Chart Beat
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Rihanna vaults from No. 22 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 (dated Feb. 25), becoming the top musical act for the first time since the chart began in 2014, thanks to catalog gains following her performance at the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show on Feb. 12.
Rihanna performed 13 songs during her set, and in turn, generated her largest streaming week ever, according to Luminate. Her song catalog earned 166.1 million U.S. on-demand official streams in the week ending Feb. 16. That’s up 156% compared to the previous week’s sum of 65 million. (She logged her previous best streaming week in the week ending Feb. 25, 2016, when her collected songs rung up 101.5 million clicks in the U.S., shortly after the release of her most recent studio album, Anti.)
Five of Rihanna’s albums chart the latest Billboard 200: Anti (No. 8), Good Girl Gone Bad (No. 15), Unapologetic (No. 18), Loud (No. 26) and Talk That Talk (No. 49). She becomes just the seventh act in the last 50 years to chart at least five albums in the top 50, joining Taylor Swift (who has claimed at least five titles in the region 18 times, including on the latest chart), Mac Miller (once following his death in 2018), Prince (three times, following his death in 2016), Whitney Houston (three times, following her death in 2012), the Glee cast (once in 2010) and Garth Brooks (four times in 1992).
On the Billboard Hot 100, Rihanna tallies four songs, three of which are former No. 1s that re-enter: “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z (No. 37), “Diamonds” (No. 44) and “We Found Love,” featuring Calvin Harris (No. 48). Her latest single, “Lift Me Up,” which debuted at No. 2 in November, rises 52-41.
Among other Artist 100 chart moves, Paramore re-enters at No. 5, marking the trio’s first top 10 appearance, thanks to its new studio album, This Is Why. The set opens at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned. It earned the act its first No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart, among six top 10s, with the title cut earlier this month.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Morgan Wallen leads all five of Billboard’s country charts (dated Feb. 25), becoming the first artist to achieve the quintuple domination since Luke Combs nearly four years ago.
Wallen’s “Last Night” tops the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Country Songs list for a second week, with 28.3 million U.S. streams, 1.3 million in radio airplay audience and 10,000 sold in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week, according to Luminate.
“Last Night” also leads Country Digital Song Sales for a third week and Country Streaming Songs for a second week.
Concurrently, Wallen banks his eighth Country Airplay No. 1 with “Thought You Should Know” (33.2 million, up 4%). Both songs preview his 36-track album One Night at a Time, due March 3.
On Top Country Albums, Wallen’s prior LP, Dangerous: The Double Album, spends its record-extending 95th week in the penthouse (44,000 equivalent album units).
Wallen is the first act to rule all five country surveys since Combs dominated the charts dated March 9, March 30 and April 6, 2019.
One other artist has led all five charts simultaneously: Kane Brown, on Oct. 28, 2017.
‘Anyway,’ Here’s More
Luke Combs scores his 18th Hot Country Songs top 10 as “Love You Anyway,” which he co-penned, blasts in at No. 3. It drew 17.7 million streams and sold 9,000 downloads in its first week.
The song introduces his third LP, the 18-track Gettin’ Old, due March 24.
“Anyway” marks Combs’ fifth top 10 Hot Country Songs debut, a haul that includes a No. 1 launch in November 2020 for “Forever After All,” which went on to reign for 10 weeks.
Combs’ current single being promoted to country radio, “Going, Going, Gone,” from his 2022 album Growin’ Up, ranks at No. 8 on Hot Country Songs after reaching No. 5 in January. It drew 9.7 million streams and sold 2,000 in the latest tracking week. On Country Airplay, it pushes 4-3 for a new best (29 million, up 6%).
Romeo Santos and Rosalía’s “El Pañuelo” lifts 2-1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart to crown the Feb. 25-dated survey. The new coronation extends Santos’ record as the tropical artist with the most No. 1s (22), while Rosalía earns her sixth champ (and her fifth straight leader.)
In the Feb. 10-16 tracking period, “El Pañuelo” earned 11 million audience impressions in the U.S., up 1% from the week prior, according to Luminate. It advances from the runner-up slot in its 15th week and sends Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” to No. 2 (with a 2% dip to 10.6 million impressions).
It’s the second time “Pañuelo” has topped a Latin chart. The new coronation arrives three weeks after the song reached No. 1 on Tropical Airplay (Feb. 4-dated ranking), where it remains for a third week (in between, the song dipped to No. 3 on Feb. 11).
Back on Latin Airplay, as “Pañuelo” arrives at the summit, Santos extends his No. 1 record among tropical artists, and enters a tie with Maluma and Wisin for the fifth-most overall, since the chart launched in 1994. Let’s look at the leaderboard:
35, J Balvin
32, Enrique Iglesias
31, Ozuna
27, Daddy Yankee
22, Maluma
22, Wisin
22, Romeo Santos
20, Bad Bunny
18, Ricky Martin
18, Shakira
Rosalía, as mentioned, picks up her sixth leader and fifth straight Latin Airplay No. 1 in over two years, since her featured turn in Sech’s “Relación,” with Daddy Yankee and J Balvin, which also features Farruko, topped the all-genre tally in September 2020. Prior, the Spaniard scored her first ruler with “Yo X Ti, Tú X Mi,” with Ozuna in 2019.
Further, “Pañuelo” marks Santos’ second charting collaboration with a female artist (out of 42 total entries) and first to hit No. 1 amid his 11 collaborative hits. His only other charting collab with a woman, “La Mejor Versión de Mí,” with Natti Natasha, scored a No. 5 high in November 2019.
All charts (dated Feb. 25) will refresh on Billboard.com Wednesday (Feb. 22).
Rihanna logged her largest streaming week ever in the U.S. following her Super Bowl LVII halftime show performance on Feb. 12.
According to tracking firm Luminate, which provides data for Billboard’s charts, her collected songs (on which she is the primary artist, per Luminate) earned 166.13 million U.S. on-demand official streams in the week ending Feb. 16. That’s up 155.6% compared to the previous week’s sum of 65 million.
Rihanna’s previous best week by streams – and only other week where she surpassed 100 million – was the week ending Feb. 25, 2016, when her collected songs rung up 101.53 million clicks in the U.S. (shortly after the release of her most recent studio album, Anti).
Rihanna’s top five most-streamed songs in the week ending Feb. 16, by official on-demand streams in the U.S., were “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z (9.53 million; up 203.4%), “Lift Me Up” (8.68 million; up 31.5%), “Diamonds” (8.44 million; up 288.2%), “Love on the Brain” (8.11 million; up 105.4%) and “We Found Love,” featuring Calvin Harris (7.61 million; up 264.5%). Of those, Rihanna performed three during her halftime show: “Umbrella,” “Diamonds” and “We Found Love.” (“Lift Me Up,” meanwhile, is her only song released in a lead role this decade, having arrived last October.)
On the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (dated Feb. 25), “Umbrella,” “Diamonds” and “We Found Love” (all former No. 1s) re-enter at Nos. 37, 44 and 48, respectively, while “Lift Me Up” climbs 52-41 (after it debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Nov. 12, 2022-dated chart).
Over on the Streaming Songs chart (dated Feb. 25), six Rihanna tracks dot the 50-position ranking. “Umbrella” debuts at No. 25, “Lift Me Up” re-enters at No. 35, “Diamonds” re-enters at No. 39, “Love on the Brain” re-enters at No. 41, “We Found Love” debuts at No. 45 and “Needed Me” re-enters at No. 48. (“Umbrella” and “We Found Love” were released in 2007 and 2011, before the launch of the Streaming Songs chart in January 2013.)
Halftime Songs Only: As for only the dozen songs Rihanna performed during the halftime show, they tallied 75.12 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. (up 273% compared to the 20.11 million they earned in the previous week). The most-streamed halftime tune was, as noted earlier, “Umbrella,” with 9.53 million clicks.
Even More Gains: Outside of Rihanna’s streaming increases, the entertainer saw robust gains in overall equivalent album units, traditional album sales and digital track sales in the week ending Feb. 16. In terms of equivalent album units, her catalog earned 142,000 for the week (up 179.3%). Her album sales grew to 12,000 (up 338%) and her digital track sales jumped to 73,000 (up 433%).
All Feb. 25-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Feb. 22, one day later than usual, owed to the Presidents’ Day holiday on Feb. 20 in the U.S. For all chart news, following @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
HONG KONG — Concerned about the impact that fake streams are having on the accuracy of China’s music charts, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) has designed an annual chart that incorporates both streaming and sales data with votes from industry professionals, the company tells Billboard.
The new year-end chart, which TME recently released to the public in China, combines inputs from two existing charts, the TME UniChart and TME Wave Chart, which track weekly and monthly streaming data. They feed into the Tencent Music Chart, the year-end charts compiled by the China-based music giant, which operates streaming apps QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and karaoke service WeSing.
The TME UniChart, which first launched in 2018 and has been featured on Billboard’s global website (billboard.com) since November, calculates listening data from China’s public radio stations and streaming data on TME-run platforms, including clicks, favorites, downloads, shares, purchases and recommendations. The TME Wave Chart, on the other hand, is compiled by scores and recommendations from over 250 industry professionals every month. (TME, which licenses the Billboard brand in China and publishes Billboard China, would not disclose its math formula for weighting its results.)
The new combined chart was developed to ensure the accuracy and fairness of the rankings, and to address growing concerns from music professionals that China’s music charts are subject to tampering, and include inflated streams and social media statistics, a company representative tells Billboard.
The issue mirrors concern expressed in the U.S. music industry about aggressive organizing by fan groups of certain pop artists to push them up the rankings. That has notably included K-pop group BTS’ fan ARMY and its agency, HYBE, which have come under scrutiny for BTS’ chart successes. (Both HYBE and BTS have rejected accusations that chart manipulation accounts for the group’s success.)
Chinese fan groups often engage in “data work,” which includes conducting online activities to ensure the high placement of celebrities on social media ranking boards,” says Dr. Celia Lam, associate professor in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, who studies audience and fan engagement. “Organized team-building activities within fandoms can include daily data targets – liking, sharing or reposting social media posts or using specific hashtags — to ensure the continued data performance of a celebrity figure,” she says.
China, the world’s sixth-largest music market, has dozens of domestic music charts, including some run by China’s state-owned broadcaster that have been operating for about two decades. But the country lacks an industry-recognized reference chart like the Billboard Hot 100 or Spotify’s Weekly Top Song Global.
Several established music charts already exist in China, including Global Chinese Golden Chart (jointly launched by seven largest Chinese-speaking radio stations), China Music Billboard (run by China National Radio MusicRadio), and Global Chinese Music under CCTV. There are also emerging music charts run by streaming platforms such as Fresh Asia Music Weekly Chart, NetEase Music Hot Songs Weekly Chart and QQ Music MV Chart, along with some hosted by social media platforms such as Sina Weibo and Douyin.
With fewer music listeners tuning into radios, charts run by China’s public broadcaster have become limited in their ability to reflect a song’s popularity. Music professionals have questioned the credibility of emerging music charts, as fans in China are known to mobilize in mass-streaming activities to push their singers to the top of the charts, preventing those charts from reflecting the organic popularity of songs.
Tencent Music says it wants to help weed out fraudulent activity and create more credibility for its own charts. Still, the move comes amid recent government regulatory scrutiny on TME for its potential monopoly stranglehold on the streaming market. Music listeners in China spent 70% of their time streaming music in 2022 on TME’s three major platforms — QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music, the company says. TME had 85.3 million paying music users as of the third quarter of 2022, according to company filings.
Leveraging the huge amount of data generated by TME’s services, the annual rankings also offered insights into China’s fast-growing music industry. In 2022, pop stars Jay Chou, Yisa Yu, Lala Hsu, G.E.M., Mao Buyi and Jackson Wang took the top spots on the Tencent Music Chart. Rising stars Zhou Shen, Joker Xue, Liu Yu Ning, Xin Liu rounded out the top 10.
“Looking at the annual charts in recent years, we can see that the Chinese music market has begun to diversify,” Vincent Lee, director of TME’s charts team, tells Billboard. “Influential singers like Jay Chou, Eason Chan, and Karen Mok still occupy important positions in the music market. But the power of the new generation should also not be underestimated such as the very young boy band Teens In Times and Zhou Shen, who gained popularity through variety shows and original soundtracks of film and television dramas.”
Music lovers in China have also started branching into different music genres. Besides Jay Chou’s “Greatest Works of Art” and “Free of Worries When Flowers Blossom” by Zhou Shen, Chinese listeners embraced “You Are My Magic” by Taiwanese psychedelic rock band Accusefive and Cai Xu Kun’s romantic love song “Hug Me.”
Younger rising artists have also begun to win the hearts of fans. “Getting Warmer” by Teens In Times topped the UniChart as song of the year, while the song “Beautiful” by the boy band INTO-1 member Mika has remained on the chart for 52 weeks.
“Judging from the hit songs in recent years, there is less and less a ‘standard formula’ to musical success,” says Lee. “Different types of music have shown strong potential in China’s music scene, and popular songs have emerged from all kinds of genres.”
Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” remains the biggest song in the world, as it posts a fifth week at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Feb. 25).
Plus, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice each make their first appearance in the Global 200’s top 10 as “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” jumps from No. 15 to No. 4.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. surveys, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
‘Flowers’ No. 1 for Fifth Frame, ‘Liar’ Leaps
Cyrus’ “Flowers” adds a fifth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, with 128.8 million streams (down 12%) and 45,000 sold (down 15%) worldwide in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week.
The song logs its fifth consecutive week of over 100 million global streams, becoming the first hit to start with that many weeks above that threshold since the Global 200 began. It passes Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which tallied over 100 million streams worldwide in each of its first four weeks last April-May. Overall, “Flowers” boasts the best such streak since The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” linked nine frames over 100 million globally in August-October 2021.
SZA’s “Kill Bill” holds at No. 2 on the Global 200, after two weeks on top in January, and Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” keeps at No. 3, after reaching No. 2.
PinkPantheress and Ice Spice each claim their first Global 200 top 10 as “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” blasts 15-4. The team-up by the respective English singer-songwriter and American rapper, released Feb. 3, drew 60.1 million streams (up 67%) and sold 1,000 (up 59%) worldwide Feb. 10-16. The track is a remix of PinkPantheress’ original solo “Boy’s a Liar,” released in November. (All versions of the song are combined into one listing on Billboard’s charts.)
Rounding out the Global 200’s top five, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” slips 4-5, after it notched four weeks at the summit in October.
‘Flowers’ Also Holds Atop Global Excl. U.S.
As on the Global 200, Cyrus’ “Flowers” tops the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for a fifth week, with 99.5 million streams (down 12%) and 23,000 sold (down 13%) outside the U.S. Feb. 10-16.
Bizarrap and Shakira’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” posts a fifth week at its No. 2 Global Excl. U.S. high; SZA’s “Kill Bill” rebounds 4-3, after reaching No. 2; Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” rises 5-4, following two weeks on top in January; and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” drops 3-5, after it dominated for eight weeks beginning in October.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Feb. 25, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 22, a day later than usual due to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. Feb. 20). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard‘s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
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.
Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers” rules the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week, encompassing its entire run on the chart so far, dating to its debut at No. 1.
The song also becomes the most-heard hit on U.S. airwaves, marking Cyrus’ first No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart.
Plus, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice each make their first appearance in the Hot 100’s top 10 as “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” bounds from No. 14 to No. 4.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Feb. 25, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 22, a day later than usual due to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. Feb 20). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
“Flowers,” released on Smiley Miley/Columbia Records, drew 85.8 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 15%, good for the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award for a third consecutive week) and 33.7 million streams (down 13%) and sold 22,000 (down 18%) Feb. 10-16, according to Luminate.
The single jumps 4-1 in its fifth week on Radio Songs, becoming Cyrus’ first leader on the list, among four top 10s. “Flowers” wraps the fastest flight to the top of the chart in nearly seven years, since Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” also needed just five frames to reign in June 2016. Since Radio Songs became an all-format survey in December 1998, only three other songs have hit No. 1 in five weeks or fewer: Adele’s “Hello” (four weeks, 2015), Destiny’s Child “Survivor” (five, 2001) and TLC’s “No Scrubs” (five, 1999).
“Flowers” rebounds for a fourth week at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales and dips to No. 2 after four weeks atop Streaming Songs.
As previously reported, “Flowers” also hits No. 1 on the Pop Airplay chart, becoming Cyrus’ third leader and, as on Radio Songs, completing the quickest coronation (five weeks) since “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” in 2016. As Cyrus first topped Pop Airplay with “Party in the U.S.A.” in 2009 and led again with “Wrecking Ball” in 2013, she joins Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift as the only acts with No. 1s on the chart in the 2000s, ’10s and ’20s.
SZA’s “Kill Bill” ranks at its No. 2 Hot 100 best for a sixth week. It returns for a fourth week atop Streaming Songs and leads Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs, which use the same methodology as the Hot 100, for a 10th week each.
Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’ ” rebounds to its No. 3 Hot 100 high, from No. 5.
PinkPantheress and Ice Spice each claim their first Hot 100 top 10 as “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” roars 14-4. The team-up, released Feb. 3, drew 31.1 million streams (up 54%, as it takes top Streaming Gainer honors) and 2.1 million in airplay audience (up 258%) and sold 1,000 (up 58%) Feb. 10-16. The track is a remix of PinkPantheress’ original solo “Boy’s a Liar,” released in November. (All versions of the song are combined into one listing on Billboard’s charts.)
Notably, “Liar” leaps to the Hot 100’s top 10 in just its second week on the chart. It’s the first duet by two acts each making a first top 10 appearance since Nicky Youre and Dazy hit No. 4 with “Sunroof” last September. That song took 10 weeks to hit the top 10; “Liar” is the first song between two acts each scoring a first top 10 to reach the region in two weeks or fewer since Lil Tjay’s “Calling My Phone,” featuring 6LACK, debuted at its No. 3 peak in February 2021.
“Liar” deconstructed: PinkPantheress wrote and produced the 2-minute, 15-second track with Mura Masa (who also appears on the Hot 100 for the first time). Notes Hit Songs Deconstructed, which analyzes the compositional traits of Hot 100 top 10s, “In addition to the strategic pairing of PinkPantheress and Ice Spice, one of the song’s core strengths is how it pushes the boundaries of the Hot 100’s top 10 while at the same time staying in line with current trends. On one hand, it features a unique lo-fi ‘bedroom’ production, classic 8-bit video game-sounding synths and a Jersey club beat, which separate it from many of its mainstream contemporaries and immediately captures the listener’s ear. On the other hand, its super-catchy and repetitive hook structure and troubled-love lyrics impart a sense of familiarity and relatability, along with its under 3-minute runtime, vibrant tempo, omission of a pre-chorus and synth-heavy production, all of which are in line with rising top 10 trends.”
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” dips to No. 5 on the Hot 100 from its No. 3 best. It concurrently tops the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart for a second week.
Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” descends 4-6, after it ruled for a week in October; The Weeknd’s “Die for You” rebounds 8-7, after reaching No. 6; Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” retreats 7-8, following a personal-best eight weeks at No. 1; Beyoncé’s “Cuff It” backtracks to No. 9 from its No. 6 high; and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” slips 9-10, after reaching No. 4, as it leads the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 22nd week.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Feb. 25), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 22).
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.
Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” (via Columbia) is on track for a sixth U.K. chart title, though PinkPantheress might have other plans.
PinkPantheress’s viral hit “Boy’s a liar” (Warner Records) climbs to No. 2 on the midweek U.K. chart, and is hot enough to give Cyrus’ “Flowers” a duel in the second half of the chart cycle.
“Boy’s a liar” is already a career-high for the hotly-tipped British singer, songwriter and producer, soaring 8-3 on the most recent chart, published Feb. 17, doing so in its ninth week. It’s powered by a new cut featuring rising U.S. newcomer Ice Spice.
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Meanwhile, Cyrus’ “Flowers” leads the Official Chart Update, and, if it holds its course, will log a sixth consecutive week at No. 1. It’s already the longest-reigning No. 1 single of 2023 so far.
Further down the chart blast, Nigerian musician, rapper and singer Rema eyes his highest-ever position with “Calm Down” (Mavin), set to climb 8-5; Dutch EDM star Tiësto and Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae’s “10:35” (Atlantic/Ministry of Sound) is set for a new peak, up 10-7; and Emerging Artists Chart champ Coi Leray’s is chasing a first top 10 berth with her viral rap number “Players” (Uptown/Republic Records), up 11-8.
The highest new entry on the Official U.K. Singles Chart should belong to Niall Horan, with “Heaven” (Capitol), lifted from the former One Direction singer’s forthcoming third solo album, The Show. “Heaven” is set to bow at No. 12. Since the members of 1D went their separate ways in 2015, the Irishman has logged two U.K. top 10 singles, and one albums chart crown, for 2020’s Heartbreak Weather.
Finally, following her performance on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show, Pink’s “Trustfall” (RCA), the title track to her latest, ninth studio album, is set to lift 37-11, for what would be a new peak position. The Philly native should see a bump for album track “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” which flies 39-19 on the chart blast.
All will be revealed when the Official Chart is published Friday.
It’ll take something special indeed to stop Pink from claiming the U.K. albums chart crown, as Trustfall (via RCA) sets the early pace.
Pink’s ninth studio album takes a strong lead at halfway stage. According to the Official U.K. Charts Company, Trustfall is outpacing its nearest rival by almost two-to-one, to lead an all-new top four at the midweek marker.
Should it hold its course, Trustfall will give the Philadelphia native her fourth U.K. chart leader, following Funhouse (from 2008), Beautiful Trauma (2017) and Hurts 2B Human (2019) — and third in succession.
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With Pink all set for a return to the road, the pop superstar’s 2010 career retrospective Greatest Hits – So Far!!! is on track for a return to the top 40, blasting to No. 34 on the Official Chart Update.
Coming in at No. 2 on the latest chart blast is Inhaler’s Cuts & Bruises (Polydor), the Irish rockers’ sophomore effort.
It’s the followup to It Won’t Always Be Like This which, in 2021, saw Inhaler become the first Irish act to top the Official Chart with their debut LP in 13 years.
Meanwhile, Welsh rock act Those Damn Crows are swooping for a first U.K. top 10 appearance with Inhale/Exhale (Earache). It’s new at No. 3 on the chart blast. Those Damn Crows made their debut on the U.K. chart with 2020’s Point of No Return, peaking at No. 14.
Also eying a top 5 debut is Optical Delusion (London Music Stream), the latest serving from the veteran British electronic duo Orbital. Optical Delusion is tracking for a No. 4 start, for what would be the pair’s fourth top 10 album in the U.K., and first in nearly a quarter century; their last was 1999’s The Middle of Nowhere, which reached No. 4.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday.
Nothing can crush “Flowers” (via Columbia) in the U.K., as Miley Cyrus’ track becomes the longest-reigning No. 1 single of 2023 so far.
The U.S. pop singer enters a fifth consecutive week atop the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “Flowers,” powered by 8.5 million streams across the cycle. That’s more than enough streams to lead all singles in that format for a fifth straight week.
“Flowers” is easily Miley’s biggest chart hit in the U.K., beating the single-week runs for her previous leaders “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball,” both from 2013.
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After nabbing her first-ever U.K. top 10 spot earlier in the month, PinkPantheress pounces once more with “Boy’s a liar” (Warner Records), up 8-3 in its ninth week on the chart. It’s the third top 40 appearance for the British singer, songwriter and producer, and it’s helped up by a remix featuring rising U.S. rapper Ice Spice.
Linkin Park locks the highest new entry on the latest chart, published Feb. 17, with “Lost,” a previously unreleased track which features vocals from the band’s late leader singer Chester Bennington.
The nu-metal favorites bow at No. 18, for their first U.K. top 20 appearance in 14 years. “Lost” is one of six unreleased songs on Meteora 20, the 20th anniversary edition of their sophomore album. Meteora 20th Anniversary Edition will be released through Warner Records on April 7.
Further down the list, London rapper Strandz scores his first U.K. top 40 as “Us Against The World” (Relentless) jumps 42-27, while countryman Central Cee snags his 16th top 40 appearance with “Me & You” (Central Cee), new at No. 31.
Close behind is Brighton, England alternative-pop act Lovejoy with “Call Me What You Like” (Anvil Cat). It’s new at No. 32 for Lovejoy’s first top 40 appearance.
Finally, the Feb. 12 Brit Awards has juiced-up the chart performance of several winners, performers and nominees.
Among the beneficiaries is George Ezra “Green Green Grass” (Columbia), which lifts 19-14 after it was shortlisted for song of the year, eventually losing out to Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (Columbia), up 34-7 on the latest survey. Meanwhile, Lewis Capaldi’s “Forget Me” (Vertigo), which the Scotsman performed on the night, is up 44-37.