singer’s bestselling effort to date.

Young has now sold an impressive 533,000 copies, inching ahead of Beautiful Lies – 521,000 sold.

A trio of former No.1 albums follows: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts holds at No.6 (16,000 units – even with last week); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition bolts 16-7 (15,000 units – up eighty-seven percent); and Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) dives 5-8 (15,000 units – down twenty-two percent).

Rounding out the Top Ten: Hayley Williams pushes 10-9 with the No.3-peaking Petals for Armor (11,000 units – down eight percent); and Olivia Rodrigo sinks 7-10 with her three-week-leader SOUR (11,000 units – down twenty-seven percent).

Onto Next Week: Jade Bird will likely be in contention for the No.1 spot with her new album Different Kinds of Light; it is currently tracking to sell roughly 50,000 units in its debut frame. The closest competition will likely come from Eilish as Happier is predicted to sell over 40,000 copies.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums

No.19 – FLOWERS for VASES / descansos / Hayley Williams earned her highest-charting album to date in February when FLOWERS premiered at No.2 behind Taylor Swift’s evermore which was in its ninth week at the summit. The folky record has consistently charted on the Contemporary Albums Chart for the past six months and has now been certified Double Platinum for selling more than 600,000 copies; Williams’s debut set Petals for Armor is currently certified 4 x Platinum and has sold 1.32 million copies.

TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

LANA DEL REY CONTINUES TO LEAD CATALOGUE ALBUMS WITH NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL!

NFR! ties as the longest-running number-one of all time; Alanis Morissette re-enters at No.8!

Lana Del Rey triumphs on the Catalogue Albums Chart once again with the seemingly-immortal Norman Fucking Rockwell! as the disc sells a further 22,000 units (even with last week).

NFR! has now spent a staggering twenty non-consecutive weeks at No.1 across multiple L.dK Weekly Charts: it initially topped the Weekly Top Fifty for a record seventeen weeks, and has so far spent three weeks atop Catalogue Albums!

It ties NFR! with Joni Mitchell’s Blue as the longest-running number-one album of all time!

1. Twenty weeks – Blue , Joni Mitchell ; Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
2. Seventeen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
3. Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
4. Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
5. Eleven weeks – Lust for Life , Lana Del Rey

Mitchell’s Blue repeats at No.2 this week selling a further 21,000 copies (down five percent).

A trio of compilation albums completes the Top Five this week, staying in their respective positions from last week: Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks at No.3 with 19,000 copies sold (down five percent); Kate Bush’s The Whole Story at No.3 on sales of 14,000 copies (down seven percent); and Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One at No.5 moving 14,000 units (on par with last week).

Nicks takes out another two spots in the Top Ten this week with her hits Rock a Little and Bella Donna. The former elevates 10-7 on sales of 11,000 copies (up ten percent) as the latter drops 6-10 (10,000 units – down seventeen percent) after reaching the No.1 spot for the first time two weeks ago.

Beyond the Top Five: Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits swings 9-6 (13,000 units – up thirty percent) after previously peaking at No.1.

Alanis Morissette’s The Collection – which holds the record for the most weeks at No.2 without reaching No.1 – re-enters the Top Ten at No.8 with sales of 10,000 copies (up 100 percent)!

Finally, Annie Lennox steps down 8-9 with Diva (10,000 units – on par with last week).

Onto Next Week: Jade Bird’s self-titled set could re-enter inside the Top Five alongside the release of her new album (which will impact the Contemporary Chart). Lana Del Rey & Joni Mitchell could go head to head once again in the race for the No.1 spot!

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums

No.24 – 21 / Adele’s 2011 sophomore album re-appears at No.24 on this week’s edition of the Catalogue List, selling 5,000 copies. The Platinum-certified hit has now spent a whole year on L.dK Weekly! It is the forty-seventh album to achieve this feat.

TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS!

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 349,000 units this week (down 17.3%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 373,000 units (up 2.1%). Contemporary accounted for 48.3% of all sales this week; versus 51.7% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales stand at 722,000 units for the week, decreasing by 8.3% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 744,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 3%!

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.

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

BILLIE EILISH ROARS TO NO.1 WITH HAPPIER THAN EVER!

Plus: The Weeknd returns to the Top Ten!

Billie Eilish collects her second No.1 album on L.dK Weekly, as Happier than Ever opens atop the tally with combined sales of 94,000 units. It scores the third-largest debut of the year, behind Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club (29 March – 160,000 units) and Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR (31 May – 111,000).

Happier is Eilish’s first studio effort since 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? which peaked at No.2 on the chart dated 08 April 2019. The album became the 26th most successful record of 2019 and has sold just over 470,000 units to date.

Overall, Happier is the second No.1 album of Eilish’s career after her debut EP don’t smile at me reached the summit on the chart dated 09 September 2017 – that EP ranked as the 27th biggest hit of 2017 and has since sold over 300,000 copies.

Of the album’s impressive debut, 74,000 sales stem from first-week sales, while a further 22,000 units are pre-sales derived from singles released prior to the album.

Happier earns almost triple the next most popular album of the week: Taylor Swift’s folklore retreats to No.2 after notching a seventeenth week in charge. The album sold 32,000 copies, dipping twenty-two percent from the prior frame.

Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club descends 2-3 – moving 28,000 copies (down seven percent) – after spending nine weeks in pole position!

Swift crops up twice more in the Top Five: her thirteen-week-leader evermore remains at No.3 selling 27,000 units (even with last week) and her three-week-ruler Fearless (Taylor’s Version) lifts one spot to No.5 on sales of 23,000 copies (down eight percent).

Outside the Top Five: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts edges 7-6 (16,000 units – down six percent) and Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR slides 5-7 (15,000 units – down seventeen percent).

The Weeknd soars back into the Top Ten this week as his No.3-peaking collection The Highlights bursts 19-8 (14,000 units – up 133 percent) amid the glow of the singer’s newly released single. His 2020 chart-topper After Hours re-charts further down the list at No.23 with 5,000 sold.

Capping the Top Ten: London Grammar’s Californian Soil dives 4-9 (13,000 units – down forty-six percent) and Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor repeats at No.10 (12,000 units – up twenty percent).

Onto Next Week: Billie Eilish’s Happier than Ever should easily hold atop Contemporary Albums for a second week; it is currently on track to sell over 60,000 units.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums!

No.25 – Friends in the Corner EP / Foxes nabbed her first Top Ten hit earlier this year, and this week the EP returns to the Contemporary Chart at No.25 selling 4,000 copies. It has now charted for a total of nine weeks; and with sales of 60,000 units it has now been certified Silver!

TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS

LANA DEL REY RETURNS TO NO.1 ON TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS!

Norman Fucking Rockwell! logs nineteenth week at the apex; Del Rey’s Born to Die: the Paradise Edition & Stevie Nicks’s Rock a Little celebrate new achievements.

Selling 23,000 copies this week (even with last week), Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! commands the Catalogue Albums Chart for a nineteenth non-consecutive week.

Among all albums, NFR! is the second-longest-running number-one ever:

1. Twenty weeks – Blue , Joni Mitchell
2. Nineteen weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
3. Seventeen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
4. Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
5. Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

Del Rey’s debut full-length – Born to Die: the Paradise Edition – also places in the Top Ten this week, rising 10-7 in its sixty-sixth turn on the chart. Born has now become Del Rey’s fourth record to sell in excess of 1 million copies! It follows NFR! (4.28 million); Lust for Life (2.69 million); and Chemtrails Over the Country Club (1.26 million).

Del Rey is just the second artist – alongside Stevie Nicks – to have four or more albums shift upwards of 1 million copies. Nicks has achieved this with the following six records: Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks (1.82 million); Bella Donna (1.74 million); The Wild Heart (1.18 million); Rock a Little (1.17 million); Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks (1.16 million); and The Other Side of the Mirror (1.13 million).

Joni Mitchell’s Blue rebounds one position to No.2 after earlier this year spending a record-breaking twenty weeks at number-one. The seminal album sold 21,000 copies this week (down five percent).

Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks ascends 4-3 as it swells by twenty-five percent to 20,000 units sold. Crystal previously spent five weeks at the top spot!

More Nicks: 1981’s Bella Donna tumbles to No.6 after finally reaching No.1 for the first time last week – in its 150th showing on L.dK Weekly! Nicks’s debut solo effort sold a further 14,000 units this week (down forty-seven percent).

Nicks’s third studio album Rock a Little retreats 8-10 (10,000 units – down twenty-five percent) as it clocks a rare 100th turn on L.dK Weekly! The LP – which peaked at No.2 in 2017 – is only the eleventh album to achieve this feat:

1. 151 weeks – Bella Donna , Stevie Nicks
2. 131 weeks – Diva , Annie Lennox
3. 125 weeks – Sweetener , Ariana Grande
4. 116 weeks – Rumours , Fleetwood Mac
5. 116 weeks – Glasshouse , Jessie Ware
6. 112 weeks – 25 , Adele
7. 109 weeks – The Whole Story , Kate Bush
8. 107 weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
9. 102 weeks – She’s so Unusual , Cyndi Lauper
10. 101 weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
11. 100 weeks – Rock a Little , Stevie Nicks

Two compilation albums complete the Top Five: Kate Bush’s No.3-peaking The Whole Story ticks 5-4 with sales of 15,000 units (on par with last week); and Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One bolts 7-5 after peaking at No.2, selling 15,000 copies (up seven percent).

Outside the Top Five, two former number-one albums complete the Top Ten: Annie Lennox’s Diva bursts 12-8 (10,000 units – up eleven percent) and Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits sails 11-9 (10,000 units – even with last week).

Onto Next Week: Both Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! and Joni Mitchell’s Blue are likely to sell over 20,000 copies; either could claim the No.1 spot!

TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 422,000 units this week (up 31.4%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 365,000 units (down 22.2%). Contemporary accounted for 53.6% of all sales this week; versus 46.4% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales stand at 787,000 units for the week, decreasing by just 0.4% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 875,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 10.1%!

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.

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

TAYLOR SWIFT‘S FOLKLORE RETURNS TO NO.1 ON TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

folklore notches a seventeenth non-consecutive week at the top spot!

As folklore notches a fifty-third week on L.dK Weekly, it rises 2-1 to score a seventeenth cumulative week out in front! The record sold 41,000 units this week (up twenty-eight percent) and has sold 3.67 million copies since its release last July!

folklore is Swift’s longest-running number-one on L.dK Weekly, ahead of evermore (thirteen weeks); Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (three weeks); Lover (one week); and reputation (one week).

Swift stays at No.3 this week with evermore selling 26,000 copies (down twelve percent); and dips 5-6 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) with 19,000 sold (down twenty-four percent).

Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club falls to No.2 after nine non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Contemporary Chart; it sold 30,000 copies this week (down nine percent).

Rounding out the Top Five: London Grammar’s No.3-peaking Californian Soil repeats at No.4, on sales of 24,000 copies (down eighteen percent); and Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR rebounds 6-5 after three weeks at number-one, moving 21,000 units (down thirteen percent).

Three former chart-toppers follow outside the Top Five, retaining their ranks from last week: Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts at No.7 (up five percent to 18,000 sold); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition at No.8 (down seven percent to 14,000 sold); and Birdy’s Young Heart (down eight percent to 12,000 sold).

Hayley Williams caps the Top Ten with the No.3-hit Petals for Armor, which keeps at No.10 in its sixty-fourth charting week (on par with 9,000 sold).

Onto Next Week: Billie Eilish is set to open at No.1 with her new LP Happier than Ever, which is currently tracking to sell over 60,000 units. Happier would clinch Eilish her second number-one, and third successive Top Five hit!

TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS

STEVIE NICKS DOMINATES TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS, LED BY BELLA DONNA!

Bella Donna makes history; Lana Del Rey reaches a new milestone with Norman Fucking Rockwell!; Joni Mitchell covers new ground with Blue!

Stevie Nicks’s debut solo album Bella Donna was released forty years ago in late July 1981; it first charted on L.dK Weekly when it ranked at No.4 on its inaugural list in March 2017; in April of the same year it would reach a highpoint of No.3, and would revisit that rank later in the year.

Up until last week, Bella Donna had spent fourteen weeks in the Top Five, was one of just four albums to spend at least a year in the Top Ten (fifty-six weeks), and ranked as the longest-charting album of all time, having lived on the list for 149 weeks! It also boasted sales of just over 1.7 million, making it the seventeenth bestselling album ever at the time.

Perhaps most impressively, it was the most successful album of all time never to top the charts!

Spurred on by its fortieth anniversary, Bella Donna roars up the charts to reach No.1 for the first time – it does so in its ground-breaking 150th appearance on L.dK Weekly, and earns Nicks her record-extending sixth chart-topping LP!

Artists with the most Number One Albums!

1. Six – Stevie Nicks: The Other Side of the Mirror (five weeks); Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks (five weeks); 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (four weeks); Timespace: the Best of Stevie Nicks (three weeks); Trouble in Shangri-La (one week); and Bella Donna (one week).
2. Five – Taylor Swift: folklore (seventeen weeks); evermore (thirteen weeks); Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (three weeks); reputation (one week); and Lover (one week).
3. Three – Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (five weeks); Tango in the Night (three weeks); Greatest Hits (one week).
4. Three – Ariana Grande: thank u, next (four weeks); Sweetener (three weeks); and Positions (three weeks).
5. Three – Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell! (eighteen weeks); Lust for Life (eleven weeks); and Chemtrails Over the Country Club.

Longest Charting Albums of All Time!

1. 150 weeks – Bella Donna , Stevie Nicks
2. 130 weeks – Diva , Annie Lennox
3. 125 weeks – Sweetener , Ariana Grande
4. 116 weeks – Rumours , Fleetwood Mac
5. 115 weeks – Glasshouse , Jessie Ware
6. 112 weeks – 25 , Adele
7. 108 weeks – The Whole Story , Kate Bush
8. 106 weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
9. 101 weeks – She’s so Unusual , Cyndi Lauper
10. 100 weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey

Bella sold 26,000 units this week – surging by 160 percent from the previous week’s sales haul of 10,000 copies.

As Bella tops L.dK Weekly for the first time in history, Adele’s 25 becomes the biggest album ever which has never hit number-one!

Nicks places four more records inside the Top Ten this week: her best-of set Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks falls 3-4 as it slips by six percent to 16,000 copies sold, after spending a total of six weeks at the summit. The compilation has now been certified 6 x Platinum for selling over 1.8 million copies – it is Nicks’s first album to reach this milestone, and just the fifteenth in history to do so!

Her 2001 album Trouble in Shangri-La re-enters the Top Ten for the first time in four years; it peaked at No.1 in the Summer of 2017. Trouble rockets 23-6 as it gains by 180 percent to 14,000 copies sold.

Rock a Little – which peaked at No.2 – vaults 17-9 with sales of 13,000 copies (up eighty-five percent); while Street Angel – which hit No.3 – flies back onto the tally at No.9 selling 12,000 units (up 300 percent)!

Two of Nicks’s other studio album also appear further down the Catalogue Chart: The Wild Heart returns at No.17 with 8,000 units sold while The Other Side of the Mirror jumps back onto the list at No.23 with 7,000 sold.

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! marks a milestone 100th week on L.dK Weekly: it makes the cut at No.2 this week, down from No.1 last week, selling 24,000 copies (down four percent).

Currently, NFR! is the tenth longest-charting album in history!

Del Rey’s Born to Die: the Paradise Edition also makes the Top Ten as it drops 6-10 with 11,000 sold (down sixteen percent).

Joni Mitchell’s Blue descends 2-3 following its twenty-one week command of Top Catalogue Albums, selling 22,000 copies this week (down five percent).

Blue has sold 1.009 million copies since its release just over five months ago, and is the first album of the year to sell one million copies on the Catalogue format! Overall, Blue is the thirty-ninth album to sell one million units.

Rounding out the Top Five: Kate Bush moves 4-5 with the No.3-peaking The Whole Story. It sold 15,000 copies this week (up seven percent).

Finally in the Top Ten: Kelly Clarkson’s Greatest Hits – Chapter One bullets at No.7 this week after reaching No.2 (up eight percent to 13,000 sold).

Onto Next Week: Lana Del Rey could reclaim the No.1 spot with Norman Fucking Rockwell! as it is currently the only album tracking to sell over 20,000 copies!

Notable Moves On Top Catalogue Albums!

No.21 – The Red Shoes / Kate Bush’s most successful studio release re-enters the Catalogue Chart at No.21 this week. Now in its sixty-first appearance, Red has sold just over 900,000 copies to date, become Bush’s second release overall to be certified at least Triple Platinum. Her list of certifications are as follows: The Whole Story (4 x Platinum); The Red Shoes (3 x Platinum); The Sensual World (2 x Platinum); Never for Ever (Platinum); and The Hounds of Love (Platinum).

TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 321,000 units this week (up 1.9%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 469,000 units (up 68.7%). Contemporary accounted for 40.6% of all sales this week; versus 59.4% for Catalogue.

This week marks the greatest sales figure of the year on the Contemporary Format, surpassing the week dated 28 June when 403,000 albums were sold.

Total industry sales stand at 790,000 units for the week, increasing by 33.2% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 969,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 18.5%!

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.

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

LANA DEL REY STILL NO.1 ON TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

As Chemtrails Over the Country Club achieves a ninth week at the top spot, Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor returns to the Top Ten!

For a ninth non-consecutive week, Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranks as the most popular album on the Contemporary format.

The record sold 33,000 copies this week (down eight percent) and has now been certified 4 x Platinum for sales exceeding 1.2 million; Chemtrails is Del Rey’s third album to be certified at least 4 x Platinum!

1. Norman Fucking Rockwell! – 12 x Platinum
2. Lust for Life – 8 x Platinum
3. Chemtrails Over the Country Club – 4 x Platinum

Taylor Swift’s folklore leaps 4-2 as it celebrates an entire year (fifty-two weeks) inside the Top Ten! The album debuted at No.1 in August 2020, selling 259,000 units in its opening week, and has yet to leave the top tier! It sold 32,000 units this week (up fourteen percent).

To date, folklore has shifted a staggering 3.63 million units, and spent sixteen weeks in the number one spot.

Two former chart-toppers from Swift follow in the Top Five: evermore springs 5-3 selling 29,000 copies (down four percent) while Fearless (Taylor’s Version) dives 2-5 moving 25,000 units (down twenty-six percent).

Between Swift’s hits: London Grammar fall from their No.3 high to No.4 with Californian Soil – on sales of 28,000 units (down ten percent).

A quartet of number-one albums ranks next inside the Top Ten, repeating their positions from the previous week: Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR at No.6 (24,000 units – down seven percent); Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts at No.7 (17,000 units – down even with last week); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition at No.8 (15,000 units – up seven percent); Birdy’s Young Heart at No.9 (13,000 units – down nineteen percent).

Rounding out the Top Ten, Hayley Williams’s No.3-peaking Petals for Armor bounces 11-10 (10,000 units – up eleven percent) in its sixty-third charting week!

Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift’s folklore could reclaim the No.1 spot following the anniversary of its release: it looks set to sell over 40,000 units this week.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums

No.13 – Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass / Lana Del Rey’s spoken-word poetry album has now spent a full year on L.dK Weekly, after peaking at No.3 last September. It is Del Rey’s fourth to spend at least a year on the chart; it follows Norman Fucking Rockwell! (ninety-nine weeks); Lust for Life (ninety-four weeks); and Born to Die: the Paradise Edition (sixty-four weeks).

TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS

LANA DEL REY RULES CATALOGUE ALBUMS WITH NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL!

Del Rey becomes first artist to top both charts simultaneously.

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! springs 2-1 (selling 25,000 copies this week – up eight percent) and notches an eighteenth week in pole position! NFR! has now spent a record-extending sixty-one weeks inside the Top Five and ninety-two weeks in the Top Ten!

As NFR! crowns the Catalogue Albums Chart, and Chemtrails comes out on top on Contemporary Albums, Lana Del Rey becomes the first artist to lead both charts at the same time!

Del Rey’s Born to Die: the Paradise Edition meanwhile divides 12-6 with 12,000 sold (up twenty percent).

Joni Mitchell’s Blue is pushed to No.2 after a record twenty weeks at No.1: the album sold 24,000 this week (down fourteen percent).

Three compilation cap the Top Five: Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks at No.3 selling 17,000 copies (up thirteen percent); Kate Bush’s The Whole Story at No.4 moving 14,000 units (on par with last week); and Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection at No.5 with 12,000 sold (even with last week).

Outside the Top Five: Kelly Clarkson jumps 13-7 with Greatest Hits – Chapter One (11,000 units – up fifty-seven percent); Alanis Morissette’s The Collection slips 7-8 (10,000 units – on par with last week); Annie Lennox’s Diva sinks 8-9 (10,000 units – unchanged from last week); and Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits ticks 11-10 (10,000 units – up eleven percent).

Onto Next Week: Stevie Nicks’s Bella Donna is set to re-enter the Top Five – 40 years after its original release in 1981. The iconic debut album is primed to sell upwards of 20,000 units.

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums

No.24 – She’s so Unusual / Cyndi Lauper’s 1984 debut album spent a total of six weeks at No.1 on the discontinued Weekly Top 50 in 2019, and has since sold over 1.94 million units. This week, it notches its 100th appearance on L.dK Weekly, joining an exclusive group of albums to rack up triple-digit stays on the charts – overall, Unusual is the ninth longest-charting record in history!

No.25 – Heart’s 1986 self-titled album became their first chart-topper (and first Top Five hit) last March, and has sold 860,000 units to date. This week, as it re-enters at No.25, it becomes the band’s second to spend a full year on L.dK Weekly! Their 1987 smash Bad Animals peaked at only No.6, but has spent eighty-three weeks on the chart to date.

TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 315,000 units this week (down 10.8%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 278,000 units (up 2.2%). Contemporary accounted for 53.1% of all sales this week; versus 46.9% for Catalogue.

This week marks the lowest haul of the year on the Contemporary Format, dipping below the 353,000 sold last week.

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 353,000 units this week (down 5.2%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 272,000 units (down 9.7%). Contemporary accounted for 56.5% of all sales this week; versus 43.5% for Catalogue.

This week marks the worst performance of the year on the Contemporary Format, dipping below the 372,000 sold in the dated 12 July.

Total industry sales stand at 625,000 units for the week, diving 10.2% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 879,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 28.9%!

625,000 is the lowest sales haul of 2021 to date, falling below the week dated 01 February when 671,000 albums were sold. Overall, it’s the lowest industry level since the week dated 19 October 2020 when just 598,000 albums were consumed.

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.

LANA DEL REY’S CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB RULES CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS FOR EIGHTH WEEK!

PLUS: Taylor Swift places three albums within the Top Five!

Lana Del Rey spends an eighth non-consecutive week in the top spot on Top Contemporary Albums with her latest smash Chemtrails Over the Country Club. The LP sold 36,000 copies this week (down eight percent).

This week, Chemtrails surpasses MARINA’s LOVE + FEAR to become the joint-seventh longest-running number-one album of all time!

The list of longest-running number-one albums is as follows:

• Twenty weeks – Blue , Joni Mitchell
• Seventeen weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
• Sixteen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
• Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
• Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• Eleven weeks – Lust for Life , Lana Del Rey
• Eight weeks – Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition , Dua Lipa & Chemtrails Over the Country Club , Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey is the only artist to feature three times on the above list!

Rising back to No.2 is Taylor Swift’s former number-one Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on the strength of 33,000 sales (down six percent). The album has sold just over 610,000 copies to date, making it Swift’s fifth effort to be certified Multi-Platinum!

Fearless (TV) isn’t the singer’s only album to attain a new certification this week: their juggernaut folklore passes sales of 3.6 million units as it climbs 6-4 with 31,000 copies sold (up ten percent).

Currently, folklore is just the second album in history to be certified 12 x Platinum or higher, joining Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! which has gone Platinum fourteen times over! More on that later…

Swift’s evermore meanwhile caps the Top Five (holding at No.5) selling 30,000 copies (down four percent).

Taylor Swift’s highest-certified albums are as follows:

1. 12 x Platinum – folklore
2. 8 x Platinum – evermore
3. 5 x Platinum – Lover
4. Double Platinum – reputation & Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
5. Silver – 1989

Between Fearless (TV) & folklore: London Grammar’s Californian Soil pushes 4-3 to return to its peak in its thirteenth charting week. The album sold 32,000 units this week (up three percent).

Five former number-one hits follow outside the Top Five: Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR slides 3-6 (29,000 units – down twenty percent); Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts jumps 8-7 (18,000 units – up five percent); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition ticks 9-8 (15,000 units – down seven percent); Birdy’s Young Heart falls 7-9 (15,000 units – down seventeen percent); Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure?: Platinum stays put at No.10 (12,000 units – up nine percent).

Onto Next Week: Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club looks set for a ninth week at the top spot, with sales of over 35,000 copies.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums!

No.17 – Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land / MARINA’s second number-one album slides 13-17 in its fifth charting week. The record has certainly underperformed in the shadow of it’s predecessor LOVE + FEAR – that album spent seven weeks on top in 2019 and has sold 1.9 million copies to date. However, Ancient goes Gold this week, denoting sales of over 100,000 units.

Top Contemporary Albums

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

JONI MITCHELL CROWNS CATALOGUE ALBUMS FOR RECORD-PADDING 20TH WEEK!

Mitchell’s Blue extends its record for most weeks at No.1!

For a twentieth successive week, Joni Mitchell’s Blue convincingly ranks as the most popular album on the Catalogue Format!

Selling 28,000 units this week (down fifteen percent), it becomes the first album in history to spend twenty weeks at number-one on L.dK Weekly!

Mitchell’s 1968 debut is also present in the Top Ten this week: down 5-10 with 9,000 sold (down twenty-five percent).

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! bullets at No.2 selling 23,000 copies (up four percent) as it becomes the first album ever to be certified 14 x Platinum for selling over 4.2 million copies.

In L.dK Weekly history, only three albums have been certified Diamond, for selling over three million units!

1. 14 x Platinum – Norman Fucking Rockwell , Lana Del Rey
2. 12 x Platinum – folklore , Taylor Swift
3. 11 x Platinum – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

Compilation albums from Stevie Nicks & Kate Bush are next in the Top Five: Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks holds at No.3 after five weeks at No.1 (15,000 units – down six percent) and The Whole Story keeps at No.4 after peaking at No.3 (14,000 units – down seven percent).

Capping the Top Five is Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection which rises 6-5, moving 11,000 units (down eight percent). The best-of set previously spent six weeks at the top of the Catalogue Albums Chart!

Outside the Top Five: Lorde’s No.2-peaking Pure Heroine rebounds 9-6 (11,000 units – even with last week); Alanis Morissette’s No.2-peaking The Collection lunges 10-7 (10,000 units – even with last week); Annie Lennox’s former number-one Diva keeps at No.8 (10,000 units – on par with last week); Lorde’s five-week-leader Melodrama sinks 7-9 (10,000 units – down nine percent).

Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell’s Blue & Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! are both tracking to sell around 25,000 copies in the upcoming tracking week, so either could be bound for the No.1 spot!

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums!

No.19 – Born this Way / Lady Gaga’s sophomore album has now been certified Silver for selling over 60,000 copies.

No.24 – A Star is Born – OST / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper achieved the biggest album of the 2010’s decade with Star, and the album has now spent a full two years (104 weeks) on L.dK Weekly!

Top Catalogue Albums

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 353,000 units this week (down 5.2%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 272,000 units (down 9.7%). Contemporary accounted for 56.5% of all sales this week; versus 43.5% for Catalogue.

This week marks the worst performance of the year on the Contemporary Format, dipping below the 372,000 sold in the dated 12 July.

Total industry sales stand at 625,000 units for the week, diving 10.2% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 879,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 28.9%!

625,000 is the lowest sales haul of 2021 to date, falling below the week dated 01 February when 671,000 albums were sold. Overall, it’s the lowest industry level since the week dated 19 October 2020 when just 598,000 albums were consumed.

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.

LANA DEL REY RETURNS TO NO.1 ON TOP CONTEMPORARY ALBUMS!

Chemtrails Over the Country Club leads for seventh week!

Lana Del Rey rises 2-1 to score a seventh non-consecutive week atop the Contemporary Albums Chart with Chemtrails Over the Country Club. The album sold 39,000 copies this week (up 2 percent) and has now sold over 1.1 million units to date.

Currently, Chemtrails is the second longest-running number-one album of 2021 on Contemporary Albums with seven weeks in pole position: only Taylor Swift’s evermore has spent more time at the top spot this year – eleven weeks.

Olivia Rodrigo’s three-week leader SOUR steps 3-2 on sales of 37,000 copies (on par with last week).

Last week’s number-one – Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) dives to No.3 on sales of 36,000 copies (down seven percent).

Swift appears again with evermore steady at No.5 (31,000 units – even with last week) and folklore rising from No.7 to No.6 (28,000 units – up seven percent).

Between Fearless & evermore: London Grammar’s No.3-peaking Californian Soil remains at No.4 with 31,000 units (down 3 percent).

Outside the Top Five: Birdy’s Young Heart rebounds 8-7 (18,000 units – down twenty-two percent); Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts shifts 9-8 (17,000 units – even with last week); Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition elevates 10-9 (16,000 units – up fourteen percent); Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? rises 11-10 (11,000 units – down nine percent).

Onto Next Week: Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club could sell upwards of 35,000 copies to earn an eighth week at the top spot.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums

No.15 – Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass / Lana Del Rey’s spoken-word poetry album peaked at No.3 last year and has so far spent fifty consecutive weeks on L.dK Weekly Charts. This week, the LP becomes Del Rey’s fifth release to be certified Triple Platinum for selling over 900,000 copies. It follows: Norman Fucking Rockwell! (13 x Platinum); Lust for Life (8 x Platinum); Chemtrails Over the Country Club (Triple Platinum); and Born to Die: the Paradise Edition (Triple Platinum).

No.25 – Chromatica / Lady Gaga’s dance-pop smash topped the Weekly Top Fifty for six weeks in 2020 and was the fifth most popular album of that year. It has now roamed L.dK Weekly for an entire year!

Top Contemporary Albums

Certifications: Silver (60,000); Gold (100,000); Platinum (300,000); Multi-Platinum (600,000 etc.); Diamond (3,000,000).

JONI MITCHELL RULES TOP CATALOGUE ALBUMS FOR RECORD-PADDING NINETEENTH WEEK!

Plus: Alanis Morissette returns to Top Ten!

Blue – the seminal 1971 record from Canadian folk-icon Joni Mitchell – tallies a record-extending nineteenth week in command on Top Catalogue Albums. The record sold 33,000 copies this week (down six percent).

To date, Blue is the longest-running number-one album in L.dK Weekly history!

Mitchell’s 1968 debut Song to a Seagull drops 2-5 in its second week selling 14,000 copies (down forty percent).

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! jumps 3-2 shifting 22,000 copies (up ten percent); Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks rebounds 4-3 with 17,000 sold (on par with last week); Kate Bush’s The Whole Story sails 6-4 on sales of 15,000 units (even with last week).

Outside the Top Five: Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection swings 8-6 (13,000 units – down seven percent); Lorde’s Melodrama holds at No.7 (13,000 units – down seven percent); Annie Lennox’s Diva ticks 9-8 (12,000 units – even with last week); Lorde’s Pure Heroine slides 5-9 (12,000 units – down thirty-seven percent).

Capping the Top Ten: Alanis Morissette’s The Collection ascends 11-10 (11,000 units – up ten percent).

Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell’s Blue could become the first album to spend twenty weeks at No.1 – the record is tracking to sell roughly 30,000 units.

Notable Moves on Top Catalogue Albums

No.12 – Greatest Hits – Chapter One / Kelly Clarkson’s compilation album has now been certified Gold for selling over 100,000 copies since its retrospective release.

Top Catalogue Albums

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums recorded sales of 372,000 units this week (down 8%) while Catalogue Albums generated sales of 301,000 units (down 16.7%). Contemporary accounted for 55.3% of all sales this week; versus 44.7% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales stand at 673,000 units for the week, falling by 12.1% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 930,000 albums were sold), consumption is down 27.7%.

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.

TAYLOR SWIFT BREAKS RECORD FOR MOST WEEKS AT NO.1!

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) wins third week at No.1; Doja Cat’s Planet Her debut at No.6!

For a third non-consecutive week, Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) ranks as the biggest album out right now. Selling 39,000 copies this week, it dips just five percent from the previous week.

With this most-recent week in charge, Taylor Swift’s total command of L.dK Weekly extends to a record-breaking thirty-five weeks!

Artists with the most weeks atop L.dK Weekly are as follows:

1. Thirty-five weeks – Taylor Swift
2. Thirty-four weeks – Lana Del Rey
3. Nineteen weeks – Lady Gaga
4. Eighteen weeks – Stevie Nicks
5. Eighteen weeks – Joni Mitchell

Swift previously reached No.1 on L.dK Weekly with 2017’s reputation (one week); 2019’s Lover (one week); 2020’s folklore (sixteen weeks) and 2020’s evermore (thirteen weeks).

Further down the Top Ten: Swift’s evermore is unmoved at No.5 with 31,000 sold (down seven percent) while her chart-topping folklore bullets at No.7 selling 27,000 units (up twelve percent).

Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club remains at No.2 on sales of 38,000 copies (down five percent) after a total of six weeks at No.1.

Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR holds steady at No.3 following its three-week reign, selling 36,000 copies (down seven percent); London Grammar’s No.3-peaking Californian Soil improves 5-4 as it moves 32,000 copies (up eighteen percent).

Doja Cat pays her first visit to the Top Ten as Planet Her premieres at No.6 on Top Contemporary Albums, selling 29,000 copies in its first week.

Rounding out the Top Ten: Birdy’s former two-week-leader Young Heart falls 6-8 (23,000 units – down eighteen percent); Miley Cyrus’s two-week-ruler Plastic Hearts lifts 10-9 (15,000 units – down six percent); and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia: Moonlight Edition ascends 11-10 (14,000 units – even with last week).

Onto Next Week: Taylor Swift & Lana Del Rey are both in tight contention for the No.1 spot: both Fearless & Chemtrails should sell around 40,000 units, and are contending for a fourth and seventh week at the top spot.

Notable Moves on Top Contemporary Albums!

No.11 – Women in Music Pt. III / HAIM’s third studio album roars 20-11 – surging by one-hundred percent to 12,000 sold – to reach its highest rank since it debuted at No.8 last July! The rock-pop record has sold just under 150,000 copies to date.

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 BECOMES LONGEST-RUNNING NUMBER-ONE ALBUM OF ALL TIME!

Mitchell also starts at No.2 with Song to a Seagull; Kate Bush’s The Whole Story celebrates two full years on L.dK Weekly!

Joni Mitchell rules Top Catalogue Albums for an record-breaking eighteenth consecutive week with her 1971 album Blue. The smash hit breaks its tie with Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! (seventeen weeks) to become the longest-running number-one album in L.dK Weekly history!

1. Eighteen weeks – Blue , Joni Mitchell
2. Seventeen weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey
3. Sixteen weeks – folklore , Taylor Swift
4. Thirteen weeks – evermore , Taylor Swift
5. Twelve weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

Mitchell also takes the No.2 spot this week with her 1968 debut album Song to a Seagull. The album debuts with first week sales of 26,000 copies.

Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! surges 6-3 selling 20,000 copies (up eleven percent), logging a record-furthering fifty-eighth week in the Top Five, and record-padding eighty-ninth week in the Top Ten!

Stevie Nicks’s Crystal Visions – the Very Best of Stevie Nicks retreats 3-4 selling 18,000 units (down fifteen percent) after five weeks in pole position; and Lorde’s Pure Heroine falls from its No.2 highpoint to No.5, moving 16,000 copies (down twenty-eight percent).

Kate Bush’s The Whole Story elevates 7-6 (15,000 units – on par with last week) in its 104th appearance on L.dK Weekly: the compilation disc has now spent a whole two years on the tally!

Among all albums, Story – which peaked at No.3 earlier this year – is the sixth-longest-charting hit of all time, and boasts the greatest longevity among all best-of sets:

1. 146 weeks – Bella Donna , Stevie Nicks
2. 126 weeks – Diva , Annie Lennox
3. 125 weeks – Sweetener , Ariana Grande
4. 116 weeks – Rumours , Fleetwood Mac
5. 111 weeks – 25 , Adele
6. 111 weeks – Glasshouse , Jessie Ware
7. 104 weeks – The Whole Story , Kate Bush
8. 103 weeks – A Star is Born – OST , Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
9. 98 weeks – She’s so Unusual , Cyndi Lauper
10. 96 weeks – Norman Fucking Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey

Four juggernaut chart-topping albums round out the Top Ten: Lorde’s Melodrama slides 5-7 (15,000 units – down seven percent); Carole King’s A Beautiful Collection keeps at No.8 (13,000 units – down fourteen percent); Annie Lennox’s Diva holds at No.9 (12,000 units – down eight percent); Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits tumbles 4-10 (12,000 units – down forty-three percent).

Onto Next Week: Joni Mitchell could be bound for a record-extending nineteenth week at the summit with Blue.

Top Catalogue Albums

Industry Sales

Contemporary Albums generated sales of 404,000 units this week (up 3.3%) while Catalogue Albums recorded sales of 361,000 units (down 10.5%). Contemporary accounted for 52.8% of all sales this week; versus 47.2% for Catalogue.

Total industry sales stand at 765,000 units for the week, dipping by 3.7% from the previous week. Compared to the same week last year (when 1.011 million albums were sold), consumption is down by 24.4%!

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.

TAYLOR SWIFT RULES THE CONTEMPORARY SCENE WITH RECORD SALES!

Music Industry sales surpass 20 million in just six months!

Top Contemporary Albums

Top Contemporary Artists

STEVIE NICKS & JONI MITCHELL TRIUMPH AMONG CATALOGUE RECORDS!

Top Catalogue Albums

Top Catalogue Artists

Music Industry Sales

A New Record Year?: Between January and June 2021, 20,878,000 have been sold – representing the largest six-month haul in L.dK Weekly history! The L.dK Chart launched back in March 2017, ceasing briefly between February and August 2018 before resuming and running ever since: in that time 115 million albums have been sold overall.

• *2017: 17.1 million
• *2018: 10.5 million
• 2019: 26.1 million
• 2020: 40.2 million
• 2021 Mid-Year: 20.8 million

*- 2017 spanned 44 weeks, March-December *- 2018 spanned 23 weeks, January-February & August-December

20.8 million: The 20.8 million sales figure is up 7.5% from 2020’s Mid-Year Chart, which saw sales of 19.4 million. Month for month, January, February, March and May each outperformed the same month last year, with March’s haul of 4.13 million becoming the second largest draw in history (only topped by June 2020 when 4.65 million albums were consumed).

• January – 3.03 million
• February – 2.94 million
• March – 4.13 million
• April – 3.36 million
• May – 4.11 million
• June – 3.29 million

Contemporary v Catalogue: Of the 20.8 million albums sold so far in 2021, approximately 61% stem from Contemporary sales – 12.72 million units. By comparison, the Catalogue format has seen sales of 8.15 million (39%).

This gap of more than four million may soon begin to slowly shrink, as in the final week of June Catalogue sales surpassed Contemporary sales for the first time ever!

In-fact, Contemporary sales have gradually declined since the beginning of the year, having fallen from 548,000 sold in the first week of January, to 391,000 sold in the last week of June – although the format did peak in late-March with 572,000 sold in a single week. It’s market share has also slid from an overwhelming 72.5% (January 04) to a minority 49.2% (June 28).

Catalogue on the other hand has continued to pick up steam in the past six months. January 04 is the format’s lowest-selling week (207,000) and market-share (27.5%), but since then those sales have risen to 403,000 (June 28) and the market share has risen to a majority 50.8%.

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.