Chart Beat
Page: 378
Louis Armstrong’s new seasonal compilation album Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule debuts in in the top 10 across multiple Billboard charts (dated Nov. 26), including Top Holiday Albums.
Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule bows at No. 9 on Top Holiday Albums, and launches in the top 10 on Jazz Albums (No. 4), Traditional Jazz Albums (No. 4), Top Album Sales (No. 7), Top Current Album Sales (No. 6) and Vinyl Albums (No. 7). It also starts at No. 122 on the Billboard 200, becoming his highest charting album since Hello Dolly spent six weeks at No. 1 in 1964.
The new 11-track set is promoted as Armstrong’s “first-ever Christmas album,” though the late artist (who died in 1971) has previously released a number of holiday compilations alongside other acts that feature most of the album’s tracks (such as Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella & Louis Christmas). Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule was released through streaming services and digital retailers on Oct. 28, and bowed on CD and vinyl on Nov. 11.
Notably, Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule includes a previously unreleased recording from Armstrong, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas”), recorded shortly before his death. It is his first newly released track in over 20 years.
Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule earned 9,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 17, according to Luminate. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 7,500 — Armstrong’s largest sales week for any album in over 20 years. He last had a larger sales week in February 2001, when the best-of compilation Ken Burns Jazz – The Definitive Louis Armstrong sold 8,000 copies (No. 142 on the Feb. 17, 2001-dated Top Album Sales chart).
Elsewhere on the Top Holiday Albums chart, Michael Bublé’s Christmas holds atop the list for a 38th nonconsecutive week. Familiar seasonal albums like Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (rising 3-2), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (4-3), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (5-4) and Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (6-5) round out the top five on the list.
The Top Holiday Albums chart ranks the 50 most popular seasonal albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each units 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. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram. The seasonal Top Holiday Albums returned for another festive season with the Oct. 22-dated list and will continue as part of Billboard’s weekly chart menu until it dashes away in January 2023.
Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums and the Billboard 200 rank the week’s most popular overall jazz, traditional jazz, and albums across all genres, respectively, by equivalent album units. Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales and Vinyl Albums list the week’s top selling overall albums, current albums (not catalog, or older titles) and vinyl albums, respectively.
Louis Tomlinson’s second solo album Faith in the Future debuts at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales (dated Nov. 26), scoring the pop star his highest-charting set yet on the list, and best sales week (37,500 sold in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 17, according to Luminate).
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Faith in the Future also bows at No. 2 on Top Current Album Sales, Independent Albums and Vinyl Albums, No. 3 on Tastemaker Albums and No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
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.
Of Faith in the Future’s 37,500 sold, physical sales comprise 31,500 (with 16,500 on vinyl; 14,000 on CD and 1,000 on cassette) and digital album download sales comprise 6,000.
Faith’s first-week sales figure was bolstered by its availability across multiple collectible physical variants of the album. It was issued in 10 vinyl variants (including exclusive editions for Amazon and Barnes & Noble; as well as two indie retail-exclusive versions, one of which was signed), four CD variants (including a deluxe Zine/CD package, a Target-exclusive edition with two bonus tracks and a lenticular cover, and a signed Newbury Comics-exclusive CD) and three cassette tapes.
The set was preceded by the single “Bigger Than Me,” which became Tomlinson’s fourth solo hit on the Pop Airplay chart (outside his tenure in One Direction).
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales is Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which spends a fourth straight week atop the list (60,000 sold; down 36%).
Bruce Springsteen’s new covers set Only the Strong Survive enters at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 37,000 sold. It’s the 17th top 10 for Springsteen since the list launched in 1991. The Beatles’ Revolver falls 3-4 with 10,000 sold (down 31%).
Nas’ King’s Disease III bows at No. 5 with a little more than 8,000 sold (his 16th top 10) and GloRilla’s Anyways, Life’s Great… starts at No. 6 with 8,000.
Louis Armstrong’s holiday compilation Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule rings in at No. 7 with 7,500 copies sold. It’s the legend’s first top 10 on the 31-year-old chart. The new 11-track set is promoted as Armstrong’s “first-ever Christmas album,” though the late artist (who died in 1971) has previously released a number of holiday compilations alongside other acts that feature most of the album’s tracks (such as Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella & Louis Christmas). Notably, Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule includes a previously unreleased recording from Armstrong, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas”), recorded shortly before his death. It is his first newly released track in over 20 years.
Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule also debuts in the top 10 on Top Current Album Sales, Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums, Top Holiday Albums and Vinyl Albums. It also bows at No. 122 on the Billboard 200. (Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums and Top Holiday Albums rank the week’s most popular overall jazz, traditional jazz, and holiday albums, respectively, by equivalent album units.)
Rounding out the top 10 on the new Top Album Sales chart is Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House (rising 11-8 with just over 7,000 sold; up 17%), Prince’s The Hits 2 (16-9 with 7,000; up 59%) and the Stranger Things: Season 4 soundtrack (4-10 with nearly 7,000 sold; down 51%).
In the week ending Nov. 17, there were 1.937 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 10.8% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.564 million (up 14.7%) and digital albums comprised 374,000 (down 3.1%).
There were 648,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Nov. 17 (up 2.7% week-over-week) and 903,000 vinyl albums sold (up 25.6%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 30.301 million (down 8.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 34.198 million (up 3.1%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 82.901 million (down 7.3% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 64.976 million (down 2.4%) and digital album sales total 17.955 million (down 21.6%).
Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda extend their perfect top 10 streak on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart as De Hoy En Adelante, Que Te Vaya Bien debuts at No. 8 on the Nov. 26-dated list. It’s the 10th consecutive top 10 for the act — the entirety of its chart entries.
The 12-track set was released Nov. 11 via Fonovisa/UMLE. After its first tracking week ending Nov. 17, De Hoy En Adelante generated 2,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate. Most of the album’s opening sum derives from streaming equivalent album units. That equates to 3.04 million on-demand official U.S. streams generated for the songs on the album.
On the Regional Mexican Albums chart, 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.
De Hoy En Adelante marks the return of the band to Regional Mexican Albums after a five-year hiatus, following the three-week champ Ni Diablo Ni Santo in June 2017. The new set comprises 11 songs plus a norteño cover of Mexican folk-alternative singer-songwriter Ed Maverick’s “Fuente de Ortiz” originally released in 2018.
De Hoy En Adelante adds a 10th straight top 10 to Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda’s career account on Regional Mexican Albums, including five No. 1s. Here’s the complete list including the new arrival:
Peak, Title, Ddate, Weeks at No. 1No. 7, Ni Lo Intentes, Sept. 17, 2011,No. 5, Márchate Y Olvídame, Dec. 17, 2011,No. 1, En Vivo, Sept. 22, 2012, (2 Weeks)No. 1, Tu Amigo Nada Mas, March 30, 2013, (1 Week)No. 2, Soy Lo Que Quiero: Indispensable, Feb. 15, 2014,No. 1, El Aferrado, April 11, 2015, (7 Weeks)No. 2, Lecciones Para El Corazón, Oct. 3, 2015,No. 1, Mis Ídolos, Hoy Mis Amigos!!!, April 30, 2016, (2 Weeks)No. 1, Ni Diablo Ni Santo, June 17, 2017, (3 Weeks)No. 8, De Hoy En Adelante, Que Te Vaya Bien, Nov. 26, 2022,
Elsewhere, De Hoy En Adelante starts at No. 38 on the all-Latin genre Top Latin Albums chart.
The album yields a No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay: “Que Te Vaya Bien” lifts 4-1 in its seventh week. It earns the band its eighth leader there.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” goes viral anew, d4vd follows up his streaming breakthrough with another slow-growing hit, and an independent Texas band enjoys major gains after an appearance on one of the most-watched TV premieres of the decade.
TikTok Takes Another Lick at “Lollipop”
Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III smash “Lollipop” may have topped the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2008, but TikTok is taking to the song like it came out yesterday. The line “Okay, lil mama had a swag like mine / Even where her hair down her back like mine” is now the soundtrack to all sorts of random ephemera on the platform: One woman used it to soundtrack herself preparing for labor, a 92-year-old grandma used it to share that she had paid off her future funeral costs, and a pair of siblings used the song to poke fun at their dad.
There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why users are loving Tunechi’s old Cash Money track so much, but the strange TikTok buzz has surely paid off: “Lollipop” is up 47% in weekly on-demand U.S. streams to nearly 3.3 million for the week ending Nov. 21. – KRISTIN ROBINSON
‘Yellowstone’ Fever Boosts Shane Smith & The Saints Songs
If you were one of the nearly 16 million people who watched the season five premiere of the Paramount Network smash family drama Yellowstone, you heard three songs – two as performed by the band within the episode – by independent Texas outfit Shane Smith and the Saints, a previously established favorite of characters on the show. Not surprising, then, that the songs would experience a streaming bump as a result, particularly the ones the band played themselves: “Dance the Night Away,” from 2013’s Coast album, rose 164.7% in weekly official on-demand U.S. streams to 107,000 for the week ending Nov. 17, according to Luminate, while the recently released “Fire in the Ocean” saw a 81% gain to 177,000. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Sped-Up? Slowed-Down? Either Way, Listeners Love ‘Limbo’
“Limbo,” the bruising rap showcase from Ontario MC Freddie Dredd, has started to snowball into a hit after being featured on his Freddie’s Inferno project in August — and the song is doing so in a variety of different formats. A slowed-down version of the track is taking off on TikTok, and so is a sped-up version; “Limbo” is being synched up to dramatic sequences in Call of Duty, as well as God of War: Ragnarok. But even in its original version, Dredd’s hard-nosed rhyming is connecting with listeners: weekly U.S. on-demand streams for “Limbo” increased over 90 percent during the week ending Nov. 17, up to 3.54 million, according to Luminate.
Dredd, who is signed to RCA Records, is no stranger to TikTok virality: his 2019 single “Cha Cha,” which sampled Lisa Ono’s “Sway It, Hula Girl,” became a breakthrough for the rapper in the early days of the app’s industry influence. Yet “Limbo” is quickly becoming his signature hit, and Dredd is well-aware of its success. “Out of all the music i have made ive never had a single song do so well in a single day,” he posted on Twitter last week after a particularly strong day for “Limbo” on Spotify. “thank yall so much for streaming my s–t, thank yall for making my dreams come true.” – JASON LIPSHUTZ
d4vd Goes Two for Two With Viral Hits
Teen singer-songwriter d4vd is certainly a newcomer to the music biz, but he’s already racked up a second major TikTok hit this year. First, his single “Romantic Homicide” went so viral it hit the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40 and led to a seven-figure deal with Interscope/Darkroom. Now follow-up “Here With Me” is also picking up steam, with hundreds of thousands of creations already on the app.
Focusing on the lyrics “I don’t care how long it takes / as long as I am with you / I’ve got a smile on my face,” users are posting videos of heartwarming videos they found on the Internet, sometimes with them on greenscreen reacting to it. One video shows a woman feeding a stray dog, another shows a “tired teacher” putting on a “happy face” before walking into his classroom to greet students. Users’ emotional attachment to the song has transferred to real streaming wins for d4vd, as the song has climbed steadily in plays over the past month – rising 69% in official U.S. on-demand streams from 2.6 million the week ending Oct. 20 to nearly 4.5 million the week ending Nov. 17, according to Luminate. – KR
Q&A: Randy Hutson, CEO of Production Resource Group (PRG)’s Music and Live TV Divisions, on What’s Trending Up in His World
Looking back at 2022, what are some of the biggest wins for PRG, which provides resources and pushes technical innovation in the live sector?
PRG continued our work elevating production for some of the world’s biggest tours this year. Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour has been a big moment for us, especially in terms of sustainability. Coldplay made a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint while touring, so our mission was to stay more sustainably-minded while not losing any of the magic fans have come to expect at their shows. To minimize CO2 emissions, the engineers at PRG made one of the show’s standout features – four huge 3D spheres – inflatable so they would collapse and take up ¾ of one truck. With traditional construction techniques the four spheres would have needed six for transport. This complex engineering had never been done before.
This year we’ve also provided production solutions for legendary artists like Metallica, Post Malone, Jack Harlow, and Elton John’s Farewell Tour, among many others. Some of the Las Vegas residencies we’ve worked on this year include Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood, and Aerosmith. It was also incredibly meaningful to do lighting and video for the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Show at Wembley Stadium.
What do you expect innovation (visual or otherwise) in the touring sector to look like in the next year and beyond?
Tours are being pressured to fill every stadium or arena seat, so one of the areas that we’re focused on is fan engagement. For example, we’ll be building on the success we had with the Indochine tour in Europe, where we positioned the audio speakers BEHIND a new transparent LED video screen, providing fans with an unobstructed view of the screens.
Efficiency in gear is increasingly important. Now, both lighting fixtures and projectors are being designed with LED and laser sources to produce a multitude of green benefits, allowing us to do more with less carbon footprint. And lastly, for years we’ve done large tours requiring many buses and trucks for gear – whatever we needed to execute the show design. But going forward, production and tour managers are looking at reverse engineering tours, i.e., how many buses and trucks do we want to have? Artists and their productions are looking for ways to improve touring by using companies with global footprints to cut down on equipment and people movement around the world. Fewer trucks, buses and planes moving will increase profitability (and lead to sustainability) allowing us to continue to do the work we love every day.
PRG has provided technical and logistical support for the Super Bowl halftime show for years. How has the halftime show evolved, and how will it continue to evolve with new tech?
The Super Bowl halftime show is unquestionably one of the most epic moments in an artist’s career, so we listen closely to what they are envisioning for each performance. That means some years the stage is more simplistic while others feature higher levels of spectacle. Overall, our team’s job is to ensure the visual experience is equally incredible for people in the stands and the millions watching at home. As technology and creatives have become more sophisticated, new tech has been implemented to make the show more cinematic, despite limited camera positions on the field.
You can really see this with The Weeknd in 2021 and the Dr. Dre & Co. performance in 2022 which used our proprietary 35LIVE!® technology. 35LIVE! elevates televised events by giving them a big-screen look and feel, replacing the traditional multi-camera approach. A team of technical specialists work together to produce astounding imagery, 100% live.
Fill in the blank: more people in touring/events should be thinking about ______.
Sustainability. It’s never been more important to take care of the environment. In 2017 PRG developed PRG SpaceFrame®, a touring frame design with ultra-light carbon fiber construction and collapsibility that reduces truck space by approximately 35 percent. This means less trucks and a lower carbon footprint. We’re going to see more governments requiring tours, fabrication companies, and production services companies to measure and report carbon emissions and supply safety reports.
We can also anticipate seeing more regulation around power consumption. Resources like fuel are going to be more costly. Research into replacing steel with bamboo in some fabrication applications could be a game-changer. We are also using recyclable materials in place of the hard scenic elements that the industry was built on. It’s time for our entire industry to focus on doing what’s good for the planet. – JL
Season’s Gainings: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Thanksgiving
We all know about the annual Christmas bump that certain holiday perennials begin to enjoy on streaming as early as Nov. 1 – but do folks begin to anticipate Thanksgiving in the same way in the days leading up to the fourth Thursday in November? Well, the numbers aren’t as stratospheric, but slowly but surely, they’re creeping up there for some of the bigger titles. Matthew West’s “Gobble Gobble” is up 93% in daily on-demand U.S. streams from Nov. 15 to Nov 21 to 73,000, according to Luminate, while Ben Rector’s “The Thanksgiving Song” is up 64% over that same span to 45,000, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Thanksgiving Theme” is up 38% to 75,000.
As for Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre,” the near-20-minute, Thanksgiving-set ‘60s story song traditionally played by classic rock and Triple A stations in full on Turkey Day, the numbers are still relatively small, just passing 15,000 daily streams on Nov. 21. But it’s also rising by 1,000-2,000 streams a day, and may be poised to explode (like so many post-dinner waist shirt buttons) this Nov. 24. – AU
Kygo cruises in at No. 4 on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Nov. 26) with Thrill of the Chase. The set starts with 5,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the Nov. 11-17 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Thrill is Kygo’s fifth charted entry, all of which have hit the top five, dating to June 2016, when Cloud Nine burst in at No. 1. The quintet of titles ties Lady Gaga for the second-most in that span, second only to The Chainsmokers’ seven. Kygo’s other top five sets are EP Stargazing (No. 3, October 2017), Kids in Love (No. 1, November 2017) and Golden Hour (No. 2, June 2020).
Concurrently, Kygo commands the leading debut on the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart with “The Way We Were,” featuring Plested (No. 18). The first Billboard chart appearance for English singer/songwriter (Phil) Plested, the song earned 988,000 streams in its initial frame.
Kygo has now placed 61 total tracks on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, including nine from Thrill; since the chart’s January 2013 inception, only David Guetta has more (73). The Norwegian DJ/producer’s 24 top 10s lead all acts; The Chainsmokers are next, with 22. Included among Kygo’s top 10s are five from Thrill: “Love Me Now,” featuring Zoe Wees (No. 9, August 2021); “Undeniable,” featuring X Ambassadors (No. 8, October 2021); “Dancing Feet,” featuring DNCE (No. 6, this March); “Lost Without You,” with Dean Lewis (No. 10, August); and “Woke Up in Love,” with Gryffin and Calum Scott (No. 9, September).
Returning to Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Black Eyed Peas notch their first entry with the pop/dance-leaning Elevation (No. 13; 2,500 units). Two Elevation tracks have lifted onto Hot Dance/Electronic Songs: “Don’t You Worry,” with Shakira and David Guetta (No. 7, July), and “Simply the Best,” with Anitta and El Alfa, a re-entry at a new No. 38 best this week.
In 2020, Black Eyed Peas enjoyed 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs with “Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life),” with J Balvin. Plus, a collab with Tiësto, “Pump It Louder,” from his album Drive (due Feb. 24, 2023), reached No. 28 last month.
Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Afrojack and Black V Neck vault 14-9 with “Day N Night,” featuring Muni Long. Afrojack’s 12th top 10 and the first for each of his collaborators is drawing core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, WZFL (Revolution 93.5) Miami and SiriusXM’s BPM, among others. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
Elton John played his final U.S. touring concerts over the weekend, saying goodbye to his fans on the road in America with three shows at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. With reports for his last 13 domestic shows, the total gross for the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour sprints closer to the top of the all-time Boxscore heap. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, John’s goodbye tour has grossed $749.9 million and sold over 5 million tickets since launching in 2018.
That means that since our last report on his whereabouts, John added almost $90 million to his total gross and is now within $30 million of Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour, which finished with a record-setting $776.4 million. The Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour has passed U2’s 360 Tour ($736.4 million) to become the second-highest grossing tour in Boxscore history. (John still has about 50 shows left next year in Australia and Europe, so he could surpass Sheeran’s record soon enough — more on that in a moment.)
Ultimately, the tour’s North American stadium leg added $222.1 million to its total gross, doubling the revenue of his domestic arena run in the Spring, and tripling the revenue of his Summer spree of European stadium shows. His Fall dates averaged $6.7 million and 40,500 tickets.
Those three final Dodger Stadium shows grossed $23.5 million and sold 142,970 tickets on Nov. 17, 19 and 20. The last of those was livestreamed on Disney+ and featured guest appearances by Brandi Carlile, Kiki Dee and Dua Lipa. It was the biggest gross and attendance total of the entire tour, surpassing the $16.7 million take at Gillette Stadium and the 99,827 ticket count at MetLife Stadium, all of which played in July.
It was John’s third trip to Dodger Stadium, following shows in 1992 (two nights – $3.4 million; 99,453 tickets) and 1975 (two nights).
With $26.5 million separating John’s farewell big from Sheeran’s mid-career high, each report becomes more tense than the last. The trek will continue with 10 shows in Australia and New Zealand in January. He played 38 shows on the continent between November 2019 and March 2020, averaging $2.5 million. At that rate, he’d end January at $774.4 million, just $2 million short of the record.
But his previous Oceania run was in arenas, and his 2023 shows will be in stadiums. With ballooned venue capacities, he’s bound to break Sheeran’s record early in the new year, and even if ticket prices (and thus, grosses) stay modest, he’s got another 40-plus shows in Europe to follow, making it all but inevitable that John will set a new all-time high. It’s just a matter of when.
Welcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Dec. 3): The most successful original album in Billboard 200 history celebrates its 40th anniversary by returning to the chart’s upper tier, while a pair of new sets from Brockhampton could send the group off with a bang.
Michael Jackson, Thriller (Epic): Just a couple weeks ago, we were talking about Michael Jackson‘s Thriller as a factor on the Billboard 200 following its annual Halloween bump – and now, the set may once again be a threat for the chart’s top tier, thanks to a new reissue celebrating the set’s 40th anniversary. The album is available in limited-edition single LP, or as part of a two-CD set that includes a disc of unreleased demos and bonus material.
This revival is practically unheard of – except for Thriller, which has repeatedly made chart history, including with a record 37 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 from 1982 to 1984. Still, it will face stiff competition from well-performing incumbents by Taylor Swift, Drake and 21 Savage, and Bad Bunny.
Brockhampton, The Family and TM (Question Everything/RCA): After announcing its impending breakup in January, rap collective and “boy band” Brockhampton teased fans with the prospect of a final album out before the end of the year. The Family came out last Thursday (Nov. 17), followed the next day by TM – a two-set farewell to the group’s fans.
Brockhampton has always sold well, thanks to its devoted fan base, and it is offering box sets of The Family and signed copies of TM on its web site. The idea is to follow the success of 2018’s Iradescence, which became the group’s first (and to date, only) album to top the Billboard 200.
Disturbed, Divisive (Reprise): They might not be the most obvious chart conquerors, but few artists have been as consistently successful on the Billboard 200 this century as mainstream rock stalwarts Disturbed. From 2002 to 2015, they topped the chart with five consecutive albums, a streak finally snapped in 2018 with the No. 4 peak of their Evolution.
The Chicago band will look to start a new chart-topping run with this month’s Divisive, its first new album since 2018, which frontman David Draiman calls a “blisteringly angry” set inspired by the tumultuous time. The early response on radio has been positive, with lead single “Hey You” becoming Disturbed’s 11th single to top the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
IN THE MIX
Rod Wave, Jupiter’s Diary: 7 Day Theory (Alamo): Florida rapper Rod Wave already topped the BIllboard 200 once in 2022, with August’s Beautiful Mind, thanks to robust streaming numbers from his devoted online following. Fans will have fewer tracks to stream on this month’s Jupiter’s Diary, since the EP only runs a scant eight tracks, including the previously released “Break My Heart.”
Roddy Ricch, Feed the Streets III (Bird Vision/Atlantic): Roddy Ricch’s latest mixtape is the third installment of his Feed the Streets series, but his first since breaking through on the national stage with 2019’s Please Excuse Me for Being Anti-Social and the 2020 11-week Hot 100 No. 1 “The Box.” The set features appearances from Lil Durk and Ty Dolla $ign, and a pair of R&B/Hip-Hop Songs-charting advance tracks in “Stop Breathing” and “Aston Martin Truck.”
Nickelback, Get Rollin’ (Nickelback II Productions/BMG): Disturbed aren’t the only hard rock fixtures back this week: Canadian rockers Nickelback return with its first album in five years, the heavier Get Rollin’. The band has seen its commercial fortunes fade since their ‘00s heyday, but it still has an active run of seven consecutive top 10-peaking albums on the Billboard 200, most recently the 2017 No. 5 Feed the Machine.
Dolly Parton, Diamonds & Rhinestones (Sony Music Entertainment): The recently enshrined Rock and Roll Hall of Famer takes a well-earned victory lap this month with the new greatest hits set Diamonds & Rhinestones. The 23-track collection of Dolly Parton’s personal favorites spans from 1971 breakthrough “Coat of My Colors” to 2020’s “Faith” collab with dance artists Gallantis and Mr. Probz, and is available on streaming, CD and double-LP vinyl.
Bruce Springsteen reigns on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts for an eighth time, as Only the Strong Survive debuts at No. 1 on the Nov. 26-dated rankings.
The set of soul covers begins with 40,000 equivalent album units earned in the Nov. 11-17 tracking week, according to Luminate, with 37,000 of that sum via album sales.
Springsteen first led both lists, which began in 2006, with 2007’s Magic. (His hefty history on Billboard‘s charts dates to 1975.)
With eight Top Rock & Alternative Albums rulers, Springsteen matches John Mayer for the most in the chart’s history.
Most No. 1s, Top Rock & Alternative Albums:8, John Mayer8, Bruce Springsteen6, The Beatles6, Coldplay6, Grateful Dead6, Dave Matthews (solo and with Dave Matthews Band)6, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
Concurrently, Strong starts at No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200, marking Springsteen’s 22nd top 10, dating to the No. 3-peaking Born to Run in 1975. Thanks to the No. 2-peaking Letter to You in 2020, he joined the exclusive club of artists with newly charting top 10s in each decade since the ’70s.
Two songs from Strong appear on Rock Digital Song Sales. “Nightshift” bows at No. 8 (1,000 sold) and “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” enters at No. 16 (800). “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” previously made the list (Oct. 15) at No. 24.
“I had so much fun recording this music,” Springsteen mused of the new set. “I fell back in love with all these great songs and great writers and great singers, all of them still underrated in my opinion. And through the project I rediscovered the power of my own voice.”
Elton John and Britney Spears’ “Hold Me Closer” climbs to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated Nov. 26).
John adds his second Adult Pop Airplay leader, both achieved this year: His previous team-up modernizing his catalog, “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” with Dua Lipa, ruled for a week this March. That song updates four John classics, while “Hold Me Closer” focuses on 1972’s “Tiny Dancer” and 1992’s “The One.”
Spears earns her first Adult Pop Airplay No. 1. Among 14 prior entries, she reached a No. 19 best with “Till the World Ends,” featuring Nicki Minaj and Kesha, in 2011.
The Adult Pop Airplay chart reflects weekly plays, as monitored by Luminate, on reporting adult top 40 stations.
“Hold Me Closer” launched at its No. 6 best on the Sept. 10-dated all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100. It became John’s 29th top 10 – and extended his record for the longest top 10 span of any artist not involving holiday songs (51 years, seven months and three weeks) – and Spears’ 14th top 10.
The collab previously crowned Digital Song Sales, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs, Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and Dance/Mix Show Airplay.
Among the track’s other airplay successes, it reaches a new No. 5 high on the Nov. 26 Adult Contemporary chart, having become John’s record-extending 42nd top 10 (and Spears’ first), and No. 10 on Pop Airplay.
Despite its relatively modest Hot 100 history, as it hit No. 41 in April 1972, “Tiny Dancer” previously received renewed attention thanks to its prominent sync in the 2000 film Almost Famous. “The One,” meanwhile, rose to No. 8 on the Hot 100 in September 1992.
“He gets your charts daily,” David Furnish, John’s husband and business partner, recently told Billboard. “He gets them printed out on hard copies, because he goes through with highlighters. And he literally has different highlighters for different records he charts – ones from Britain, ones from America, the ones that are going up, ones that are his, ones that he has a connection to. He watches it daily. It feeds a part of his soul. And he’s absolutely over the moon with the way these new records have performed. And you know, you’re gonna see more.”
Twelve days of Christmas is a great way to celebrate the holidays.
Even better? 112 songs, and for over a month.
Instead of stopping after 12 drummers drumming, the holiday beat will go on thanks to the Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown, available on available on SiriusXM’s SXM App from Nov. 23 through Dec. 28.
The list is based on historical performance on Billboard‘s weekly Holiday 100 songs chart (which each week during the holiday season ranks the most popular holiday songs across all genres and eras by streaming activity data via online music sources; radio audience impressions; and sales data, all compiled by Luminate).
While listeners may not hear four calling birds, even more melodic sounds of the season decorate the Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown on the SXM App, including classic festive anthems from Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Nat King Cole, Ariana Grande, Jackson 5, Brenda Lee, Pentatonix, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Wham! and more.
Meanwhile, you can browse Billboard‘s weekly Holiday 100 songs chart and the weekly Top Holiday Albums tally, which update each Tuesday on Billboard.com. Billboard also publishes the weekly Holiday Streaming Songs, Holiday Airplay and Holiday Digital Song Sales charts throughout the holiday season.
The Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown on SiriusXM’s SXM App marks the latest partnership between SiriusXM and Billboard. Billboard Live airs each Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s Volume channel, hosted by Lyndsey Havens and Carl Lamarre. Plus, this summer brought the Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits retrospective, while the Billboard Cupid Countdown celebrated the 50 biggest love songs of the last 50-plus years for Valentine’s Day.