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Harry Styles really did own the keys to 2022. The British pop singer’s third studio album Harry’s House was the biggest LP of the year in the U.K., according to new data published by the Official Charts Company.
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The ex-One Direction singer leads the year-end albums survey with Harry’s House, which shifted north of 460,000 U.K. chart units over the year, including 160,000 sales (150,000 physical and 10,000 downloads), the OCC reports.
Harry’s House logged six non-consecutive weeks atop the Official U.K. Albums Chart in 2022, more than any other album, and the lead single from it, “As It Was,” tops the U.K.’s year-end singles survey.
Compatriot Ed Sheeran comes in at No. 2 on the year-end albums list with = (Equals), which snaffled upwards of 433,000 U.K. chart units during the calendar year. Sheeran has made a career habit of racking up big numbers. In November, the OCC announced all four of his solo studio albums — (Plus), x (Multiply), ÷ (Divide) and = (Equals) — had spent a total of at least a year inside the Official Albums Chart top 10.
Completing the 2022 podium is Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which, in less than three months, captured more than 417,000 U.K. chart sales, including 217,000 sales (206,000 physical copies and11,000 downloads). Midnights got away to a particularly explosive start. First-week U.K. chart sales exceeded 204,000, more than double her previous best, 2014’s 1989 (90,300 chart units).
It’s hard to keep a good thing down. That’s certainly the case with ABBA and Queen’s barnstorming career retrospective albums. ABBA Gold became the first album in U.K. chart history to log 1,000 weeks on the chart, a feat it achieved in July 2021. It’s still going strong. Powered by the ABBA Voyage virtual residency in London, the LP appears at No. 10 on the year-end U.K. chart. Indeed, Gold improves 20-13 on the latest Official U.K. Albums Chart, doing so in its 1,078 week.
Queen’s 1981 release Greatest Hits reached the 1,000-week milestone on the U.K. chart in 2022, and it finished the year in 11th place on the year-end tally. Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in U.K. recorded music history, shifting more than seven million combined units.
Music streaming reached new heights in 2022, the BPI reports. Across digital and physical formats, the equivalent of 166 million albums were streamed or purchased during the year, up 4.3% on 2021.
Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2022
Harry’s House, Harry Styles
=, Ed Sheeran
Midnights, Taylor Swift
The Highlights, The Weeknd
Sour, Olivia Rodrigo
Curtain Call – The Hits, Eminem
Diamonds, Elton John
50 Years – Don’t Stop, Fleetwood Mac
Between Us, Little Mix
Gold – Greatest Hits, ABBA
In the year that saw King Charles ascend the throne, it was Harry Styles who was crowned on the U.K. charts.
The pop superstar rules 2022’s year-end singles and albums charts, with “As It Was” and its parent, Harry’s House, respectively, according to new data published by the Official Charts Company.
Released in April 2022, “As It Was” reigned over the Official U.K. Singles Chart for 10 weeks, and went on to shift 1.57 million combined units, the OCC reports.
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“As It Was” also finished the year as the most-streamed song in the U.K., with more than 180.9 million audio and video streams, and it was the best-seller across combined physical and digital formats, raking-in 65,000 units.
The former One Direction singer leads an all-British sweep of the top 10 tracks of 2022 in the U.K. — a first in the 50-plus year history of the year-end singles chart.
Coming in at No. 2 on the Official Top 40 Biggest Singles of 2022 is Ed Sheeran “Bad Habits,” with 1.18 million chart units. “Bad Habits” was the No. 1 song in the U.K. in 2021.
Afrobeats star Fireboy DML lands at No. 3 with “Peru” (featuring Sheeran), BRITs Rising Star nominee Cat Burns is at No. 4 with “Go,” and Sheeran completes the top 5 with “Shivers.”
2022 was a remarkable year for Kate Bush and her 1985 song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” which roared off the back of Netflix’ Stranger Things, in which is was synced to several pivotal moments. The song was embraced a new generation as it finally reached No. 1, some 37 years after its release. As it completed the path to the top, Bush broke a trio of records, including the longest journey a single to reach No. 1 in the U.K.
Also, notes the OCC, LadBaby bagged the fastest-selling single in its first week based on pure sales, “Food Aid,” which pulled-in more than 59,000 first-week sales. The charity fund-raising single was the most-downloaded song of the year, and a record-breaker, as it delivered the husband-and-wife Hoyle duo a fifth consecutive Christmas No. 1.
The OCC’s year-end reports are published as the BPI announces 159 billion music tracks were streamed in the U.K. last year, a new record which represents a 8.2% gain on 2021, and more than double the volume from five years ago.
Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2022
“As It Was,” Harry Styles
“Bad Habits,” Ed Sheeran
“Peru,” Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran
“Go,” Cat Burns
“Shivers,” Ed Sheeran
“Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” Kate Bush
“Heat Waves,” Glass Animals
“Where Are You Now,” Lost Frequencies/Calum Scott
“Afraid To Feel,” LF System
“Seventeen Going Under,” Sam Fender
Australia was Harry’s House in 2022, as Harry Styles locked up the best-selling single and the No. 2 album, according to year-end data published by ARIA.
The former One Direction star leads the ARIA Top 100 Singles Chart with “As It Was” (via Columbia/Sony Music), which racked up five platinum certifications following its April 1 release.
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Its parent LP, Harry’s House, Styles’ third successive solo No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, spawns three of the top 50 tracks for 2022, and finishes at No. 2 on the year-end albums tally. Styles confirmed his popularity when he won most popular international artist at the 2022 ARIA Awards, a fan-voted category.
The best-selling album, according to ARIA, is Taylor Swift’s Midnights (Universal), which chalked up the biggest single sales cycle of any LP in 2022 and scooped a record nine of the top 10 singles in its first week. Also, Midnights was the year’s best-selling LP on wax.
Both Midnights and Harry’s House are platinum certified (for 70,000 combined units).
U.S. and international acts dominate the year-end tallies.
The top-ranked homegrown album is the Kid LAROI’s F*ck Love (Over You), which finished 2022 at No. 21, after landing at No. 3 on the 2021 year-end survey. The Sydney-raised, Los Angeles-based singer and rapper also scores three singles in the top 100 for 2022, led by “Stay” (Columbia/Sony) featuring Justin Bieber at No. 3 (“Stay” finished 2021 at No. 2).
Also, Pnau’s award-winning remix of “Cold Heart” (via Warner/Universal) featuring Elton John and Dua Lipa finishes 2022 at No. 4 (“Cold Heart” finished 2021 at No. 13).
The year in music will be remembered by the stranger things done by Kate Bush’s 1985 song “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)” (via Warner), which caught fire on sales charts around the globe. Powered by Netflix’ Stranger Things, the single logged nine weeks at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, more than any other song in 2022, and arrives at No. 11 on ARIA’s year-end tally.
ARIA 2022 Top 5 Albums
Taylor Swift – MidnightsHarry Styles – Harry’s HouseThe Weeknd – The HighlightsOlivia Rodrigo – SourEd Sheeran – =
ARIA 2022 Top 5 Singles
Harry Styles – “As It Was”Glass Animals – “Heat Waves”The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber – “Stay”Elton John & Dua Lipa – “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)”Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”
ARIA 2022 Top 5 Vinyl Albums
Taylor Swift – MidnightsHarry Styles – Harry’s HouseSpacey Jane – Here Comes EverybodyArctic Monkeys – AMEd Sheeran – =
If 2022 was the year of Taylor Swift in the U.K., the New Year appears much the same as Swift’s Midnights (EMI) takes pole position on the midweek chart.
Based on data published by the Official Charts Company, Midnights is on track for the first No. 1 of 2023, and land a fourth non-consecutive week at the summit.
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If it keeps its momentum, the OCC notes, Midnights will eclipse Swift’s 2020 LP Folklore to become her longest-reigning album in the U.K.
Meanwhile, SZA’s sophomore album SOS (RCA/Top Dawg) is set to lift 8-2, and the Weeknd’s career retrospective The Highlights (Republic Records/XO) could bounce 15-4 following the release of “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength),” the Canadian R&B singer’s single from Avatar: The Way of Water. The Highlights is one of five greatest hits compilations impacting the top 10s, a list that includes sets by Elton John, ABBA, Eminem and Fleetwood mac.
Also, Eurovision contestant Sam Ryder’s former chart-topper There’s Nothing But Space, Man! (Parlophone) is on the up following the BBC’s Sam Ryder Rocks New Year’s Eve TV special.
The start of a New Year is typically a slow time for new releases. 2023 is no different, as modern-day pop classics (Ed Sheeran’s ‘Divide‘, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour), and compilations (Oasis’ Time Flies, George Michael’s Twenty Five, Elvis Presley’s ELV1S – 30 Number 1 Hits, Michael Jackson’s Number Ones) ready for a top 40 return.
Finally, the release of Kasi Lemmons’ Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody is giving a lift to the 2012 best-of collection, I Will Always Love You. It’s on track to return at No. 14, for what would be a new peak. The Arista album has a U.K. chart best position of No. 27.
With Christmas tunes marching down and out the charts, Raye is targeting her first U.K. No. 1 single.
The U.K.-based singer and songwriter leads the midweek U.K. chart with “Escapism” (up 6-1), ahead of SZA’s “Kill Bill” (RCA/Top Dawg) and Central Cee‘s “Let Go” (Central Cee), respectively.
A multiple BRIT Award nominee best known for tracks including “Bed” (U.K. No. 3); “Secrets” with Regard; (U.K. No. 6) and Jax Jones’ “You Don’t Know Me” (U.K. No. 3), Raye in flourishing in her new, independent phase.
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“Escapism” is released through Human Re Sources, J. Erving’s distribution and artist services company, which she signed to in 2022 after publicly splitting with Polydor a year earlier.
“Imagine this pain,” she wrote about her major label arrangement in 2021. “I have been signed to a major label since 2014…and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album.”
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” (Interscope) is making quite a stir, thanks to a viral TikTok dance sensation inspired by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega. “Bloody Mary,” lifted from Mother Monster’s 2011 LP Born This Way, could nab a top 40 spot for the first time. It’s flying 59-16 on the Official Chart Update.
Finally, the late Whitney Houston could stage a return to the top 40, following the theatrical release of the biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Its title track, which peaked at No. 1 back in 1987 (via Arista), is set to return at No. 36.
All will be revealed when the chart is published Friday (Jan. 6).
Michael Buble’s Christmas (via Reprise) is back on familiar territory — at No. 1 in the U.K.
The Canadian crooner’s holiday classic lifts 3-1, for its fifth non-consecutive week at the summit. Christmas first led the Official U.K. Albums Chart following its release in 2011, and last reached the top in December 2021.
With Christmas in the rearview, holiday albums are enjoying mixed fortunes. On the way down are Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff (2-12 via EastWest/Rhino), the Bocellis’ A Family Christmas (5-20 via Decca), and Andre Rieu & Johann Strauss Orchestra’s Silver Bells (7-36 via Decca), while the late Bing Crosby bucks the trend with Christmas Classics (UMC/Virgin), up 91-27.
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In the absence of any new releases, hits collections figure prominently on the latest survey, published Friday, Dec. 30.
Among the best-sellers are Elton John’s Diamonds (Mercury/UMC), up 14-5; and the Weeknd’s The Highlights (Republic Records/XO), which lifts 12-7 following the release of his Avatar 2: The Way of Water soundtrack single, “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength).”
Also climbing are Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (up 13-8 via Rhino/Warner Bros) and 50 Years – Don’t Stop (up 25-15 via Rhino); Eminem’s Curtain Call – The Hits (up 18-11 via Interscope); ABBA’s Gold – Greatest Hits (up 20-13 via Polydor in its 1,078th week on the chart, a record); the U.K.’s top-selling album of all time, Queen’s Greatest Hits (up 23-16 via EMI); Oasis’ Time Flies – 1994-2009 (up 38-23 via Big Brother), Elvis Presley’s Elv1s – 30 Number 1 Hits (up 60-31 via BMG) and George Michael’s Twenty Five (up 74-40 via Aegean).
Wham’s “Last Christmas” (via RCA) is the gift that keeps giving, as the ‘80s classic returns to No. 1 in the U.K.
The holiday standard lifts 2-1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Dec. 30, for its second stint at the summit in 2022.
According to the Official Charts Company, “Last Christmas” scoops over 79,000 combined chart units, including a market-leading 18 million streams, to bag the last No. 1 of the year.
Less than a year earlier, “Last Christmas” was finally crowned on the survey, setting a new mark for the longest journey to the top, at 36 years.
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The latest survey is brimming with Christmas spirit. Indeed, holiday numbers swamp the Top 40, taking out 34 spots, including nine of the top 10. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (Columbia) improves 4-2; Ed Sheeran & Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” (Atlantic) is up 5-3; Brenda Lee’s 1962 hit “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” (MCA) lifts 8-4, for a new peak; Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas rebounds” (Reprise) is up 11-6; Bobby Helms bags a posthumous top 10 — his first in the U.K. — with “Jingle Bell Rock” (MCA) up 14-7; Lizzo lifts 15-8 with her Amazon Music “Original Someday At Christmas” (Atlantic); The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” (Warner Bros) gains 13-9; and Andy Williams’ “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of Year” (Sony Music) soars 21-10.
LadBaby set a new chart record when “Food Aid” (BMG) bowed at No. 1 last week, the husband-and-wife duo’s fifth Christmas leader. The charity fundraised falls sharply in its second week, down to No. 85.
Expect an entirely different looking chart this Friday (Jan. 6), as Christmas songs make their annual exodus.
The highest charting non-Christmas-themed song belongs to Stormzy, whose This Is What I Mean ballad “Firebabe” (0207/Merky) lights up 10-5, for its equal peak position.
SZA’s SOS rules the Billboard 200 chart (dated Jan. 7) for a third straight and total week as the set earned 128,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 29 (down 29%), according to Luminate. Plus, five holiday albums populate the top 10 — the most in a year — led by Michael Bublé’s former No. 1 Christmas.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Jan. 7, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 4 (one day later than usual, due to the New Year’s Day holiday on Jan. 1). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 128,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 126,500 (down 29%, equaling 168.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 1,000 (down 20%) and TEA units comprise 500 (up 3%).
SOS is the first R&B album by a woman to spend three weeks at No. 1 since Beyoncé’s self-titled effort also spent its first three weeks atop the list in 2013. (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)
Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights is a non-mover at No. 2 with 106,000 equivalent album units (down 32%), while Bublé’s Christmas rises 5-3 with 62,000 units (down 14%). Christmas is one of five holiday albums in the top 10, the most in the region since the chart dated Jan. 2, 2022, when the top 10 also housed five festive sets.
Metro Boomin’s chart-topping Heroes & Villains is stationary at No. 4 with 58,000 equivalent album units earned (down 24%). Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song hits a new peak, rising 7-5 with 57,000 units. It previously topped out at No. 6, first achieved on the Jan. 2, 2021-dated list.
Drake and 21 Savage’s former leader, Her Loss, holds at No. 6 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned (down 16%) and Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 Un Verano Sin Ti climbs 10-7 with 48,000 (down 9%). A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector climbs to a new chart high, rising 11-8 with 47,000 units (down 1%). The set had earlier plateaued at No. 10 on the Jan. 8, 2022-dated tally. Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas is a non-mover at No. 9 with 47,000 units (down 10%) and Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack falls 8-10 with 45,000 units (down 20%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Mariah Carey already locked up the Christmas No. 1, now she’s certain to see in the New Year as queen of the Australian singles chart.
Carey’s nine-times platinum hit from 1994, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (Columbia/Sony), enters a third week at No. 1 on the latest ARIA Singles Chart, as holiday numbers flood the survey.
“All I Want” leads an “all-Christmas” top ten, published Dec. 30, and is one of 18 Christmas songs impacting the top 20, with SZA’s “Kill Bill” (down 2-12 via RCA/Sony) and Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ former leader “Unholy” (down 3-14 via Capitol/Universal) the only exceptions.
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A string of Xmas-themed tracks impact the upper tier of the chart for the first time, including the late Nat King Cole’s 1946 recording “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)” (via Universal), new at No. 27; The Beach Boys’ “Little Saint Nick” (Universal) at No. 39; Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” (Universal) at No. 41; Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (via Sony) at No. 49; and another Nat King Cole classic, “Deck The Hall” (EMI), at No. 50.
Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Taylor Swift’s platinum-certified Midnights (Universal) retains top spot, ahead of Michael Buble’s Christmas (up 3-2 via Reprise/Warner) and SZA’s SOS. (down 2-3 via RCA/Sony).
As the New Year nears, Swift can rest assured that her fanbase in Australia is amped for a potential tour to these parts. The U.S. pop superstar makes her presence known up and down the national albums survey, with Folklore (up 31-21), Evermore (up 50-22), Red (Taylor’s Version) (up 33-23), 1989 (up 32-27), Lover (up 34-30), Reputation (up 53-44), and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (up 62-50) making gains.
LadBaby lands the ultimate Christmas present with “Food Aid” (via BMG) earning the coveted Christmas No. 1 in the U.K. — and doing so in record-busting fashion.
The charity single debuts at No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart with more than 65,000 chart sales, the Official Charts Company reports, for the fastest-selling week of any recording in 2022.
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The husband-and-wife duo of Mark and Roxanne Hoyle become the first act to nab five Official U.K. Christmas No. 1 singles, beating the old mark held by the Beatles, who bagged four non-consecutive Christmas leaders in 1963, 1964, 1965 & 1967.
Previously, LadBaby ruled the Christmas chart with “We Built This City” (in 2018), “I Love Sausage Rolls” (2019), “Don’t Stop Me Eatin’” (2020) and 2021’s “Sausage Rolls For Everyone” with Ed Sheeran and Elton John.
Proceeds from the single, a re-interpretation of Band Aid’s ‘80s classic “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” are split equally between food bank charity The Trussell Trust and the Band Aid Trust.
“It only seems yesterday that LadBaby turned up with their first festive campaign four years ago, so it feels slightly surreal to be sending hearty congratulations on their fifth successive Official Christmas No. 1,” comments Martin Talbot, chief executive of the OCC. “Securing one Christmas No. 1 is a huge achievement in itself – to do it five times, in successive years, is unprecedented and frankly incredible.”
There’s Christmas cheer to be found up and down the chart, as Wham’s “Last Christmas” (RCA) dips 1-2, but racks up a market-leading 12.9 million streams. Meanwhile, another fundraising holiday number, Sidemen’s “Christmas Drillings,” is the highest climber, blasting 41-3; while yuletide favorites from Mariah Carey (“All I Want For Christmas Is You” down 2-4 via Columbia), Ed Sheeran and Elton John (“Merry Christmas” down 4-5 via Atlantic) and Brenda Lee (“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” down 5-8 via MCA) impact the top 10.
It’s the season to be jolly, and it’s also the season for punk act the K**ts to stage a return with a protest song. At No. 7, “F**k The Tories” (via Tactical Voting) is the highest new entry on the chart, published Dec. 23. It’s the English act’s third consecutive Christmas top 10, following “Boris Johnson Is Still A F**king C**t” in 2021 and “Boris Johnson Is A F**king C**t” in 2020, both peaking at No. 5.
The Christmas albums crown belongs to Taylor Swift, whose 2022 smash Midnights (EMI) lifts 3-1 on the Official Chart, with over 17,000 chart units, according to the OCC.
Midnights joins 2020’s Folklore as Swift’s only LPs to log three weeks at the U.K. summit, and it’s the only non-Christmas album to inhabit the current top 3, as Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff (EastWest/Rhino) lifts 8-2, and Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Reprise) improves 4-3.