Chart Beat
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D-Block Europe are now record-setters.
As the hip-hop duo’s latest mixtape DBE World (via D-Block Europe) arrives at No. 6 on the Official U.K. Chart, they become the British rap act with the most top 10 albums, with seven.
Comprising Young Adz and Dirtbike Lil Bantz, the pair stroll past Mike Skinner’s The Streets, with six top 10 appearances on the albums survey. Manchester rapper Bugzy Malone is in third spot among British hip-hop acts with five top 10 sets, the Official Charts Company reports.
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DBE’s tally includes 2019’s Home Alone (No. 6 peak) and PTSD (No. 4), 2020’s Street Trauma (No. 9) and The Blue Print – Us vs Them (No. 2), 2021’s Home Alone 2 (No. 6) and 2022’s Lap 5 (No. 2).
The Streets will hope to jointly reclaim that title with its new album, The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light, slated for release Oct. 20 via 679 Records/Warner Music UK.
D-Block Europe’s success extends to the Official Singles Chart, where the act has snagged 28 top 40 hits, with three top 10s: 2021’s “Overseas” with Central Cee (No. 6 peak), and Clavish collaborations “Rocket Science” (No. 9 in 2022) and “Pakistan,” No. 10 on the latest survey.
British hip-hop is on a tear right now – both at home and further afield.
Dave and Central Cee’s current smash “Sprinter” (via Live Yours/Neighbourhood) has proved unstoppable, notching six consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. It’s also the leader on the ARIA Chart, leading the way in Australia for five non-consecutive weeks.
Last month, “Sprinter” (via Virgin Music Australia/Universal) opened at No. 1, becoming the first U.K. hip-hop single to debut at the top in the land Down Under, and ending the eight-week reign of Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” (Republic/Universal).
Russ Millions and Tion Wayne’s “Body” (Warner UK) became the first U.K. hip-hop leader on the ARIA Chart in May 2021, when it lifted 3-1.
Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter” (via Live Yours/Neighbourhood) is showing no signs of slowing down.The homegrown hip-hop number enters a sixth week at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published July 14, beating Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” (Geffen), unmoved at No. 2.
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The midweek leader, “Sprinter” races away with 8.2 million U.K. streams, according to the Official Charts Company.
The podium is completed by Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” (EMI), which improves 6-3. That’s a new chart peak for the track, originally released in 2019 with the Lover album.
As Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) blasts to No. 1 on the national albums survey, two of its tracks enter the singles chart. The highest is “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version),” new at No. 6, for Swift’s 23rd U.K. top 10 entry and the week’s top debut, while “Enchanted (Taylor’s Version)” bows at No. 15, for her 48th U.K. top 40 spot.
Also moving on up is Peggy Gou’s clubbing nugget “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (XL Recordings), which lifts 7-5 for the South Korean DJ and producer’s first appearance in the U.K. top 5.
D-Block Europe and Clavish’s “Pakistan” (D-Block Europe) improves 10-8; Nathan Dawe, Joel Corry & Ella Henderson’s “0800 HEAVEN” (Atlantic) rises 15-9, for Dawe’s third, Corry’s sixth and Henderson’s ninth top 10 appearances, the OCC reports; while Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” (BMG) returns to the top 10, up 12-10.
Meanwhile, there are new peaks for the Weeknd, Madonna and Playboy Carti’s “Popular” (Interscope/Republic Records/XO) up 17-11; Gunna’s “Fukumean” (300 Entertainment) is up 18-12; Jorja Smith’s “Little Things” (FAMM) gains 14-13; Tom Grennan’s “How Does It Feel” (Insanity) surges 23-17; and Anne-Marie’s collaboration with Shania Twain, “Unhealthy” (Atlantic/Asylum/EMI), climbs 21-19.
The big gainer in the latest cycle belongs to British DJ D.O.D., whose “So Much In Love” (Armada) soars 38-24.
Taylor Swift takes the elevator to the penthouse as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (via EMI) debuts at No. 1 in the U.K.
Swift’s third and latest rerecorded LP leads the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published July 14, for her 10th leader. The album racks up more than 67,000 chart units in its first seven days, the Official Charts Company reports, more than double the tally (28,200) for the original 2010 release, which peaked at No. 6.
Vinyl accounted for more than a third of the “Version’s” opening-week sum — a market-leading 22,500 units.
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The runaway leader at the midweek point, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) extends the U.S. pop superstar’s record-breaking succession of U.K. leaders, with all her crowns earned in the space of just 10 years and eight months (beginning with 2012’s Red). Last year, TayTay eclipsed Madonna to snag honors with her ninth chart-topper Midnights. The Queen of Pop, however, still holds the record for the female soloist with the most U.K. No. 1 albums (12).
Though Swift’s U.K. leg of The Eras Tour won’t kick off until next summer, that hasn’t stopped Swifties from diving into the singer’s catalog. A further five of her LPs impact the top 40 — 2022’s Midnights (No. 9), 2014’s 1989 (No. 10), 2019’s Lover (No. 12), 2017’s Reputation (No. 21) and 2020’s folklore (No. 25).
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is also the leader on the Billboard 200 and the ARIA Chart this week.
Coming in at No. 2 on the U.K. chart is Wham’s retrospective collection The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven (Sony Music CG), for the pop duo’s sixth top 10 appearance. The hits set enjoys a bump thanks to the Netflix documentary on the ‘80s pop group, led by George Michael and his schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley.
Completing an all-new top three is Gabriels’ Angels & Queens – Pt 2 (Parlophone), new at No. 3. That’s well up on the No. 25 peak for its predecessor, 2022’s Angels & Queens – Pt 1. The British-American act (Jacob Lusk, Ryan Hope and Ari Balouzian) are no doubt still buzzing from their appearance on stage at Glastonbury Festival for Elton John’s historic headline set. Meanwhile, the Rocket Man’s Diamonds (Mercury/UMR) career retrospective dips 2-7.
Also bagging top 10 starts on the latest national survey is PJ Harvey’s I Inside the Old Year Dying (No. 5 via Partisan) and D-Block Europe’s mixtape DBE World (No. 6 via D-Block Europe), for the rap outfit’s seventh appearance on the tally.
As Taylor Swift achieves her 12th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart (dated July 22) with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), she also populates the top 10 with three of her former No. 1s, marking the first time in nearly 60 years that a living artist has at least four albums at the same […]
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated July 22), launching with the year’s biggest week for any album, and gives Swift her 12th No. 1, surpassing Barbra Streisand for the most No. 1 albums among women.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) bows with 716,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 13, according to Luminate, of which 507,000 are in traditional album sales. Both figures represent the largest week for any album in 2023 and the best since Swift’s last studio album, Midnights, debuted with 1.58 million units, of which 1.14 million were in album sales, last year (week ending Oct. 27, 2022; as reflected on the Nov. 5-dated Billboard 200).
2023’s previous largest week, by equivalent album units earned, was tallied by Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which launched with 501,000 units in the week ending March 9, as reflected on the Billboard 200 chart dated March 18. The year’s largest sales week was held by the debut frame of Stray Kids’ 5-STAR with 235,000 copies sold in the week ending June 8, as reflected on the June 17-dated charts.
Further, Swift has a total of four albums in the top 10 at the same time on the new Billboard 200, as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is joined by her former chart-toppers Midnights (falling 4-5), Lover (8-7) and Folklore (13-10). She is the first living act to have four albums in the top 10 at the same time since the April 2, 1966-dated chart, when Herb Alpert also had four albums in the top 10 (Going Places at No. 2, Whipped Cream & Other Delights at No. 3, South of the Border at No. 9, and The Lonely Bull at No. 10).
Between Alpert and Swift, only one other act has placed at least four titles in the top 10 concurrently, and that was Prince, following his death in 2016, when he had five albums in the top 10 dated May 14, 2016. (Swift is the only woman with four albums in the top 10 at the same time since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing list in August of 1963.)
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 July 22, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 18. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recorded version of Swift’s 2010 No. 1 Billboard 200 studio album Speak Now. The 22-track re-recorded edition includes new recordings of the original album’s 14 standard tracks, along with bonus cuts and previously unreleased “From the Vault” recordings. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Swift’s re-recorded Red and Fearless albums, released in 2021. Both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Swift announced the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on May 5, the same day she began taking pre-orders for the album via her official webstore. The set sold as a digital download album, double-CD, double-cassette and in three color vinyl LP variants (orchid marbled, violet marbled and a Target-exclusive lilac marbled color). It was also available to stream in its standard 22-track edition. On the final day (July 13) of the album’s debut tracking week, Swift released a deluxe digital album download of the set exclusively sold through her official webstore, which added two bonus live tracks recorded during her ongoing The Eras Tour (“Dear John” and “Last Kiss,” both of which were originally released in their studio form on the Speak Now album in 2010).
Swift celebrated the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) during her Kansas City stop of The Eras Tour on July 7, where she premiered the music video for the album’s “From the Vault” track “I Can See You.” On stage, Swift was joined by the clip’s three co-stars, actors Taylor Lautner, Joey King and Presley Cash.
12 No. 1s: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) marks Swift’s 12th No. 1 on the Billboard 200, pushing her past Streisand (with 11 No. 1s) for the most chart-toppers among women since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. Swift ties Drake for the third-most No. 1s among all acts, with only The Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (14) ahead of them.
Five Years in a Row of New No. 1 Albums: Swift is the only act to have achieved a new No. 1 album in each of the last five calendar years — 2019-23. She topped the list in 2019 with Lover; in 2020 she led with Folklore and Evermore; in 2021 she ruled with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version); in 2020 Midnights arrived; and in 2023 Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has now debuted. Swift is the only woman with five consecutive years of new No. 1 albums. Previously, she was tied with Miley Cyrus for the most consecutive years of new No. 1s (Cyrus did it four years in a row, from 2006-09, including titles billed to her former Disney Channel alter ego Hannah Montana). The only other acts with at least five years in a row of new No. 1s are The Beatles (seven years, 1964-70), Drake (five years, 2015-19), Jay-Z (five years, 2000-04) and Paul McCartney (five years, 1973-77).
Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 716,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 13, album sales comprise 507,000, SEA units comprise 206,000 (equaling 269.33 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 22 songs – the third-largest streaming week of 2023 and the second-largest streaming debut frame of the year) and TEA units comprise 3,000.
Country Time: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) scores the largest week, by equivalent album units earned, for a country album since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014. It surpasses the previous best week in that span of time, notched by the opening week of Swift’s own Red (Taylor’s Version), with 605,000 units in 2021. Plus, with 507,000 copies sold in its first week, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) garners the largest sales week for a country album in nearly 10 years, since the debut frame of Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party (528,000 on the chart dated Aug. 31, 2013). (Country albums are those that have charted on, or are eligible for, Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)
Version Vs. Version: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) logs the biggest week of the three re-recorded Swift albums, surpassing the opening frames of Red (Taylor’s Version) (605,000 in 2021) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (291,000; 2021). First-week sales of Red (Taylor’s Version) were enhanced by the availability of CDs signed by Swift sold in her webstore and via independent retailers. Fearless (Taylor Version)’s first-week did not include any signed copies or vinyl LP sales — which are traditionally quite large for Swift — as its vinyl did not arrive until months after the set’s initial release.
Swift Has Four of the Top Five Biggest Weeks Since 2019: Since January 2019, four of the top-five biggest weeks, by units earned, have been tallied by the debut frame of a Swift release: Midnights (1.578 million; 2022), Lover (867,000; 2019), Folklore (846,000; 2020) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (716,000; 2023). The only non-Swift week among the top five largest frames since January 2019 is the opening week of Adele’s 30, with 839,000 units in 2021.
Second-Largest Vinyl Sales Week in Modern Era: Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 507,000 first-week copies sold, vinyl sales comprise 268,500 — the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. It is second only to the first week of Midnights’ vinyl LP, with 575,000 sold in its opening frame.
2023’s Second-Biggest Selling Album After One Week on Sale: After only one week on sale, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is 2023’s second-largest selling album. The year’s top-seller remains Swift’s own Midnights, with 636,000 sold in 2023. Midnights was the top-selling album of 2022, with 1.818 million sold that year.
Nine Albums With Half-Million-Plus Sales in a Single Week: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) marks the ninth Swift album to have sold at least 500,000 copies in a single week in the U.S. Since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991, Swift is the only act with nine different albums to sell at least a half-million copies in a single week.
As for the rest of the top 10 on the new Billboard 200… Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 2 with 104,000 equivalent album units (down 6%). One Thing at a Time has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 19 of its chart weeks. It extends its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.
Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape falls 1-3 on the Billboard 200 in its second week (61,000 equivalent album units earned; down 64%), Peso Pluma’s Génesis dips 3-4 (59,000; down 14%) and Swift’s Midnights is pushed down 4-5 (55,000; though up 2%).
Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album falls 5-6 (46,000 equivalent album units; down 4%); Swift’s Lover climbs 8-7 (45,000; up 3%); SZA’s former No. 1 SOS descends 6-8 (44,000; down 1%); and Gunna’s A Gift & a Curse falls 7-9 (42,000; down 3%). Swift’s Folklore returns to the top 10 for the first time in nearly two years, as the set rises 13-10 (33,000; up 5%). Folklore was last in the top 10 on the chart dated Aug. 7, 2021, when it ranked at No. 9.
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.
Taylor Swift ties the record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as “Karma” ascends to the top of the list dated July 22. The song becomes her 11th leader on the list, matching the marks of Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Rihanna.
(Justin Bieber, with 10 Pop Airplay No. 1s, is the only other act with a double-digit total.)
Meanwhile, dating to the Pop Airplay chart’s inception in October 1992, Swift and Maroon 5 are the only acts to have reigned in the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s.
Here’s a recap of Swift’s 11 No. 1s on Pop Airplay, which measures songs’ weekly plays, as tabulated by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate, on over 150 U.S. mainstream top 40 radio stations.
Title, Weeks at No. 1, Year(s):
“Karma,” one (to date), 2023
“Anti-Hero,” three, 2022-23
“Delicate,” one, 2018
“Look What You Made Me Do,” one, 2017
“Wildest Dreams,” two, 2015
“Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar), five, 2015
“Style,” three, 2015
“Blank Space,” six, 2014-15
“Shake It Off,” two, 2014|
“I Knew You Were Trouble,” seven, 2013
“Love Story,” one, 2009
Also notably, “Karma” is the second Pop Airplay No. 1 from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, following “Anti-Hero.” The set is her third to generate multiple leaders, after Reputation (two, 2017-18) and 1989 (five, 2014-15).
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Contributing to airplay for “Karma,” which gained by 1% in plays on Pop Airplay reporters July 7-13, is its remix featuring Ice Spice. The song (all versions combined) hit a No. 2 high on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in June. It originally debuted, at No. 9, on the Hot 100 100 dated Nov. 5, 2022, as Swift made history as the first artist to monopolize the chart’s entire top 10 in a single week, with all tracks all from Midnights.
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Swift concurrently ascends to the Pop Airplay top 10 with “Cruel Summer,” which surges 14-8 as the list’s Greatest Gainer (up 29%). The song becomes her 22nd top 10, tying Maroon 5 for the second-most, after Rihanna’s 30.
Originally released on Swift’s 2019 album Lover and now being promoted by Republic Records as a new single, the song has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, as Swift has been performing it on her current The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each concert on the tour is divided into 10 acts, encompassing nine of her LPs; the Lover era kicks off the show, with “Cruel Summer” performed in the opening set.
The song becomes the third Pop Airplay top 10, and second-highest-charting, from Lover, joining lead single “Me!,” featuring Brendon Urie (No. 7 peak, May 2019), and “You Need to Calm Down” (No. 9, August 2019). The set spun off two other top 20 hits: the title track (No. 16, November 2019) and “The Man” (No. 20, April 2020).
After completed the Swift Sweep last week on the ARIA Chart, Taylor Swift has retaken the chart throne with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (via Universal), setting another record in the process.
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Swift’s third and latest “Version” release debuts at No. 1, for her 11th leader in Australia, a feat that includes three rerecorded titles.
By replacing herself at No. 1 on the latest tally, published July 14, Swift becomes the first artist to do so since the ARIA Charts began in 1983, according to ARIA.
For the previous week, Taylor locked up the entire top five on the ARIA Albums Chart, a level of dominance never seen before on the national survey. Swift continues to swamp the top tier, with four of the top five titles, and six of the top 10. It’s a similar story on the national singles tally, where Taylor takes nine of the top 20 spots.
It takes a little heavy metal magic to disrupt Swift’s dominance on the ARIA Albums Chart.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard prevents another sweep, as the Aussie act bows at No. 2 with possibly the longest album title of the year: PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (via KGLW)
PetroDragonic Apocalypse equals King Gizz’s career peak of No. 2, achieved with four previous albums: Flying Microtonal Banana (2017), Infest The Rats’ Nest (2019), Chunky Shrapnel (2020) and Butterfly 3000 (2021)
The prolific band has released 24th studio album (including five in one year), 15 live albums, three compilations, a remix album, three EPs and snared two ARIA Awards.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, “Sprinter” (Virgin Music/Universal) by U.K. rappers Dave and Central Cee races to a fifth week at No. 1.
Finally, South Korean K-pop girl group NewJeans enjoys a top 40 berth with “Super Shy” (ING/Universal), which drops at No. 27. NewJeans has an Aussie connection; Danielle Marsh was born-and-raised in Newcastle, and her bandmate Hanni Pham calls Melbourne home.
aespa achieves its second No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated July 15) as the Korean group’s latest release MY WORLD: The 3rd Mini Album debuts atop the list with 39,000 copies sold in the U.S. in the week ending July 6, according to Luminate.
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape bows at No. 4, Phish nets its highest-charting album ever as its 2000 studio album Farmhouse re-enters at No. 5 after a vinyl reissue, and Lucinda Williams earns her best sales week in over seven years as Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart debuts at No. 9.
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.
Of MY WORLD’s 39,000 copies sold in its first week, physical sales comprise effectively all of that sum – and all on the CD format. Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of MY WORLD was issued in collectible CD packages (more than 16, including exclusive editions for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the act’s webstore), each containing a standard set of branded merchandise items and randomized branded elements (such as photo cards, posters and stickers).
Stray Kids’ chart-topping 5-STAR rises 3-2 on Top Album Sales with 16,000 sold (down 17%) while Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights climbs 5-3 with 12,000 (up 9%). Lil Uzi Vert’s latest studio set Pink Tape arrives at No. 4 with a little over 11,000 sold, marking their third top 10-charting effort.
Phish’s studio album Farmhouse, released in 2000, returns to Top Album Sales at a new peak, as the set re-enters at No. 5 with a little over 11,000 sold (up 26,731%) – basically on in vinyl LP sales – after a new vinyl reissue. The set was reissued on 180-gram colored (blue and nebulous green) double-vinyl on June 30. Farmhouse also debuts at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart (a little over 11,000 copies sold) – marking the band’s third leader on the list and its best sales week on vinyl ever.
Farmhouse originally debuted and peaked at No. 12 on the Top Album Sales chart in 2000. With its re-entry at No. 5, it marks Phish’s eighth top 10 on the tally.
ATEEZ’s former leader The World EP.2: Outlaw falls 2-6 on Top Album Sales with 11,000 sold (down 65%), ENHYPEN’s Dark Blood dips 4-7 with 9,000 (down 19%) and Swift’s chart-topping Folklore is pushed down 7-8 with nearly 9,000 (despite an 11% gain).
Lucinda Williams’ Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart bows at No. 9 on Top Album Sales with the singer’s best sales week in over seven years – 8,500. She last sold more in a week when The Ghosts of Highway 20 launched at No. 16 on the Feb. 27, 2016-dated chart with 16,000 sold. Stories is Williams’ third top 10 on Top Album Sales.
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart is Swift’s former No. 1 Lover, which falls 8-10 with nearly 8,000 (though up 10%).
In the week ending July 6, there were 1.746 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 2.2% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.420 million (up 4.2%) and digital albums comprised 327,000 (down 5.5%).
There were 652,000 CD albums sold in the week ending July 6 (up 5.2 % week-over-week) and 756,000 vinyl albums sold (up 2.9%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 18.189 million (up 4% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 24.362 million (up 21.2%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 52.387 million (up 7.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 42.827 million (up 13.2%) and digital album sales total 9.560 million (down 11.3%).
Argentina’s dream team of LIT Killah, Tiago Pzk, Maria Becerra, Duki, Emilia, Rusherking, Big One and FMK hold strong atop the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated July 8) as “Los Del Espacio” rules the ranking for a fifth week. The team-up ties “Un Finde: Big One CROSSOVER #2” by Ke Personajes, Big One and […]
The time has come: Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road played its final show on Saturday, July 8. Almost five years after launching, the tour grossed $939.1 million and sold 6 million tickets according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
John announced his impending retirement from touring with the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour back in January 2018, ultimately kicking off the jaunt in September of that year. He presented it as a three-year goodbye, and other than extending the timeline by two years due to COVID-19’s global shutdown, he stuck to his promise. John maintains that he does not want to tour again, but noted he might play sporadic shows in the future.
After claiming the title of the highest-grossing tour in Boxscore history earlier this year, John extended his lead with 49 arena dates in Europe, following an arena run in the Spring of 2019 and a sweep of stadiums last year. There were four North American stints, also volleying between arenas and stadiums, plus two blocks of shows in Oceania.
After all of those shows, all around the world, John made it to the top of the heap. Watch below as, from September 2018 to July 2023, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour surpassed the biggest tours ever on its way to No. 1.
John has been patient, ranking among the biggest acts on various Boxscore charts since 2018. Starting that year, he was No. 22 on the year-end Top Tours chart, then No. 4 in 2019, No. 1 in 2020, and returned in 2022 at No. 2. In between, he was No. 1 on midyear charts for 2019 and 2020, and then No. 2 in 2022 and 2023.
John has also been the king of Billboard’s monthly Top Tours chart. He crowned the inaugural list for February 2019 and returned to the top six more times, each time extending his lead for the most months on top. He was No. 2 another eight times, plus five months between Nos. 3-5.
In all, that’s 20 months in the top five of 27 total appearances. Charts for June and July haven’t yet been published, though John will likely score his 28th and 29th appearances when they do.
John’s world tour divides its 330 shows (one of those, his set at Glastonbury Festival, does not factor into his gross or attendance since it’s a multi-artist festival) into 183 in North America, 101 in Europe and 46 in Oceania. See below for how his grosses in each continent stacked on top of one another, combining to more than $930 million.
North America – specifically mainland U.S. and Canada – was the most fruitful region for John’s farewell tour, amounting to $567.7 million and 3.5 million tickets. That’s 61% of the world tour’s total gross. Europe comes next with $218 million and 1.5 million tickets, followed by Australia and New Zealand, combining for $134 million and 889,000 tickets.
When Ed Sheeran set his record and wrapped The Divide Tour in August 2019, John’s tour had only grossed $217.8 million from its first 108 shows. With less than a third of Sheeran’s gross, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour was too young to be among predictions for all-time challengers. Plus, the tour had stuck to arenas, limiting its potential ceiling. It wasn’t until May 2022 that John stretched to stadiums.
The arena portion of John’s tour ended last spring, when it had already grossed $488.7 million from 219 shows. In the 61 stadium dates that followed, he added $341.5 million. All said, the stadium portion amounts to just 19% of all Farewell shows, but 36% of its earnings.
After breaking Sheeran’s record, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour became the first concert tour to gross $800 million and then $900 million.
Further, John’s final shows further extend his lead as the highest-grossing and best-selling soloist in Boxscore history. Over 1,623 reported shows, he’s grossed $1.98 billion and sold 20.6 million tickets. Farewell tours haven’t always actually been a final farewell, but if this is it, John is ending his historic touring career comfortably on top.