USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Taylor Swift spends second week at No. 1
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department holds steady at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated May 11) in its second week, earning 439,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week

ending May 2 (down 83%), according to Luminate. It arrived atop the chart a week ago with a massive 2.61 million units. Though the set declines by 83%, it still logs the biggest second-week, by units, for any album since Adele’s 25 tallied 1.162 million units in its second week (Dec. 12, 2015-dated chart, down from its 3.482 million in its opening week). Of The Tortured Poets Department’s second-week unit sum of 439,000, SEA units comprise 330,000 (down 52%, equaling 428.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), traditional album sales comprise 107,000 (down 94%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 82%). The rest of the top four titles on the Billboard 200 comprises former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time rises 4-2 (69,000 equivalent album units; up 8%), Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You falls 2-3 (61,000; down 11%) and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter dips 3-4 (52,000; down 21%). Noah Kahan’s Stick

Season rounds out the top five, stepping 7-5 (41,000; down 10%). Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 11-6 (its highest rank since it was No. 5 on the July 29, 2023, chart) with 40,000 equivalent album units (up 9%). Benson Boone’s Fireworks & Rollerblades glides 8-7 (40,000; down 1%), Future and Metro Boomin’s former leader We Still Don’t Trust You falls 6-8 (39,000; down 28%) and SZA’s chart-topping SOS is steady at No. 9 (nearly 39,000; down 1%). Closing out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 is Partynextdoor and the arrival of his Partynextdoor 4 (P4) at No. 10. It launches with 37,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 34,000 (equaling 45.94 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Partynextdoor4 marks the third top 10-charting set for the singer/songwriter and producer, following Partymobile (No. 8 in 2020) and Partynextdoor 3 (P3) (No. 3 in 2016). Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone, notches a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (fittingly given its title). A week earlier, Swift made history by infusing the Hot 100’s top 14 positions, all from her new Republic Records LP, The Tortured Poets Department, which concurrently adds a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Swift claims three Hot 100 top 10s in the set’s second chart frame, with “Fortnight” joined by “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” at No. 9 and “Down Bad” at No. 10. “Fortnight” drew 38.2 million official streams (down 50%) and 33.3 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 7%) and sold 6,000 (down 68%) in the U.S. April 26-May 2. The single dips to No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart and No. 4 on Digital Song Sales, a week after arriving atop each chart, and pushes 14-11 on Radio Songs. Tommy Richman earns his first Hot 100 hit, as “Million Dollar Baby” blasts in at No. 2 with 38 million streams, 302,000 in radio airplay audience and 4,000 sold following its April 26 release, after he had teased it on TikTok. Sparked by his label affiliation with Faiyaz, Richman logs the highest debut for a first Hot 100 hit by an artist with no prior history on the chart since last August, when fellow Virginia native Oliver Anthony Music became the first act to top the Hot 100 with no previous chart history at all as “Rich Men North of Richmond” roared in at No. 1. “Million Dollar Baby” concurrently begins at No. 1 on Streaming Songs. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” flies 27-3 on the Hot 100 with 35 million streams (up 67%), 1.4 million in radio reach (up 741%) and 21,000 sold (up 50%), as it wins the chart’s top Streaming and Sales Gainer awards. It rebounds for a second week atop Digital Song Sales. The single, which interpolates J-Kwon’s No. 2-peaking 2004 Hot 100 hit “Tipsy,” marks the first top 10 on the chart for yet another Virginia-born artist (born Collins Obinna Chibueze). Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” soars 22-4 on the Hot 100, two weeks after it entered the chart at No. 7, becoming her first top 10. The track drew 30.8 million streams (up 27%), 13.9 million in airplay audience (up 73%) and 4,000 sold (up 13%) in the latest tracking week. Further in the Hot 100’s top 10, Benson Boone’s No. 2-peaking “Beautiful Things” rebounds 15-5 and Teddy Swims’ former one-week No. 1 “Lose Control” leaps 18-6, as it tops Radio Songs for a fourth week (70.4 million in audience, up 1%). Hozier’s “Too Sweet” jumps 16-7 on the Hot 100, two weeks after it rose to No. 1. Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar’s former three-week Hot 100 leader “Like That” charges 17-8. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” falls 3-9 and “Down Bad” dips 2-10.

Record Of The Month
Another big country smash by a black artist:
'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' by Shaboozey

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Sabrina Carpenter climbs to number one
Monday, May 6, 2024
by Alan Jones, London
 
Overseas acts continue to dominate with caffeine queen Sabrina Carpenter becoming the seventh in a row to take the title, as Espresso percolates 5-1 on consumption of 79,627 units (957 digital downloads, 78,670 sales-equivalent streams). A deceptively light and upbeat song using coffee as a metaphor

for relationship addiction, it is Carpenter’s only Top 10 hit thus far, easily overshadowing her previous top ranked song, Feather, which reached No.19 in January, Espresso has become the eighth track by Carpenter to achieve lifetime consumption in excess of 100,000 units, ending the week as her fourth biggest song on 178,018 units. Ahead of it are 2023 No.32 hit Nonsense (353,593 units), Feather (314,582 units) and the uncharted Thumbs (188,228 units), which was released in 2016 when Carpenter was just 17. Carpenter’s 2021 debut hit Skin, which reached No.28, has to-date consumption of 140,707 units. Carpenter was the supporting act on the US leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour but ends her benefactor’s single week reign at No.1, as Swift’s Post Malone collaboration Fortnight slips 1-2 (79,143 sales). Trailing quite significantly for much of the week, Fortnight benefitted from the late injection of 16,534 CD sales but still managed to lose out

by 484 sales. The two other Swift songs from new album The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) that debuted in the Top 5 last week also suffer declines, with Down Bad dipping 4-10 (33,620 sales), while the title track is now ‘starred-out’ (29,121 sales) between No.10 and No.11. The latter is dismissed under primary artist rules because I Can Do It With A Broken Heart has moved from fourth to second most popular cut on the album, and consequently makes its chart debut at No.8, (40,456 sales). It is Swift’s 74th Top 75 entry, 55th Top 40 and 30th Top 10 hits. In America, where there is no cap on the number of simultaneous hits an act can have, Swift has racked up 263 Hot 100 hits – second only to Drake’s 330 – and 59 Top 10 hits. She has 32 songs in the chart this week, including everything from TTPD, and the entire top 14. Denied a first ever hit four weeks ago, when his Spaghetti collaboration with Beyonce and Linda Martell was ‘starred-out’ between No.26 and No.27, Shaboozey made no mistake two weeks later, when his viral country/rap track, A Bar Song (Tipsy) debuted at No.41. After rising to No.16 last week, the track lurches upwards again, coming to rest at No.6 (41,035 sales). Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso is the first coffee-themed No.1 since All Saints’ Black Coffee in 2000, but A Bar Song (Tipsy) is the fourth Top 10 hit in recent weeks to mention whiskey in its lyrics (Texas Hold ‘Em, Too Sweet and Austin are the others) and mentions not just generic whiskey but also Jack Daniels by brand. Easing 2-3 this week (61,838 sales), Hozier hit Too Sweet also mentions coffee in its lyrics. The rest of the Top 10: Beautiful Things (6-4, 46,955 sales) by Benson Boone, I Like The Way You Kiss Me (7-5, 45,411 sales) by Artemas, Lose Control (8-7, 40,946 sales) by Teddy Swims and Austin (10-9, 35,187 sales) by Dasha. The others climb on reduced consumption but Austin – which peaked at No.7 a fortnight ago - increases consumption for the 10th week in a row, albeit by 0.04%. Overall singles consumption edges up 0.11% week-on-week to a new high of 29,836,597 units, 9.82% above same week 2023 consumption of 27,169,851 units. Paid-for sales are down 2.66% week-on-week at 297,644 – 0.83% above same week 2023 sales of 295,197. Eleven new albums debut on the Top 75 this week but none of them is strong enough to unseat The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), which secures an easy second week at No.1 for Taylor Swift on consumption of 49,698 units. It now has sales to date of 319,789. Selling 4,694 CDs, 3,224 vinyl albums, 35 cassettes, 1,174 digital downloads and achieving 40,571 sales-equivalent streams in its latest frame, TTPD draws 18.36% of its total from sales and 81.64% from streaming, a big switch from last week when it was 70.79% sales and 29.21% streaming. It is the fourth of 12 No.1 albums by Swift to spend its second week on the chart at the apex – the others being Folklore, Midnights and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). TTPD has the highest second week consumption yet for a Swift album, replacing Midnights, which fell 76.47% second week to 48,113 units in 2022. Ahead of Swift on the first couple of sales flashes but never in with a real chance of becoming No.1, because of her far superior streaming power, the Pet Shop Boys’ new set, Nonetheless (No.2, 22,419 sales) nonetheless gave the veteran synth-pop duo their highest chart position since compilation Alternative reached No.2 in 1995. The 15th studio album by the pair – 64-year-old keyboards player Chris Lowe and 69-year-old vocalist Neil Tennant – it extends to more than 38 years their impressive, uninterrupted run of Top 10 studio albums. It is the most of any duo – Erasure, who started their album chart career the same year, and have been more productive, issuing 19 studio albums, (including four No.1s in a row) have overall been less successful, with only eight Top 10 albums in total, and no more than five in a row, a third of The Pet Shop Boys’ ongoing total. Including compilations, live sets, soundtracks, mini albums et al, The Pet Shop Boys have had 19 Top 10 and 29 Top 75 albums but 1993 release Very – their fifth studio album – remains their only No.1. Nonetheless’ sales-equivalent streams of 811 units - less than 1/50th of those of TTPD – failed to earn it a place on the Top 200 artist album streaming chart. However, it was easily No.1 album on both physical and overall paid-for sales, with a total of 21,608, comprising 10,815 CDs, 7,761 vinyl albums, 527 cassettes, 1,218 blu-ray discs and 1,287 digital downloads. First week consumption of Nonetheless were 33.70% above the 16,768 start made by the last PSBs album, 2020’s Hotspot, and their highest since their 10th studio album Yes opened with sales of 27,639 in 2009. St. Vincent racks up her third straight Top 10 entry, and fifth Top 75 entry with eighth album, All Born Screaming, debuting at No.5 (6,989 sales). The 41-year-old singer/songwriter – real name Annie Clark – played keyboards, guitars, drums and even a theremin on the album, also writing every track (one with Cate Le Bon) and producing the set. Her blockbusting debut album, I Cry When I Laugh, opened at No.1 on consumption of 59,117 units in 2015, and follow-up, Always In Between, shifted 36,449 copies repeating the position in 2018 but Jess Glynne’s third album – entitled simply Jess – makes a more subdued debut this week, entering at No.6 (6,829 sales). I Cry When I Laugh has to-date consumption of 1,510,678 units, Always In Between 577,641. Liverpool band The Zutons’ energetic brand of indie rock resulted in Top 10 placings for all of the three albums they released before disbanding in 2009. Returning in 2018, they have finally released their fourth album, The Big Decider, sixteen years after the third. Produced by the legendary Nile Rodgers, it debuts at No.7 (6,753 sales). All of their current members – 43-year-old singer/rhythm guitarist Dave McCabe, 45-year-old drummer Sean Payne and 41-year-old saxophonist Abi Harding – have been stalwarts of the band since before the release of their 2004 debut, the No.6 success Who Killed The Zutons, which remains their biggest-seller (674,565 sales). The rest of the Top 10: The Highlights (4-3, 8,340 sales) by The Weeknd, Guts (6-4, 7,209 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, Cowboy Carter (3-8, 6,716 sales) by Beyonce, Stick Season (7-9, 6,133 sales) by Noah Kahan and 50 Years: Don’t Stop (8-10, 5,701 sales) by Fleetwood Mac. Overall album sales are down 9.93% week-on-week at 2,460,878, 5.06% above same week 2023 sales of 2,342,365. Physical product accounts for 330,216 sales, 13.42% of the total.