Chart Beat
Arlo Parks’ ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ Is Energized After Mercury Prize Win
Based on midweek data, the album vaults to No. 26. The soulful British singer is enjoying a bright start to her career. In 2020, she won the AIM Independent Music Award for One to Watch, was longlisted for the BBC Sound Of… 2020 and won BBC Introducing Artist of the Year. Collapsed In Sunbeams opened at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart in February, and, in May, she was declared the breakthrough artist winner at the 2021 Brit Awards, on a night when she delivered an inspiring performance of her song “Hope.” Accepting the Mercury Prize, Parks said “it took a lot of sacrifice and hard work to get here and there were moments where I wasn’t sure whether I would make it through — but I am here today so thank you very much.” The award was established as the Mercury Music Prize in 199...
Drake Dominates With Record 9 of Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, Led by ‘Way 2 Sexy’ at No. 1
Leading the way, Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, launches at No. 1 on the Hot 100. In all, Drake debuts 21 songs on the Hot 100, all from his new album Certified Lover Boy (released Sept. 3 on OVO Sound/Republic Records), which blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 613,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 9, according to MRC Data, the biggest weekly sum for an album in over a year. Meanwhile, with all nine of Drake’s new Hot 100 top 10s from Certified Lover Boy, the set is the first album ever to generate as many as nine top 10 Hot 100 hits. The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Sept. 18) will update on Bill...
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shivers’ on Course for No. 1 Debut In U.K.
Ed Sheeran looks set to extend his reign over the U.K. singles chart, only he might do it with a new number. Sheeran’s latest “Shivers” gets away to a fast start to lead the First Look chart, which ranks releases based on the weekend’s sales and streaming activity. “Shivers” debuts at No. 1 and opens up a lead of 10,000 chart sales over the No. 2 track, Sheeran’s “Bad Habits,” which has logged 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Girls Aloud Sales Spike In U.K. As Fans Remember Sarah Harding
Streams of the group’s 2004 chart-leading cover “I’ll Stand By You” soared by 1,068%, and the 2009 leader “The Promise” saw week-on-week gains of 340%. Also, the outfit’s signature song, the No. 1 debut “Sound of the Underground” had 295,000 plays, well up on the 100,000 streams of a typical week, while Girls Aloud’s 2007 hit “Call The Shots” saw an increase in downloads and streams of 333%. Harding’s solo single “Wear It Like A Crown,” which she released in March to raise funds for The Christie NHS Foundation, where she received treatment, has seen streams lift by 7,500%. Harding passed away Sept. 5 after a battle with breast cancer. She was 39. The group left an indelible mark on the pop scene and on the U.K. charts, where they snagged four Official Chart U.K. No. 1s singles and 21...
Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart With Biggest Week for an Album in Over a Year
Let’s take a look at some of the feats that Drake achieves with the debut of Certified Lover Boy: 10th No. 1 Album: Drake is now one of only eight artists with at least 10 No. 1 albums in the 65-year history of the Billboard 200 chart. The Beatles have the most No. 1s, with 19. They are followed by Jay-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand (11 each), Drake, Eminem, Elvis Presley and Kanye West (10 each). Drake first topped the Billboard 200 dated July 3, 2010, with Thank Me Later. Biggest Week for an Album in Over a Year: With 613,000 equivalent album units earned, Certified Lover Boy logs the largest week for any album since Swift’s Folklore launched at No. 1 on the Aug. 8, 2020-dated chart with 846,000 units. Certified also easily scores 2021’s biggest week, blowing past the previo...
Iron Maiden Earns Highest Charting Album Ever on Billboard 200 With ‘Senjutsu’
Iron Maiden earns its highest charting album ever on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Sept. 18), as its latest studio effort Senjutsu debuts at No. 3. The veteran hard rock band previously peaked at No. 4 with its last two studio releases: The Book of Souls (in 2015) and The Final Frontier (2010). In total, Senjutsu is Iron Maiden’s 15th top 40-charting album (dating to its first, The Number of the Beast, in 1982), of which four have hit the top 10. Of Senjutsu’s 64,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 61,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 3.57 million on-demand streams of the set’s 10 tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Senjutsu logs the second-largest week of 2021 for a hard rock album in both equivalent alb...
Drake Smashes Australian Chart Record as ‘Certified Lover Boy Debuts’ Blasts to No. 1
Also hitting high on the current chart is Imagine Dragons’ Mercury – Act 1 (Interscope/Universal). It’s new at No. 10 for the American pop-rock band’s fifth top tier release. K-pop boy band Stray Kids make their first appearance on the ARIA Albums Chart with NOEASY (Orchard), the followup to their 2020 debut Go Live. It’s new at No. 14. Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s hit “Stay” (Columbia/Sony) enters week nine at No. 1, ahead of Drake’s “Girls Want Girls,” new at No. 2. “Girls Want Girls” is one of five new CLB releases to crack the Top 10. His 20 new entries to the chart breaks the record for most debuts in the Top 50 in one week. Finally, ABBA make their long overdue return to the ARIA Singles Chart with their “Don’t Shut Me Down” and “I Still Have Fait...
Evvie McKinney Scores Her First No. 1 on Gospel Airplay Chart With ‘Just Like God’
“After two years of writing and recording during the pandemic, to finally see my debut gospel radio single reach No. 1 is almost indescribable for me,” McKinney tells Billboard. “I wrote ‘Just Like God’ to express my heart: While I try never to be surprised by what God does, I want to always remain in awe of Him doing it. A huge thank you to all the radio programmers and music directors who allow my music to be heard.” “We are thrilled to have a No. 1 debut gospel radio single from a developing artist on our roster,” says Monica Coates co-executive director, Motown Gospel. Prior to “Just Like God,” McKinney’s debut single “Look No Further” hit No. 2 on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Gospel Songs cha...
Five Burning Questions: Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Debuts At No. 1 With 2021’s Best First-Week Numbers
1. The reasons for Kanye West’s Donda posting the year’s biggest first-week number are numerous — but what would you cite as the biggest? Rania Aniftos: While Kanye being Kanye is an obvious factor, in the elusive Donda’s case, the anticipation even had me (who is not typically a Kanye fan) listening to the album to see what all the hype was about. Ever since Kanye began teasing Donda last year, not a day went by without seeing a “Donda? More like Donde esta?” meme or album predictions on TikTok. Donda had such a mysterious energy around it, that by the time it actually arrived, it felt like a legendary Pokémon that needed to be beheld. Lyndsey Havens: The hype — no one generates more of it ...
Kanye West Hits No. 1 on Streaming Songs for First Time Since 2018
“Hurricane” reigns with 29 million U.S. streams in the Aug. 27-Sept. 2 tracking period, according to MRC Data. “Hurricane” leads a slew of West songs on the Sept. 11 chart, with seven of the top 10 coming from new album Donda. That’s the most West has sent into Streaming Songs’ top 10 in a single week, besting the four that reached that level from 2019’s Jesus Is King toward the Nov. 9, 2019, survey. West now boasts 22 top 10s on Streaming Songs, tying him with J. Cole for the fourth most in chart history. Drake leads all acts with 53. Most Top 10s, Streaming Songs53, Drake23, Justin Bieber23, The Weeknd22, J. Cole22, Kanye West20, Ariana Grande20, Post Malone19, Lil Uzi Vert18, Lil Baby18, Taylor Swift In all, 22 songs from Donda hit Streaming Songs, tying West for the second-most simulta...
Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Makes Historic Start on Billboard’s Christian & Gospel Charts
West achieves his second leader on both Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums. In November 2019, his first spiritual LP, Jesus Is King, opened with 264,000 units, then a weekly record sum on both surveys. It led Top Christian Albums for eight weeks and Top Gospel Albums for 67 (the latter an MRC Data-era record). It ranks at Nos. 7 and 2 on the latest respective lists, up 17% to 3,000 units. Donda was surprise-released, following a prominent promotional campaign, on an off-cycle Sunday (Aug. 29, instead of the usual Friday for most new albums), and, thus, launches with just five days of activity in its first chart week, instead of seven. The 27-track album was released only via streamers and digital retailers, while a release date for a physical album has not yet been a...
BTS’ ‘Butter’ Rebounds for 10th Week Atop Billboard Hot 100, Kanye West, Walker Hayes Hit Top 10
Additionally, Walker Hayes ascends to the Hot 100’s top 10 with his viral country hit “Fancy Like” (11-9), and Ed Sheeran‘s “Bad Habits,” at No. 3, takes over as the most-heard hit on U.S. radio, reaching the top of the Radio Songs chart. The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Sept. 11) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Sept. 8; a day later than usual due to the Monday, Sept. 6 Labor Day holiday in the U.S.) For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram. “Butter,” released on HYBE/BigHit Music/Columbia Records, drew 12.2 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 39%) and 10.7 million U.S. str...
