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Exclusive digital cover: Munya Chawawa talks business, going viral and hosting the Music Week Awards

The Music Week Awards return this week, and our host for the biggest ever edition of the event is viral comedy star Munya Chawawa, known for a variety of characters including hoity-toity drill rapper Unknown P. In a special preview ...

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Charts analysis: Harry Styles holds off Eurovision star Sam Ryder at summit

After finishing second in the Eurovision Song Contest last Saturday (May 14), UK entry Sam Ryder’s Space Man secures the exact same result on the singles chart, vaulting 78-2, with consumption soaring 888.18% week-on-week to 61,268 units (including 22,697 digital downloads and 1,274 CDs).  It actually managed to establish a small lead on the last two of the week’s sales flashes but ultimately lost out to Harry Styles’ As It Was, which secured its seventh straight week at No.1 at the death. That was thanks to a 10.61% increase in consumption to 65,568 units, due largely to a second injection of CDs, that accounted for 9,187 sales, and increased streaming ahead of the release of his highly-anticipated new album, Harry’s House, today (May 20).  Ryder’s very first hit, Space Man is the first UK entry to even reach the Top 10 since 2007 when Scooch’s abomination Flying The Flag (For You) reached No.5, the first Eurovision hit of any origin to reach the Top 10 since 2012, when Sweden’s Loreen reached No.3 with Euphoria, and the highest charting UK entry since 1996, when Gina G also reached No.2 with Ooh Ahh...Just A Little Bit. Ryder was trumped at the finish in Eurovision, almost inevitably, by Ukraine’s Kalush with their song Stefania. Ukraine’s third winner to date, it makes a surprisingly muted debut this week at No.38 (11,478 sales). There are also debuts for Norway’s bizarre Give That Wolf A Banana (No.47, 9,914 sales) by Subwoolfer, Spanish entry SloMo (No.56, 8,728 sales) by Cuban-born Chanel and Swedish entry Hold Me Closer (No.59, 8,459 sales) by Cornelia Jakobs, which finished 10th, 3rd and 4th, respectively. There’s also a new entry from 2021 Eurovision winners, Maneskin, who score their fifth hit with Supermodel (No.43, 10,638 sales), after performing it at this year’s contest.  In the biggest shake-up in the Top 10 for weeks – although, historically, it’s a fairly tame week – rapper Kendrick Lamar’s new album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, spawns two new arrivals, namely N95 (No.6 29,975 sales) and Die Hard (No.7, 29,321 sales). A collaboration with fellow rapper Blxst and singer Amanda Reifer (a hitmaker previously as a member of Cover Drive), Die Hard is only the second song of that title ever to chart, doing so, remarkably, a week after an otherwise unrelated rap collaboration between Knucks and Stormzy reached No.61.  Lamar’s full allotment of three tracks as a primary artist is completed by United In Grief (No.14, 24,001 sales). He has had 37 hits in less than 10 years since his 2012 chart debut.  Lamar’s last album, Damn, was released before the primary artist rule was set, and 12 of its 14 tracks made the Top 75 simultaneously. Were it not for the rule, 19 titles by Lamar would be in the Top 75 this week – all 18 tracks on the Mr. Morale… album plus The Heart Part 5 which debuted last week at No.24, and turned out to be a standalone single. Now starred-out between No.58 and No.59 (8,526 sales), it would be the lowest of Lamar’s tracks at No.74.  Emulating Harry Styles’ As It Was, there are increases in sales but unchanged chart positions in the Top 10 for Go by Cat Burns (3-3, 46,610 sales) and About Damn Time (4-4, 41,610 sales, exactly 5,000 less) by Lizzo.  The rest of the Top 10: First Class (2-5, 39,793 sales) by Jack Harlow, Peru (7-8, 28,843 sales) by Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran, Starlight (5-9, 28,195 sales) by Dave and Baby (6-10, 27,750 sales) by Aitch & Ashanti. The last two go to ACR next week.  Exiting the Top 10 are Bam Bam (9-11, 27,333 sales) by Camila Cabello feat. Ed Sheeran, Wait For U (8-12, 26,322 sales) by Future feat. Drake & Tems and Where Did You Go? (10-13, 25,517 sales) by Jax Jones feat. MNEK. Its title - IFTK - and the fact it credits La Roux as co-artist are clues that Tion Wayne’s 18th hit, which debuts at No.16 (23,138 sales), is based on La Roux’s introductory hit, In For The Kill, No.2 in 2009. La Roux was last in the chart in 2014, and this is their fifth hit. The soundtrack to the viral ‘mannequin challenge’, Black Beatles was a No.2 hit for Rae Sremmurd & Gucci Mane in 2016, and justified its title by having ‘Black Beatles’ as its opening lyric as well as mentioning ‘John Lennon lenses’ and claiming ‘me and Paul McCartney are related’. Entirely unrelated, except that it shares the same title, D-Block Europe’s new hit of the same name is, rather, a braggadocious but entertaining new cut in which they talk of spending 2,000 (pounds?) a night on a suite, expensive shoes, having a cleaner and being a rock star. I’m sure it’s all good clean fun but the fact it is called Black Beatles without a mention of the Fab Four in the lyrics suggests that’s how they see themselves. Well, they kind of are almost…at least in terms of number of hits. The Beatles had 34 - of which the most recent Here Comes The Sun and Twist And Shout made the chart for the first time in 2010, after being released as downloads – and, with Black Beatles debuting at No.35 (11,779 sales) D-Block Europe have… 33.  Also new to the chart: Cooped Up (No.25, 14,220 sales), the 27th hit for rapper Post Malone, and the 10th for guest Roddy Ricch; The Foundations Of Decay (No.37, 11,579 sales), the first single in eight years from US rock band My Chemical Romance, and their 14th hit in total; Last Last (No.58, 8,601 sales), the 11th hit for Burna Boy, who previously doubled-up his title in 2020 J Hus collaboration Play Play; and Through The Echoes (No.69, 6,957 sales), the 13th hit in all and first for eight years for Paolo Nutini.              Green Green Grass is into the Top 30 for the first time, jumping 31-22 (16,348 sales) for George Ezra, while there are also new peaks for Je M’appelle (34-26, 14,066 sales) by Benzz, Remind Me (43-40, 10,993 sales) by Tom Grennan, 21 Reasons (56-41, 10,955 sales) by Nathan Dawe feat. Ella Henderson and No Excuses (69-62, 8,098 sales) by Bru-C. Singles consumption is up 0.72% week-on-week at 25,215,253 units – an all-time high, and 8.53% above same week 2021 consumption of 23,232,597 units. Paid-for sales are up 14.61% week-on-week at 370,384 – 6.09% below same week 2021 sales of 394,414. Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

Analysis

Charts analysis: Florence + The Machine land fourth No.1 and biggest weekly sale of 2022 so far

Despite not yet yielding a Top 50 single, Florence + The Machine’s fifth album, Dance Fever, makes a strong debut atop the chart, achieving the highest weekly sale of any album in 2022 to deliver her/their fourth No.1. The 19th different album to top the chart in as many weeks, Dance Fever does so on consumption of 31,187 units (12,161 CDs, 6,520 vinyl double packs, 6,664 cassettes, 1,796 digital downloads and 4,046 sales-equivalent streams), becoming the first album to exceed 30,000 sales since Adele’s 30 sold 70,813 copies on its fifth and last week at No.1, 21 weeks ago.  Available in four CD, nine vinyl and three cassette editions, Dance Fever doubtless benefitted from multiple purchases but still delivers the lowest opening week tally in Florence + The Machine’s career.  Their only Florence + The Machine album NOT to reach No.1 - their last album High As Hope - came off second best to Drake’s Scorpion, opening at No.2 on sales of 40,304 in 2018. Debut album, Lungs, sold 63,032 copies on debuting at No.2 in 2009 while follow-up, Ceremonials, sold 94,050 copies to debut at No.1 in 2011, and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful sold 68,788 copies debuting at No.1 in 2015. Lungs did reach No.1 eventually - but not until its 28th week on the chart. However, it is by far F+TM's  biggest seller, with a to-date tally of 1,887,909, followed by Ceremonials (963,387), How Big… (408,289) and High As Hope (146,533). Their 2012 MTV Unplugged set, which reached No.27, has sold 45,708 copies. A little over five years after his last proper album, Damn debuted at No.2 for Kendrick Lamar, the Californian rapper returns to active service, and again debuts at No.2 with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.  Lamar’s fifth chart album, and fourth Top 10 entry, it achieves consumption of 28,206 copies – 1,643 digital downloads and 26,563 from sales-equivalent streams. Had it been released physically, it would likely have been No.1.  Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, which debuted and peaked at No.16 on sales of 7,141 copies in 2012 is Lamar’s biggest-seller with to-date consumption of 387,571 units, ahead of Damn (354,938) and To Pimp A Butterfly, his only No.1, which debuted atop the chart in 2015 on sales of 29,695 copies, which have since climbed to 280,901. Released exactly 20 years after their first album, Dropout Boogie is American rock duo The Black Keys’ 11th studio set, their eighth Top 75 entry, and their fifth (consecutive) Top 10 album, debuting at No.5 (5,692 sales). Their eighth album, Turn Blue, provided their highest placing and weekly sale, debuting and peaking at No.2 on sales of 33,037 in 2014. Their seventh studio album, 2011’s El Camino – which debuted at number 29, on sales of 21,891 and peaked 38 weeks later at No.6, following the Ohio pair's incendiary televised performances at the Reading and Leeds festivals over the August 2012 bank holiday - is the pair's biggest seller to date with consumption of 452,508 copies. It is also home to their most popular track, Lonely Boy, which peaked at No.80 but is their only gold single, with consumption to date of 535,948 units. London folk/rock band Bear’s Den secure their second Top 10 album with fourth regular release, Blue Hours, opening at No.6 (5,650 sales) to match the peak scaled by their 2016 second album, Red Earth & Pouring Rain. It arrives 32 weeks after their Fragments collaboration with Paul Frith reached No.177. Three of last week’s Top 10 albums remain in the top tier: = (5-3, 8,171 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Between Us (6-4, 6,095 sales) by Little Mix and Sour (10-7, 4,443 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. The last of these celebrates its first birthday, never having left the Top 20, with consumption to date of 494,237 units. There are Top 10 re-entries for 50 Years: Don’t Stop (13-8, 4,211 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, The Highlights (14-9, 4,181 sales) by The Weeknd and Curtain Call: The Hits (15-10, 4,041 sales) by Eminem. No.1 on debut last week, We tumbles to No.17 (3,225 sales) for Arcade Fire.  Also departing the Top 10: Come Home The Kids Miss You (4-13, 3,825 sales) by Jack Harlow, Alpha Place (3-28, 2,502 sales) by Knucks, How To Let Go (2-74, 1,615 sales) by Sigrid, and three titles that plunge out of the Top 200 from No.7, No.8 and No.9 respectively: Happiness Not Included (581 sales) by Soft Cell, A Bit Of Previous (890 sales) by Belle & Sebastian and Back From The Dead (724 sales) by Halestorm. The only debut release to chart this week is the digital-only A Light For Attracting Attention (No.19, 2,981 sales) by The Smile. Although the act is new to recording, having played Glastonbury last year, two of its members are Radiohead veterans Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, and the third is drummer Tom Skinner from jazz band Sons Of Kemet. Toronto’s bijou El Mocambo club has been the venue for many live albums over the years, with Elvis Costello, April Wine, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Sheriff all releasing albums entitled simply Live At The El Mocambo. Forty-five years after the fact, The Rolling Stones join that club and secure their 52nd chart album with their 23-song, 106-minute but previously unreleased 1977 set debuting at No.24 (2,583 sales). First released in 1980, Toyah’s live album Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! has been considerably expanded and issued in new CD/DVD and vinyl editions. Not to be confused with an identically-named 1984 K-Tel hits set which peaked at No.43, it makes its first chart appearance in more than 41 years, re-entering at No.72 (1,659 sales). There are also re-entries for Greatest Hits (No.38, 2,232 sales) matching its 2011 debut/peak for the newly reconvened N-Dubz, whose comeback single Charmer is released today; Life In Cartoon Motion (No.53, 1,852 sales), Mika’s chart-topping 2007 debut which returns following his stint co-presenting and singing a medley of his songs on Eurovision; and May Death Never Stop You (No.55, 1,841 sales), My Chemical Romance’s 2014 compilation, following the release of their first single since that time, The Fountains Of Decay.  With Eurovision attracting a huge audience for BBC One, and the UK entry Space Man by Sam Ryder finishing second on the night – the highest placing for a UK act since Imaani’s Where Are You also finished second in 1998 - the official Eurovision Song Contest: Turin 2022 album makes an emphatic 4-1 leap on the compilation chart, with consumption up 374.33% week-on-week to 10,351 units (1,872 CDs, 119 quadruple vinyl sets, 1,102 digital downloads and 7.258 sales-equivalent streams). Containing all 40 songs from this year’s competition, it is only the second Eurovision title to top the chart, doing so 54 weeks after the 70-song retrospective, Now That’s What I Call Eurovision, which itself leaps 29-9 (1,271 sales) this week. This is the seventh year in a row that the official Eurovision album has reached the Top 10.  Overall album sales are down 1.08% week-on-week at 2,047,648, 8.76% above same week 2021 sales of 1,882,687. Physical product accounts for 263,952 sales, 12.89% of the total.   Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

Analysis

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