Charts analysis: The Reytons score first No.1 album

They have never had a hit single but The Reytons’ third entry to the album chart in less than two years, What’s Rock And Roll?, becomes their first No.1, debuting at the summit on consumption of 12,252 units. The proudly independent (‘No backing. No label. All Reytons’) quartet from South Yorkshire’s coronation – the first by an unsigned act since Central Cee’s 23 last March – follows the No.27 peak of their February 2021 EP, May Seriously Harm You And Others Around You, and their first full length album, Kids Off The Estate, which reached No.11 in November 2021. Although clearly very popular, the success of What’s Rock And Roll? is also a triumph of marketing, with headline sales of 4,131 CDs, 5,430 vinyl albums, 894 cassettes, 1,039 digital downloads and 758 sales-equivalent streams being the sum total of a plethora of variants, probably the most ever for a No.1 album. Encompassing signed editions, exclusive artwork, colour variations, gatefold sleeves and a deluxe ‘podcast’ edition of the album with commentaries on every track, there are 32 versions of the set - 16 CD, nine vinyl, five cassette and two digital. The Reytons are fronted by 37-year-old Jonathan ‘Jonny’ Yerrell, who had a No.124 single in 2011, Chasing Rainbows, as Jay Mya. Yerrell was born in Rotherham but moved to the nearby city of Doncaster, from which The Reytons, who formed in 2017, are the third act to have a No.1 album in less than five months, following Yungblud’s eponymous September 2022 release, and Louis Tomlinson’s November 2022 set, Faith In The Future. Italian rock band Måneskin make their maiden entry into the Top 10 with third album Rush! debuting at No.5 (6,681 sales). The group previously reached No.49 with second album Teatro D’Ira Volume 1 in 2021, after one of its tracks, Zitti E Buoni, won the Eurovision Song Contest. As far as I can recall, they are the first Italian rock group to have a Top 10 album – though Milan metal band Lacuna Coil placed six albums on the chart between 2006 and 2019, all peaking in a very narrow band between No.42 and No.48. Anglo-American rock quartet Black Star Riders’ fifth album, Wrong Side Of Paradise, is their second to reach the Top 10, after 2017 third release Heavy Fire, and equals its peak, debuting at No.6 (6,346 sales). All of their albums to date have made the Top 30, with their 2013 debut, All Hell Breaks Loose, being their lowest charter (No.25) but their biggest seller (33,593 units). The rest of the Top 10: Midnights (2-2, 8,393 sales) by Taylor Swift, SOS (3-3, 8,343 sales) by SZA, The Highlights (5-4, 8,221 sales) by The Weeknd, Curtain Call: The Hits (7-7, 5,634 sales) by Eminem, = (8-8, 5,351 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (10-9, 4,972 sales) by Lewis Capaldi and Diamonds (12-10, 4,822 sales) by Elton John. No.1 last week following its re-release in an expanded edition, St. Jude plunges to No.103 (1,482 sales) for Courteeners. Also departing the Top 10 are Rap Game Awful (4-11, 4,672 sales) by Clavish Harry’s House (9-12, 4,632 sales) by Harry Styles and Turn The Car Around, which drops from No.6 to a position outside the Top 200 (950 sales) for Gaz Coombes. Harry’s House thus vacates the Top 10 after 35 weeks – two fewer than the introductory run of 37 weeks achieved by its immediate predecessor, and Styles’ second solo album, 2019’s Fine Line. His eponymous 2017 debut solo set spent only its first three weeks in the Top 10, while none of his five albums with One Direction spent more than 10 weeks in the Top 10. Surpassing the No.18 debut and peak (3,145 sales) of their 2019 debut Human Season, Dublin band The Murder Capital’s follow-up Gigi’s Recovery debuts at No.16 (4,130 sales). Human Season reached No.2 in their native Ireland, where Gigi’s Recovery is currently No.1. Also new to the chart: Time’s Arrow (No.67, 1,806 sales), the seventh album for Liverpool electro-pop band Ladytron, surpassing their only previous Top 75 entries, 2008 fourth album Velocifero (No.75) and 2011 fifth album Gravity The Seducer (No.72). No.2 for three weeks on initial release in 1979, Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy’s classic Live And Dangerous set is almost back in the Top 75 for the first time in more than 43 years following the release of a remastered, expanded edition, re-entering at No.86 (1,583 sales). Ricky Warwick from Black Star Riders (see above) is also a current member of Thin Lizzy but wasn’t with the band when Live And Dangerous was recorded. 2017 soundtrack album The Greatest Showman is No.1 on the compilation chart for the second week in a row, and 35th week in total on consumption of 2,459 units (61 CDs, 69 vinyl albums, 51 digital downloads and 2,278 sales-equivalent streams). Overall album sales are up 1.14% week-on-week at 2,118,110, 2.14% above same week 2022 sales of 2,073,745. Physical product accounts for 281,133 sales, 13.27% of the total.

Charts analysis: Miley Cyrus storms to summit with more than 90,000 sales for Flowers

In the chart for the first time since 2020, Miley Cyrus is No.1 for the first time in almost a decade, with Flowers storming to a No.1 debut on consumption of 91,731 units (10,034 digital downloads, 81,697 sales-equivalent streams). That is the highest sale for a No.1 single since As It Was (with which it shares producers Kid Harpoon & Tyler Johnson) debuted at No.1 for Harry Styles 41 weeks ago on sales of 94,140. Thirty-year-old singer/songwriter Miley Cyrus’ 24th hit (including one as Hannah Montana), Flowers is her third No.1, following 2013 smashes We Can’t Stop and Wrecking Ball, which are among her five songs to achieve consumption of upwards of one million units but not at the top of the list, where 2009 No.11 hit Party In The USA (1,586,920 sales) and 2018 No.2 Mark Ronson collaboration Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (1,325,655 sales), lead the way. Effecting the seventh change of chart leadership in as many weeks – the longest such sequence since 2015 – Flowers records Cyrus’ third highest weekly sale, behind the debut tallies of the aforementioned We Can’t Stop (128,159) and Wrecking Ball (107,362). The third single with a one word title in a row to reach No.1, Flowers is the sixth song of that name to blossom on the chart but the first to top the chart, although Sweet Female Attitude’s Flowers reached No.2 in 2000. Two previous No.1s have had Flower(s) in their titles, both parenthetically and in association with hair – Scott McKenzie’s 1967 hit San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) and Sandi Thom’s 2006 tubthumper I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair). With physical stocks almost depleted, last week’s No.1, Pointless, tumbles 1-12 (21,334 sales, only 96 of them CDs) for Lewis Capaldi, marking his hastiest retreat from the summit yet. Having moved 15-1-13 in the last fortnight, it is the only one of the chart’s 1,408 No.1 singles to spend a single week in the Top 10 on anything other than its debut week - so far, at least. Capaldi’s tumble enables the emergence of an all-female top four, with Raye’s Escapism (feat. 070 Shake) remaining at No.2 with sales up 6.96% to a new peak of 58,510; Sza’s Kill Bill continuing at its No.3 peak with a 21.40% upswing in consumption to 43,437 units; and Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero remaining at No.4 (34,311 sales, three more than last week). It is the first all-female top 4 since December 3, 2018, when Ariana Grande, Little Mix feat. Nicki Minaj, Jess Glynne and Halsey shut out the men, with Bradley Cooper the top male, at No.5 with his Lady Gaga duet, Shallow. It was creeping last week, when it crawled 12-11, but now it’s booming, moving to No.7 (26,806 sales). I’m talking about Creepin’, which becomes American rapper Metro Boomin’s first Top 10 entry, more than five years after his chart debut. The track also features The Weeknd and 21 Savage, who thus achieve their 13th and sixth Top 10 entries, respectively. The rest of the Top 10: Messy In Heaven (5-5, 29,364 sales) by Venbee & Goddard, Let Go (6-6, 27,565 sales) by Central Cee, Calm Down (8-8, 26,183 sales) by Rema, Miss You (9-9, 25,431 sales) by Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz and Made You Look (7-10, 24,462 sales) by Meghan Trainor. Exiting the Top 10, alongside Lewis Capaldi, Out Of Nowhere slips 10-14 (19,598 sales) for Bugzy Malone & TeeDee. A track from Mimi Webb’s upcoming debut album Amelia, Red Flags becomes her eighth hit and sixth Top 40 entry, debuting at No.23 (13,899 sales). Also new to the chart: Dave Flow (No.30, 12,064 sales), the 32nd Top 75 hit and 18th Top 40 hit in a little over five years for London rapper Fredo; Bzrp Music Sessions Volume 53 (No.31, 11,671 sales), a Spanish-language first hit for Argentinian DJ Bizzarap, and the 14th for Colombian singer Shakira, who was last in the Top 75 in 2014; No Difference (No.57, 8,227 sales), the fifth hit for rapper Clavish; Gimme (No.60, 7,739 sales), the second hit from Sam Smith’s upcoming album Gloria following the chart-topping Kim Petras collaboration Unholy and Smith’s 27th hit, while supplying collaborators Jamaican rapper Koffee’s third and Canadian singer Reyes’ first; Nonsense (No.69, 6,948 sales), the second hit for singer/actress Sabrina Carpenter; and Bel Mercy (82-72, 6,766 sales), the first hit for Dutch DJ/producer Jengi. Debuting last week after a 12-year gestation, viral hit Sure Thing now climbs 14-11 (22,502 sales) for US R&B singer Miguel. As their UK tour At Their Very Best continues, The 1975 gain further ground on the charts. Their single About You jumps 52-41 (10,553 sales), while parent album Being Funny In A Foreign Language reaches a 12-week high, climbing 19-16 (3,977 sales). It is joined in the Top 75 by their eponymous 2013 debut, which jumps 100-51 (2,088 sales), propelled mostly by streaming, to achieve its highest chart placing since 2018. There are also new peaks for: 10:35 (18-16, 16,539 sales) by Tiesto & Tate McRae, Lionheart (Fearless) (24-18, 14,951 sales) by Joel Corry & Tom Grennan, Golden Hour (23-19, 14,536 sales) by Jvke, People (60-27, 12,860 sales) by Libianca, Shut Up, My Mom’s Calling (38-36, 10,831 sales) by Hotel Ugly, Players (50-45, 9,929 sales) by Coi Leray, We Caa Done (61-50, 9,400 sales) by Popcaan feat. Drake. Twelve weeks after it debuted at No.3, and five weeks since it exited the Top 75, Lavender Haze is now a single for Taylor Swift, and re-enters the chart at No.43 (10,162 sales). Overall singles consumption is up 2.86% week-on-week at 25,468,396 units, 7.14% above same week 2022 consumption of 23,770,838 units. Paid-for sales are down 8.10% week-on-week at 289,277 – 11.50% below same week 2022 sales of 326,864.

Charts analysis: Courteeners land first No.1 album with St Jude reissue

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Charts analysis: Taylor Swift's Midnights holds steady at summit

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