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

Already home to three Top 10 hits – Houdini, Training Session and Illusion – Dua Lipa’s highly-anticipated third album Radical Optimism storms to a No.1 debut, delivering her highest weekly sale yet, while earning the honour of dethroning Taylor Swift’s latest magnum opus, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). With first week consumption of 46,298 units (13,388 CDs, 16,772 vinyl albums, 4,779 cassettes, 1,414 digital downloads and 9,945 sales-equivalent streams), Radical Optimism is Lipa’s second No.1 and had a 34.62% bigger first week than immediate predecessor, Future Nostalgia, which launched in March 2020, initially landing at No.2 on consumption of 34,390 units; and 187.92% greater than her eponymous June 2017 debut, which debuted at No.5 with 16,223 sales. Both improved on their debut positions – something, of course, Radical Optimism cannot do. The self-named first album took 37 weeks to reach its peak position of No.3, doing so immediately after Lipa received BRIT Awards for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act and performed New Rules at the 2018 ceremony. Future Nostalgia rose 2-1 on its second frame, despite its consumption falling 53.24% week-on-week to 16,080 units. Its to-date consumption is 741,218 units, while Dua Lipa is on 1,032,934 units. Radical Optimism’s first frame is the second highest of the year, behind TTPD, and the highest for a British female artist since Adele’s 30 blasted onto the chart on consumption of 261,856 units in November 2021. Although dipping to No.2, TTPD’s consumption of 31,897 units is still higher than that achieved by the No.1 album in 12 of the 18 previous weeks that have elapsed in 2024, and Swift’s second highest third week tally behind the 32,589 mark set by Midnights in 2022. TTPD is her 12th No.1 but marks the 15th time she has been dethroned – each time by a different artist. Those who can boast of replacing her at No.1 are, in order of achieving the feat: Calvin Harris, Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Biffy Clyro, Paul McCartney, Barry Gibb, London Grammar, Adele, Drake & 21 Savage, Michael Bublé, The Courteeners, J Hus, Madness and Dua Lipa. No.1 last time out with FTHC, Frank Turner secures his sixth Top 10 and 11th Top 75 album with Undefeated (No.3, 15,580 sales). The 42-year-old alternative/folk artist wrote, recorded and produced the album all by himself at his Essex studio. Two years after he reached No.1 for the eighth time fronting Stereophonics’ latest album, Oochya!, and less than a year after he reached No.5 as a member of Far From Saints with their eponymous album, Kelly Jones returns to the Top 10 with his second solo studio album, Inevitable Incredible. A rather skimpy eight-song, 24-minute release, it debuts at No.6 (7,022 sales). Jones’ only previous solo chart foray came in 2020, when his live set, Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day. Jones’ only previous solo studio album, Only The Names Have Been Changed, sold 10,631 copies the week it was released in 2007, enough to earn a No.23 debut, had it not been intentionally excluded from the chart by dint of an eligibility-busting competition. The rest of the Top 10: The Highlights (3-4, 8,367 sales) by The Weeknd, Guts (4-5, 7,845 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (10-7, 6,191 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, Stick Season (9-8, 5,773 sales) by Noah Kahan, Gold: Greatest Hits (11-9, 5,689 sales) by Abba and Sour (14-10, 5,331 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. As her UK tour continues – she is in Birmingham tonight (May 10) – Sour is at its highest placing for 32 weeks for Rodrigo, who also has simultaneous Top 10 albums for the first time. Exiting the Top 10: Cowboy Carter (8-12, 4,825 sales) by Beyonce, Nonetheless (2-45, 2,640 sales) by Pet Shop Boys, All Born Screaming (5-179, 1,184 sales) by St. Vincent and - departing the Top 200 in a hurry – last week’s No.6, Jess (1,030 sales) by Jess Glynne and last week’s No.7, The Big Decider (426 sales) by The Zutons. Glynne’s instant departure is a massive contrast to debut album, I Cry When I Laugh, which racked up an initial Top 10 run of 39 weeks, and Top 75 run of 94 weeks in 2015/2017; and follow-up, Always In Between, which was Top 10 for five straight weeks and Top 75 for 58 weeks in 2018/2019. More than six years after she released her first single, Rachel Chinouriri’s critically acclaimed debut album, What A Devastating Turn Of Events, debuts at No.17 (4,108 sales). It is an excellent achievement for the 25-year-old indie singer/songwriter from London, whose most consumed track is six-year-old So My Darling (56,054 sales), though viral success All I Ever Asked – which is on the album – is catching up fast with a to-date tally of 40,227 units. Also new to the Top 75: Promised Land (No.19, 4,043 sales), the introductory album by London-based rock quintet, The Karma Effect; Look To The East, Look To The West (No.36, 2,972 sales), the sixth studio album, and third chart entry for Glasgow indie quintet Camera Obscura, who were formed in 1996, but last released an album in 2013; mixtape Signed To The T (No.37, 2,965 sales), the first chart entry for 23-year-old Birmingham rapper KayMuni – Kalid Khan – who was sentenced to nine years in jail on drugs and firearms offences in 2022; and Reasonable Woman (No.59, 2,380 sales), the 10th solo studio album and sixth chart album for Sia (including one as part of LSD). Chappell Roan’s September 2023 debut album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, gets a new peak, climbing 56-50 (2,478 sales). Housing 82 tracks first released 50 years ago, Now Yearbook 74 opens atop the compilation chart on consumption of 5,030 units (3,929 CDs, 841 vinyl albums and 260 digital downloads). It is the 11th regular Now Yearbook album to reach No.1. Six Now Yearbook Extra releases have also reached No.1. Overall album sales are up 0.08% week-on-week at 2,462,731, 10.24% above same week 2023 sales of 2,233,914. Physical product accounts for 317,346 sales, 12.89% of the total.

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