Charts analysis: Taylor Swift returns to albums summit

Resuming at No.1 despite its consumption falling for the third straight week, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) is the third of 12 No.1 albums by Taylor Swift to climb back to the summit after being dethroned. Emulating 2020 set Evermore and 2022’s Midnights, TTPD does so with consumption falling just 6.76% week-on-week to 29,740 units as her Eras tour rolls into Europe – 1,837 CDs, 1,313 vinyl albums. 15 cassettes, 429 digital downloads and 26,146 sales-equivalent streams. In so doing, it earns its third and Swift’s 23rd week at No.1, the latter tally including an impressive 19 (8.33%) of the 228 weeks that have elapsed so far in the 2020s. In America, where TTPD will secure its fourth straight week at No.1, Swift will have spent a much more impressive 73 weeks at No.1, more than any other solo artist – The Beatles lead the overall list with 131 weeks at the top. In Ireland, where TTPD is No.1 for the fourth straight week, Swift has spent 35 weeks at No.1. Swift’s return to the summit this week was anything but a formality, however, as she was up against familial Followill foursome Kings Of Leon, who were in pursuit of their seventh No.1 with ninth studio album, Can We Please Have Fun. Comprising a dozen new songs co-written by the quartet – brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared and their cousin Matthew – Can We Please Have Fun was ahead on sales flashes until Wednesday but its inferior streaming power saw it slip to No.2 in the final reckoning, with consumption of 17,981 units (6,614 CDs, 5,500 vinyl albums, 2,560 cassettes, 987 digital downloads and 2,320 sales-equivalent streams). That’s 7.93% below the 19,530 sales their last album, When You See Yourself, sold on debuting at No.1 in 2021. Their ninth Top 10 and 11th Top 75 album, Can We Please… nudges their overall UK album consumption to upwards of eight million – 8,000,485 to be precise, of which 2008 fourth album Only By The Night accounts for 3,178,352 units, 2007 third album Because Of The Times for 1,030,911 units and 2010 fifth album, Come Around Sundown for 995,014 units. Can We Please Have Fun topped all of the pure sales charts for which it was eligible, but ranked only 55th on streaming. American rapper Gunna’s sixth chart album – his entire solo output plus Lil Baby collaboration Drip Harder – One Of Wun is his fourth straight Top 10 entry debuting at No.4 (8,196 sales) to equal his best placing. Twenty years to the week after it debuted at No.1 on pure sales of 155,373, Keane’s debut album, Hopes And Fears, has been remastered and supplemented by b-sides, rarities and demos in new CD, vinyl, Blu-ray and digital anniversary editions, and is back in the chart for the first time in more than 17 years, re-entering at No.7 (6,926 sales). Its initial sales were very impressive as, by that point, they had only two hits, their No.3 debut smash Somewhere Only We Know and follow-up Everybody’s Changing, which opened and peaked at No.4 the day the album dropped. Hopes And Fears remains Keane’s biggest album, with to-date consumption of 2,950,712 units (all pure sales but for 88,094 sales-equivalent streams) outselling everything else by a margin of more than three to one. Somewhere Only We Know similarly leads their singles rankings, going triple platinum today (1,807,079 sales), with Everybody’s Changing (797,629 sales) second. With consumption off 80.44% week-on-week, Radical Optimism drops 1-3 (9,058 sales) for Dua Lipa. The rest of the Top 10: The Highlights (4-5, 8,171 sales) by The Weeknd, Guts (5-6, 7,985 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-8, 6,278 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, Gold: Greatest Hits (9-9, 5,979 sales) by ABBA and Sour (10-10, 5,434 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. In the Top 10 continuously this year until now, Stick Season slips 8-11 (5,365 sales) for Noah Kahan. Also checking out of the Top 10 are Top 200 departees, Undefeated by Frank Turner (856 sales) and Inevitable Incredible (637 sales) by Kelly Jones, which debuted at No.3 and No.6 respectively last week. His five previous album chart entries all peaked inside the Top 10 but Mancunian rapper Bugzy Malone’s latest – the eight song EP, King Of The North – falls short, debuting at No.13 (5,153 sales). Also new to the Top 75: 36 Hours (No.28, 3,599 sales), a collaborative mixtape between London rappers M Huncho and Potter Payper, providing the former’s seventh chart entry, the latter’s fifth; A Place In Your Heart (No.30, 3,441 sales), the eighth and lowest-charting studio album by Gabrielle; The Loop (No.36, 3,075 sales), the fifth album and second chart entry for 31-year-old singer/songwriter Jordan Rakei, born in New Zealand, raised in Australia and living in London; Postindustrial Hometown Blues (No.37, 3,023 sales), the first album by Birmingham punk/hip-hop duo Big Special – singer Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney. Outside the Top 40 albums: You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To (No.43, 2,897 sales), the third album and first Top 75 entry by hardcore punk quintet Knocked Loose from Kentucky, arriving eight years after its predecessor, A Different Shade Of Blue, reached No.135; and I’m Totally Fine With It, Don’t Give A F**k anymore (No.65, 2,345 sales), the eighth studio album and third chart entry for Scottish indie duo Arab Strap. Recorded in 1981, and first released in 2007, when it peaked at No.20, Queen’s Canadian concert recording Rock Montreal has been re-issued on CD, vinyl, Blu-ray and digitally to coincide with its debut on Disney+, and re-enters at No.31 (3,422 sales). The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (50-47, 2,762 sales) reaches a new peak for Chappell Roan. The UK entry by Olly Alexander finished 18th out of 25 at the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden last Saturday (May 11) but both semi-finals and the final of the 68th staging of the competition drew big audiences for the BBC, sending demand for the Eurovision Song Contest: Malmö album soaring. Hosting all 37 entries for the competition, it jumps 3-1 on the compilation chart with consumption growing 339.22% week-on-week to 11,589 units (1,560 CDs, 537 digital downloads, 9,492 sales-equivalent streams). It is the fourth Eurovision album to top the chart, following 2021 retrospective Now That’s What I Call Eurovision, Eurovision Song Contest: Turin 2022, and Eurovision Song Contest: Liverpool 2023. The latter album sold 17,477 copies a year ago this week, and has to-date consumption of 88,817 units, both records for a Eurovision album. Overall album sales are down 1.46% week-on-week at 2,426,756, 7.12% above same week 2023 sales of 2,265,403. Physical product accounts for 251,225 sales, 10.35% of the total.

Charts analysis: Sabrina Carpenter strengthens grip on singles No.1

Olé, Au Lait: No.1 by the smallest margin in over a year last week, Sabrina Carpenter has an easier second week at the summit with Espresso racking up consumption of 76,506 units (1,134 digital downloads, 75,372 sales-equivalent streams) putting it 28.01% ahead of Too Sweet, which bounces 3-2 (59,765 sales) for Hozier. Carpenter was nearly pipped at the post last week by Taylor Swift, whose Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) closed to within 484 sales (0.612%) of Espresso after the late introduction of CD sales. That was the closest title race since Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding’s Miracle finished 267 sales (0.608%) ahead of David Kushner’s Daylight 53 weeks ago. There is no such drama this week, with Fortnight fading 2-5 (45,437 sales). 23-year-old American singer/rapper Tommy Richman’s viral debut hit Million Dollar Baby increases consumption a hefty 171.22% week-on-week as it soars 31-7 (41,198 sales). Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s increasingly bitter feud continues apace, with one track debuting inside the Top 10 and two more making their chart debuts inside the Top 30. The pair were already at war, despite previously joining forces for several tracks, most notably Poetic Justice which – with UK consumption of 424,435 units, despite not charting – is Lamar’s 18th and Drake’s 73rd top track. Drake accelerated the animosity with J Cole collab First Person Shooter, prompting Lamar to respond via a verse on Like That with Future & Metro Boomin. Then, Drake released Push Ups, which reached No.14. The Californian Lamar hit back with Euphoria, which debuted at No.50 last week and now surges to No.11 (32,878 sales), leading Canadian Drake to unleash Family Matters (No.17, 23,803 sales), and Lamar to strike back with Not Like Us (No.10, 36,360 sales) and Meet The Grahams (No.28, 16,614 sales). At the end of an exhausting week, Lamar has increased his career haul to 42, including nine Top 10 hits, while Drake has now had 144 hits, 45 of which made the Top 10. Drake, incidentally, has had 18 tracks surpass consumption of a million units in the UK, with his career track consumption up to 3 May at a phenomenal 112,356,332 units. A Bar Song (Tipsy) continues to grow at a fast pace for Shaboozey, with consumption of his country/rap crossover track increasing 21.80% week-on-week as it climbs 6-3 (49,993 sales). Moving to ACR and the exit door next week, Lose Control spends its 18th straight week in the Top 10 for Teddy Swims, slipping 7-8 (40,691 sales), while The Door (88-68, 7,950 sales) becomes the second Top 75 entry from his debut album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1). It helps the album to jump 33-30 (3,462 sales), achieving its highest chart position for 14 weeks. Lose Control’s sales include 1,929 digital downloads, enough in a quiet week for it to top that format’s chart for the fifth time, 13 weeks after it was last there. It is the 18th week in a row that Lose Control has sold more than 1,000 copies on digital download. Its overall digital sales since becoming available last June of 47,756 make it that format’s biggest seller in the last 12 months, ahead of Texas Hold ‘Em (42,795 sales) by Beyonce, with the rest of the top five being Padam Padam (40,574 sales) by Kylie Minogue, Stick Season (30,680) by Noah Kahan and Calm Down (26,349) by Rema. 56 tracks have sold more than 10,000 downloads in the survey period. The rest of the Top 10: Beautiful Things (4-4, 48,251 sales) by Benson Boone, I Like The Way You Kiss Me (5-6, 42,350 sales) by Artemas and Austin (9-9, 36,949 sales) by Dasha. The Dasha track peaked at No.7 three weeks ago, but increases consumption for the 11th week in a row since it first dropped in February. Seven of the Top 10 are the first tracks by the artists in question to reach that part of the chart, a very rare confluence. Both Top 10 exits are by Taylor Swift: I Can Do It With A Broken Heart (8-12, 30,273 sales) and Down Bad (10-15, 23,947 sales). Dua Lipa has the No.1 album with new release Radical Optimism. Already the home to three hit tracks – all of which made the Top 10 – it generates a fourth in the form of These Walls, which debuts at No.40 (12,966), becoming Lipa’s 29th chart entry. It also precipitates increased consumption for Illusion (16-16, 23,840 sales) and Training Season (66-61, 8,970 sales). Also new to the Top 75: Rise (No.67, 7,960 sales), the first Top 75 entry for 24-year-old Californian singer/songwriter Gracie Abrams (only the second Gracie to chart following Gracie Fields, who had hits in 1957 and 1959); Right Here (No.71, 7,695 sales), the fifth hit from Becky Hill’s upcoming second album, Believe Me Now, and her 24th hit in total; and Addicted (No.75, 7,283 sales), the first hit for Brazilian electronic music artist Zerb, the 16th for The Chainsmokers, and the second for featured American R&B singer Ink, real name Atia Boggs. There are new peaks for: Love Me Jeje (58-52, 9,860 sales) by Tems; Pedro (60-57, 9,226 sales) by Jaxomy, Agatino Romero & Raffaella Carrà; and If We Being Real (64-63, 8,418 sales) by Yeat. Overall singles consumption rises for the fifth consecutive week, and hits a new peak for the third time in a row, increasing 0.53% week-on-week to 29,994,688 units, 12.64% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,627,649 units. Paid-for sales are down 8.01% week-on-week at 273,801 – 11.43% below same week 2023 sales of 309,146.

Charts analysis: Dua Lipa scores second No.1 album with Radical Optimism

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Charts analysis: Sabrina Carpenter serves up first No.1 single with Espresso

Overseas acts continue to dominate with caffeine queen Sabrina Carpenter becoming the seventh in a row to take the title, as Espresso percolates 5-1 on consumption of 79,627 ...

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Charts analysis: Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department goes platinum in second week at summit

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