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SZA earns her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Dec. 24) as SOS starts atop the list with one of the biggest debuts of 2022. The set launches with 318,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 15, according to Luminate – largely driven by streaming activity. That start marks the fifth-largest debut of the year and SZA’s biggest week ever.
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SOS also garners the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album, and the third-largest of 2022 among all albums.
Also in the top 10, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie captures his fourth top 10-charting effort, as Me vs. Myself debuts at No. 6.
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 Dec. 24, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 20. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 318,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 309,500 (equaling 404.58 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 7,500 and TEA units comprise 1,000.
With a total start of 318,000 equivalent album units, SOS logs the fifth-biggest debut of 2022, following the opening weeks of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (1.578 million), Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (521,000), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss (404,000) and Beyoncé’s Renaissance (332,000).
Further, as SOS generated 404.58 million official on-demand streams for its 23 songs, the set registers the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album, the second-largest streaming week ever for an album by a female artist, and the third-largest streaming week of 2022 for any album. (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)
Among all R&B sets, SOS passes the streaming debut of Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind (250.23 million) for the top weekly total ever. The only larger streaming week ever registered by a woman was notched by Swift’s Midnights (549.26 million). And, the only bigger streaming weeks overall in 2022 were tallied by the debuts of Midnights and Her Loss (513.56 million).
SOS is SZA’s second studio album and comes more than five years after the June 2017 release of her smash Ctrl project. It debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, has earned 3.9 million equivalent album units and has yet to leave the weekly Billboard 200 after 288 consecutive weeks (it climbs 35-28 on the new chart). Ctrl contains a trio of Billboard Hot 100-charting hits in “Love Galore,” “The Weekend” and “Broken Clocks.” Before SOS’ release, Ctrl had amassed 5.1 billion official on-demand streams for its songs in the U.S.
Though fans waited a long time between albums from SZA, she kept very busy releasing hit singles and collaborative tracks. Since Ctrl’s release (but before SOS’ bow) SZA charted 15 further songs on the Hot 100, including five top 10s: “What Lovers Do,” billed to Maroon 5 featuring SZA; “All the Stars,” a co-lead collaboration with Kendrick Lamar; “Good Days;” “Kiss Me More,” billed to Doja Cat featuring SZA; and “I Hate U.”
SOS, which contains 23 songs, includes three tracks that were released prior to the album’s arrival: “Good Days” (released in late 2020), “I Hate U” (released in late 2021) and “Shirt” (released in October of 2022). Those three tracks collectively garnered 980 million official on-demand streams in the U.S. before SOS’ release.
SOS was released on Dec. 9 via Top Dawg/RCA Records. It gives RCA its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Tool’s Fear Inoculum (released via Tool Dissectional/Volcano/RCA) debuted at No. 1 on the Sept. 14, 2019-dated chart. SOS is the seventh No. 1 for Top Dawg, following four leaders from Kendrick Lamar (Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in 2022, DAMN. in 2017, untitled unmastered. in 2016 and To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015; all were released via Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records, except Mr. Morale (pgLang/Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope), Black Panther: The Album in 2018 (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope), and ScHoolboy Q’s Oxymoron in 2014 (Top Dawg/Interscope).
Four former No. 1s follow SOS on the latest Billboard 200, as Midnights is a non-mover at No. 2 (139,000 equivalent album units; down 3%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains falls 1-3 in its second week after debuting atop the list (102,000; down 45%), Her Loss dips 3-4 (67,000; down 15%) and Michael Bublé’s Christmas is steady at No. 5 (62,000; up 14%).
A Boogie Wit da Hoodie captures his fourth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Me vs. Myself debuts at No. 6 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 50,000 (equaling 66.92 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible. The rapper previously visited the top 10 with Artist 2.0 (No. 2 in 2020), Hoodie SZN (No. 1, 2019) and The Bigger Artist (No. 4, 2017).
Bad Bunny’s former No. 1 Un Verano Sin Ti falls 4-7 on the Billboard 200 with 51,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song climbs 9-8 with just over 47,000 (up 17%), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack rises 12-9 nearly 47,000 (up 19%) and Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album falls 7-10 with 45,000 (down 3%).
Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 100 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It continues to have the fifth-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956 – and the most for an album by a single artist.. The all-time top 10 record-holder is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60. See list, beow.
Albums With Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart (March 24, 1956-onwards)Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 1960100, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 202190, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 195887, Original Cast, Camelot, 196187, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 195685, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 196284, Adele, 21, 201184, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984(through the Dec. 24, 2022-dated chart)
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.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup officially concluded Sunday (Dec. 18) when Argentina and France faced off for the esteemed soccer title. Lionel Messi led Argentina to victory in the game, which came to a close after the team beat France 4-2 following a penalty kick shootout. The World Cup also resulted in a series of thrilling performances from some of the world’s biggest musicians, which continued throughout the monthlong tournament.
The opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup took place Nov. 20 at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, and sent BTS ARMY into a tizzy, as Jung Kook appeared on the stage — notably without the rest of the K-pop septet to accompany him — to perform “Dreamers,” one of the many official songs that appear in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Official Soundtrack. During the performance of “Dreamers,” the BTS singer was joined by Fahad Al Kubaisi.
Latin music stars were also in attendance at the World Cup, notably Maluma and Ozuna. Maluma took the stage with Lebanese singer Mryiam Fare for their song “Tukoh Taka,” which also features Nicki Minaj and serves as one of the official FIFA Fan Festival songs. Ozuna took the stage alongside French-Congolese rapper Gims (in a mash-up performance including Davido and Aisha) to perform a live rendition of their track “Arbho” at the games’ closing ceremony.
See photos from all the musicians featured in this year’s FIFA World Cup below.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is nearly wrapping up, with Croatia and Morocco facing off on Saturday (Dec. 17) for the third place title, and Argentina and France going head-to-head on Sunday (Dec. 18) for the championship.
As has been tradition for many years now, a select number of songs soundtrack the global soccer event, such as Ricky Martin‘s “Cup of Life,” the official song of the 1998 event held in France, and Shakira‘s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” for the 2010 World Cup in Africa. At times, the tracks also show up on the Billboard charts. “Waka Waka” peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated July 3, 2010, and Martin’s “Cup of Life” peaked at No. 45 on the Hot 100 in 1998.
This year, some of the tracks featured on the diverse official soundtrack are Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha’s “Hayya Hayya (Better Together)” as well as Nicki Minaj, Maluma and Myriam Fares’ “Tukoh Taka,” which made history as the first FIFA World Cup song featuring English, Spanish and Arabic lyrics.
Below, we’ve compiled photos from the various World Cup official song performances throughout the years, stemming all the way back to 1994. See them below.
Zach Bryan’s distinct brand of red-dirt poetry and vivid, rich songcraft — as well as his earnest, no-frills delivery — has made him one of the hottest music newcomers of the year.
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Though Bryan first caught some listeners’ attention with his self-released 2019 album DeAnn (named after his mother, who died in 2016), this Oklahoma native and Navy veteran has seen his career surge in 2022 through streaming and live performances.
This year, his RIAA platinum-certified hit “Something in the Orange” rose to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Rock and Alternative Songs and Hot Country Songs chart and is climbing the Country Airplay chart. In his nascent career, Bryan has already earned 2.45 billion on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
In 2022, he inked a deal with Warner Records (through his own Belting Bronco label), and released a double-punch of projects, with the massive, 34-track album American Heartbreak and then the EP Summertime Blues. He also headlined the American Heartbreak tour, and is already slated to headline several festivals in 2023 — including Kentucky’s Railbird Festival, Wisconsin’s Summerfest, and Chicago’s Windy City Smokeout.
Below, Billboard looks at five ways Zach Bryan’s career soared in 2022.
A Victory Lap on the Top Country Albums Chart
In June, Bryan’s American Heartbreak debuted at No. 1 on Top Country Albums and at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart—without the benefit of massive radio airplay (though his breakthrough single “Something in the Orange” has since been serviced to country radio, and currently ranks at No. 33 on Country Airplay after spending nine weeks atop Country Streaming Songs. In October, “Something in the Orange” was certified platinum by the RIAA, followed by “Heading South” reaching platinum status in November.
American Heartbreak lands at No. 8 on Billboard’s Year-End Top Country Albums chart, alongside sets from Morgan Wallen, Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs, while currently holding at No. 2 on the weekly chart, just behind Wallen’s dominant Dangerous: The Double Album.
Key Performances at Stagecoach and Red Rocks
In May, Bryan performed at California’s Stagecoach Festival, with a show on the secondary Palomino stage. Fans flocked to the performance, singing every word and filling the venue with an electric energy and artist-fan connection more than worthy of a mainstage performance.
A few months later, Bryan had a snowy (and fiery) performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater on Nov. 3, when diehard fans faced frigid temps at the famed outdoor Colorado venue to see Bryan’s final show on his American Heartbreak tour — making songs such as Bryan’s “November Air” all the more poignant.
Dominating Billboard’s Top Country Songwriters Chart
Bryan spent 25 weeks at the pinnacle of the Country Songwriters chart, a testament to his work as the sole writer on “Something in the Orange,” as well as heavy streamers “Heading South” and “Burn, Burn, Burn.”
That trajectory helped place Bryan’s own Zach Lane Bryan Publishing Designee at No. 8 on Billboard’s Year-End Hot Country Songs Publishers, not far behind powerhouses including Warner-Tamerlane, Sony Tree Publishing, Big Loud Mountain and Songs of Universal. Bryan also lands at No. 2 on the Year-End Hot Country Songwriters chart, behind songwriting kingpin Ashley Gorley.
“Songwriting is such a massive part of this,” Bryan told the New York Times earlier this year. “If you’re missing out on it, what the hell are you doing? You’re just performing. You’re an actor.”
His First Grammy Nomination
Bryan found himself among country heavyweights in November when he received his first Grammy nomination. At the Feb. 5 ceremony, “Something in the Orange” will vie for best country solo performance with tunes by Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert and Willie Nelson.
After learning of his nod from the Recording Academy, Bryan shared with his followers on social media, “thank you for the Grammy nomination. I’m truly thankful and didn’t deserve a sold-out tour or to be successful at all.”
The Grammy nod followed a controversial moment earlier this year, when Bryan was not among those nominated for this year’s CMA Awards, prompting Bryan to later comment that he “will never want to be considered at the CMAs.” He later clarified his comments, saying, “To be clear, I’m not trying to insult the validity of a CMA, I respect any artist who receives one and the existence of them; I’m just saying on a personal level it is not one of my priorities to have awards on a shelf in my home. There’s room for more important things there.”
A Strong Year-End Finish
Bryan ends 2022 on a career high note, landing on multiple genres’ year-end charts. He ranks at No. 2 on Billboard’s all-genre Year-End Top New Artists chart. He also tops the Top New Country Artists and Top New Rock & Alternative Artists charts.
He also lands at No. 5 on Billboard’s 2022 Top Country Artists chart, behind more established hitmakers Wallen, Combs, Walker Hayes and Stapleton. Three of Bryan’s songs — “Something in the Orange,” “Oklahoma Smoke Show,” and “From Austin” — land on the Year-End Hot Country Songs rankings, while Bryan himself ends up at No. 3 on the Year-End Top Rock & Alternative Songs Artists chart.
His multi-genre success is a testament to the range of music he admires. He told The New York Times that he listens to artists ranging from Turnpike Troubadours to Radiohead and Gregory Alan Isakov, and that his fans should understand that he can’t be pigeonholed: “I want to be in that Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Ed Sheeran-at-the-very-beginning space.”
Another year in the books, and Billboard is looking back on some of its best photos throughout 2022.
Some of today’s biggest stars have posed for cover stories, magazine features, and Billboard events throughout the year, including Women in Music and Latin Music Week. We’ve seen jaw-dropping photos from musicians like Doja Cat, Sam Smith, Maluma, Bad Bunny, Machine Gun Kelly, Post Malone, Christina Aguilera, SZA, Shawn Mendes, Camilo, Young Thug and many more. From creative visions to powerful stances, each photo captures the artists as their most authentic self.
See below for our gallery of Billboard‘s best photos from 2022, featuring superstar artists, breathtaking locations and so much more.
Penske Media Corporation’s new music, art and food festival LA3C took over Los Angeles State Historic Park over the weekend, bringing together some of today’s most exciting music stars to celebrate the rich culture and diverse communities in the City of Angels.
Maluma and Lil Baby headlined the two-day event, which also featured some incredible performances from SEVENTEEN, Snoop Dogg, Free Nationals, Gerardo Ortiz, Fonseca, Marc Segui, Shawn Wasabi, Monogem, Shea Diamond, Chicocurlyhead and more.
The celebration extended beyond music as well, and featured a series of activities at the festival, including a range of multicultural food, bold art on display, a marketplace and interactive experiences.
Legendary anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall was also at the event, as she was honored with one of the inaugural LA3C Awards, which was given to people and organizations that celebrate the culture, creativity and global diversity found in Los Angeles.
Check out some of the portraits that were taken at LA3C below.
Kenny Chesney, “Da Ruba Girl”
Chesney pays tribute to the life of his beloved rescue dog Ruby here, who recently passed away. This laid-back acoustic track details life with his furry companion, detailing the joy “Da Ruba Girl” brought to his life in a myriad of ways, from watching her chase squirrels, noticing the hair that didn’t grow or curl, and finding a jewel of a friend in a shelter, “lying there like a lost string of pearls.”
This fan favorite “Da Ruba Girl” previously aired regularly on Chesney’s SiriusXM station, No Shoes Radio, and all proceeds for the song will be donated to Stray Rescue of St. Louis.
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Ashley McBryde and Benjy Davis, “Gospel Night at the Strip Club”
You can let the needle drop anywhere on this project and land on an excellent track courtesy of McBryde and her creative cohorts on Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville. But this standout, which details the stories of a bartender, musicians and a dancer that help make a small-town bar a near-churchlike setting of its own — building to a key line, “Hallelujah/ Jesus loves the drunkards and the whores and the queers.” This track highlights Davis’ grainy, world-weary vocal. Written by Davis, McBryde, Brandy Clark, Connie Harrington, Aaron Raitiere and Nicolette Hayford, this evinces their talents as keen-eyed, open-hearted troubadours.
Garrett Hedlund, “Always Wanted To”
Actor/musician Garrett Hedlund released a pair of new songs today, including this heartbreaking track sung from the perspective of a 95-year-old man in a nursing home. His velvety-yet-grizzeled voice is a perfect match for the track, pulling out the nostalgia and resolution in lines such as, “Outside there’s a rusty pickup, underneath the shed/ Mockingbirds nest in the tail pipe, empty feed sack in the bed/ They took away my keys, saying I’m too old to drive/ It’s like they’re trying to bury me, while I’m still alive.” If the song sounds familiar, it’s because Cody Johnson also recorded it for his Human: The Double Album project.
Lily Rose, “Truth Is”
Lily Rose is willing to linger in the boozy space between the first crushing blow of a breakup and moving on with life, if it means feeling like she’s holding onto the relationship just a bit longer. “Chasing down what we were with this 100 Proof/ Is easier to swallow than the truth is,” Rose sings in her latest release. Earlier this year, Rose’s polished pop-country sound and unvarnished lyrical vulnerability earned an ACM Awards nomination for best new female artist.
Trace Adkins and Melissa Etheridge, “Love Walks Through the Rain”
This track from Adkins’ 2021 album The Way I Wanna Go features singer/songwriter great Melissa Etheridge. The song (and newly-released video) are a tribute to the hearty, enduring power of love. Each, of course, is a sturdy soloist on their respective verses, while Adkins’ gravelly baritone potently underscores Etheridge’s vocal fervor when their voices intertwine on the choruses. Adkins previously told Billboard that the song is “the best duet I’ve ever done.”
Rusty Truck, “Ain’t Over Me” (Music Video)
Musician and photographer Mark Seliger put his myriad talents to use in the crafting the new music video from his band Rusty Truck. Seliger directed the clip, which intertwines elements of theater, music and performative dance, and features actress Katie Holmes and dancer/actor Benjamin Freemantle, with choreography from Twyla Tharp. Holmes and Freemantle convey the emotional pull, the angst, the loneliness and the hope that unfurls in this folksy ode to unrequited love.
Ashley Cooke, “It’s Been a Year”
An appropriate track as 2022 draws to a close, Cooke ponders the swift passage of time on this song she wrote with Brett Tyler and Will Weatherly. With a tender voice floating above understated guitar, she sets the scene of returning home after so long away, to visit grandparents and see her best friend’s baby, born earlier in the year. Alongside the high points and the long days of grinding out a career, she chronicles the relative swiftness with which an ex-lover has moved on: “Now he’s at her place five nights a week/ Yeah, that feels kinda quick to me, but I guess it’s been a year.”
Larry Fleet and Mike Ryan, “Quittin’ Ain’t Workin’”
Fleet and Ryan bring the honkytonk vibes on this remake of a song that originally appeared on Fleet’s 2021 album Stack of Records. On “Quittin’ Ain’t Workin’,” he’s committed to getting sober after his ex left him behind, with a promise of reconciliation if he changes his ways. But after seeing her out with another lover, he swiftly ditches his plans and heads for the nearest watering hole. A rowdy romp for fans of ’90s barroom songs.
This year brought several multi-week No. 1 hits on Billboard’s country charts, along with a surge of new artists earning solid hits with their first singles. Meanwhile, several established artists delved deep into themes of redemption, heartbreak, nostalgia and even revenge.
On this list, Billboard highlights some of country music’s top songs of the past 12 months, from established artists and upstarts alike.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ archival release Live at the Fillmore, 1997 debuts in the top 10 across a range of Billboard charts (all dated Dec. 10), including Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Tastemaker Albums. It also launches in the top 40 of the all-genre Billboard 200, arriving at No. 35 — Petty’s 21st top 40 album.
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Also in the top 10 on Top Album Sales: Taylor Swift’s Midnights holds at No. 1 for a sixth consecutive week as it surpasses 1.5 million in U.S. sales while the Cure’s Wish re-enters at No. 4 after its 30th anniversary reissue. Plus, Matteo, Andrea and Virginia Bocelli’s A Family Christmas hits the top 10 for the first time as it jumps 38-5 following the trio’s appearance on CBS’ Sunday Morning (Nov. 27) and NBC’s Christmas at Rockefeller Center special (Nov. 30).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales. Independent Albums reflects the week’s most popular albums, by units, released by independent record labels. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s best-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores.
Live at the Fillmore, 1997 – which commemorates Petty’s 20-show run at the historic theater in 1997 – sold 16,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 1, according to Luminate. Live at the Fillmore was available in multiple configurations (with either 33 tracks on a standard edition or 58 tracks on an expanded version) that ranged in price from a basic $20 digital download album to a $550 uber deluxe collector’s boxed set with six vinyl LPs. All versions of the album are tracked together for sales and charting purposes.
Of Live at the Fillmore’s 16,000 sold, physical sales comprise 14,000 (with 9,000 on CD and 5,000 on vinyl) and digital album download sales comprise 2,000. The set features live takes of such songs as “American Girl,” “Free Fallin’” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.”
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Swift’s Midnights holds atop the list for a sixth straight week (60,000 sold; up 5%). It’s the first album to sell at least 50,000 copies in each of its first six weeks of release in nearly a year, since Adele’s 30 also sold 50,000-plus in its first six frames (Dec. 4, 2021-Jan. 8, 2022-dated charts).
Midnights’ total U.S. sales now stand at 1.525 million – more than twice the sales of year’s second-largest selling album, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (678,000).
Michael Jackson’s Thriller is a non-mover on Top Album Sales with 18,000 sold (down 35%).
The Cure’s Wish re-enters Top Album Sales at No. 4 with 15,000 sold (up from a negligible sum the previous week) following its 30th anniversary reissue. The set, originally released in 1992, debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Top Album Sales and the Billboard 200. It’s the highest-charting effort for the act on the latter list.
Matteo, Andrea and Virginia Bocelli’s A Family Christmas vaults from No. 38 to No. 5 on Top Album Sales — its first week in the top 10 — with its best sales week yet, 14,000 (up 169%). The gain comes after the trio appeared on CBS’ Sunday Morning (Nov. 27) and NBC’s Christmas at Rockefeller Center special (Nov. 30). (The album’s title is truth in advertising: Matteo and Virginia are Andrea’s children, ages 24 and 10.)
Styles’ Harry’s House rises 9-6 on Top Album Sales with nearly 14,000 (up 28%), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack climbs 11-7 with 13,000 (up 35%), Swift’s Folklore bumps 13-8 with 13,000 (up 57%) and another Swift set, Red (Taylor’s Version) rises 17-9 with 11,000 (up 33%). Most albums in the top 10 also benefit from Black Friday sale pricing and promotion at major retailers, as the tracking week reflected on the latest chart covers the Nov. 25 – Dec. 1 time frame (with Nov. 25 Black Friday).
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours rounds out the top 10 of Top Album Sales, vaulting 21-10 with 10,000 sold (up 31%) following the death of the band’s Christine McVie on Nov. 30.
In the week ending Dec. 1, there were 2.708 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 17.3% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.361 million (up 22.4%) and digital albums comprised 348,000 (down 8.8%).
There were 862,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Dec. 1 (up 18.1% week-over-week) and 1.485 vinyl albums sold (up 25%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 31.892 million (down 10.3% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 36.871 million (up 3.4%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 87.949 million (down 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 69.265 million (down 3.3%) and digital album sales total 18.683 million (down 22.5%).
Madonna superfans rejoice! The Queen of Pop’s 1985 hit song “Gambler” has finally made its global streaming and digital retail debut — more than 37 years after its initial release.
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Three versions of the high-energy tune — the 7” version, an extended dance mix and an instrumental mix — are all now available globally on streaming providers and digital storefronts via Rhino and Warner Music Group. Previously, the song (in its 7” version) was only available on the Vision Quest film soundtrack (released by Geffen Records), while the dance mix and instrumental mix were previously available decades ago on physical singles outside of the U.S. “Gambler” has never been included on any Madonna album.
So why now for this long-awaited debut? “It was Madonna’s personal request,” according to a representative at Rhino. It’s the latest release in the ongoing catalog campaign announced in 2021. While “Gambler” is the final Madonna reissue from Rhino/Warner in 2022, Rhino promises “more fun things to look forward to in 2023” and that “Gambler” is “just a small glimpse of what fans can expect” next year.
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Of note, while there is an official music video for “Gambler,” it will not receive a remastered digital HD upgrade (as some of her videos have garnered in the past). And there are no current plans to issue “Gambler” on physical single formats – such as a 12” vinyl single.
“Gambler” – written by Madonna and produced by John “Jellybean” Benitez – was one of two songs Madonna contributed to the Vision Quest album. The other was her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit ballad “Crazy for You,” also produced by Jellybean. (Madonna has a cameo in the film as a club singer, and she’s seen performing both songs briefly in the movie.)
While “Gambler” was never released as a single in the United States, it was a hit outside America, reaching the top 10 on Billboard’s European Hot 100 Singles chart and on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart.
Though American fans did not get a proper single release for “Gambler,” an official music video was played by U.S. MTV for a few weeks in late June and early July in 1985. Fans who attended Madonna’s The Virgin Tour concert that summer also saw her perform the track live. The trek was commemorated on the longform home video Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour, which was released in November 1985. The Virgin Tour spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Music Video Sales chart in early 1986.
Some might wonder why “Gambler” was not released in the U.S. as a single, considering how popular Madonna was in 1985 (she was No. 1 on Billboard’s year-end Top Artists chart). Madonna had an abundance of popular new songs that year – but only half of them were on the U.S. version of her then-current Like a Virgin album. In 1985, Madonna released a total of six singles outside of the U.S. – three songs from the Warner Bros. Virgin album (“Material Girl,” “Angel” and “Dress You Up”) two from the Geffen soundtrack Vision Quest (“Crazy for You” and “Gambler”) and the non-album track “Into the Groove” (from the film Desperately Seeking Susan). Of those, four were released as proper singles in the U.S.: “Material Girl,” “Crazy for You,” “Angel” and “Dress You Up.” (Though, “Groove” was also the B-side of the U.S. 12” single of “Angel.”)
In the last few years, Madonna’s music catalog has been reintroduced to the public through a wealth of digital single and remix reissues, upgraded and remastered official music videos, limited-edition vinyl single releases, new remix collaborations and this year’s compilation album Finally Enough Love. The latter set, which celebrated Madonna’s landmark 50 No. 1s on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and marked her 23rd top 10-charting set on the all-genre Billboard 200.