ALBUMS
It has been quite a week for Robin Thicke, with smash hit single Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell) coasting past its millionth UK sale, and the album of the same name debuting at number one. Topping the chart last week for the fifth time in seven campaigns, the single opened the week with 998,619 sales to its name, and sailed past the million sales mark on its 50th day on release - 19 days fewer than the year's other million seller, Daft Punk's Get Lucky. Blurred Lines is the UK's 137th million seller.
The album's release barely slowed the singles’ pace, as it sold a further 78,640 copies in the week to claim runners-up slot on the chart for the third time, while raising its cumulative sales to 1,077,259. The album, the sixth issued by the 35 year old from Los Angeles, took advantage of a weak market to debut atop the chart on sales of 25,981.
That's a low conversion rate. considering its introductory single has sold north of a million copies but it is by far the best weekly tally of any Thicke album to date - his highest achiever hitherto, second album The Evolution Of... debuted and peaked at number 30 in 2007 on sales of 8,764 copies, while most recent release Love After War sold just 319 copies the week of its 2011 release, falling short of the Top 200. Thicke;s biggest seller, The Evolution Of... has thus far sold 50,045 copies, while Love After War has sold 4,681 copies, including more than 1,000 in the past eight weeks.
Blurred Lines actually trailed on the first of the midweek sales flashes to The Pet Shop Boys' new album, Electric. The veteran duo's first release for their own X2 label after more than 29 years with Parlophone, it would have been only their second number one album, some 20 years after the first, Very. Its eventual debut at number three (15,715 sales) maintains their 100% record of hitting the Top 10 with every studio album, being their 12th from as many releases. It easily trumps last Parlophone album, Elysium, which was their lowest charting studio set when it debuted and peaked at number nine just 44 weeks ago on sales of 10,418 copies. Electric continues the tradition for all Pet Shop Boys albums to have single word titles, and is their 23rd charted album, including compilations, live sets, scores and soundtracks.
With latest single Thinking About You (feat. Ayah Marar) jumping 49-28 (11,287 sales) as it strives to improve Calvin Harris' proud record of being the only artist to take eight Top 10 hits from a studio album, said album 18 Months is resurgent. Also helped by renewed TV advertising, it jumps 21-8 (7,575 sales) on its 38th week on the list, achieving its highest chart position for 12 weeks, while increasing its lifetime sales to 634,841
Magna Carta...Holy Grail slips 1-2 (21,014 sales) for Jay-Z, although the album's first hit single, Holy Grail, advances 24-15 (21,571 sales) for Jay-Z and Justim Timberlake.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Rod Stewart's Time recedes 2-4 (11,224 sales), Passenger's All The Little Lights dips 3-5 (10,776 sales), Michael Buble's To Be Loved falls 4-6 (10,754 sales), Mumford & Sons' Babel falls 5-7 (10,683 sales), Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox edges 8-9 (7,465 sales) and Jake Bugg's eponymous debut declines 9-10 (7,334 sales).
16 year old Australian Cody Simpson is the latest wunderkind to come to prominence via YouTube, and makes his UK chart debut with second album Surfers Paradise debuting at number 30 (3,437 sales). A bright, breezy and brief album - it contains just eight songs and has a playing time of less than 28 minutes - it arrives on UK shores a mere 41 weeks after his confusingly-similarly named debut Paradise, which crammed 10 songs into a 32 minute programme. Paradise sold 756 copies the week of its release, charting at number 181 and reached a new peak (number 145) 22 weeks later. Paradise itself was preceded by an EP called Preview To Paradise.
The fourth and last Top 75 entry on a very quiet week is The Style Council’s Classic Album Selection (number 67, 1,442 sales).
#Holiday Anthems completes a second week atop the compilation chart, on sales of 20,882 copies.
Overall album sales are down 251% week-on-week at 1,296,244 – a 12 week low, and 10.12% below same week 2012 sales of 1,442,123.
SINGLES
22 weeks after topping the singles chart for the first time, Swedish dance DJ Avicii - aka Tim Bergling - returns to the summit in spectacular style, with new single Wake Me Up! annihilating its opponents as it dashes to the summit on first week sales of 266,524 copies.
That's the highest weekly sale of any single in 2013, and the 27th highest of the 21st century. The top 14 entries on that 21st century list (see below) are records by TV talent show competitors, charity records and December releases - some of them even combine all three of those aspects. The biggest weekly sale by any other type of release came in March 2009, when It Wasn't Me topped the chart for Shaggy feat. RikRok on sales of 345,498 copies. The last such release to sell more copies in a week that Wake Me Up! was Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love, which blasted its way to the summit on sales of 292,846 copies in 2009. Wake Me Up! scored the highest weekly sale for s core dance record in the 21st century, beating the 202,591 copies that Spiller's Groovejet sold on its September 2000 debut. Avicii's first number one, I Could Be The One - a collaboration with Nicky Romero - sold 90,999 copies when it debuted at number one in February. Perhaps surprisingly, despite the fact it has sold 419,467 copies it isn't Avicii's biggest seller. That would be Levels, which reached number four in 2011, but has gone on to sell 617,893 copies. It also formed the basis of Flo Rida’s Good Feeling, which was an even bigger hit, reaching number one and selling 752,061 copies and reaching number ne. Avicii received no artist credit on that record – and he, in turn, has denied vocalist Aloe Blacc a credit on Wake Me Up!
Selena Gomez racked up four chart entries with her band The Scene in 2010/11, of which the only one to make the Top 40 was debut hit Naturally, which went as high as number seven. On musical hiatus ever since - although very busy acting, and being Justin Bieber's on/off girlfriend - Gomez has finally released her first solo single, Come & Get It, and it instantly becomes her second Top 10 hit, debuting at number eight (36,834 sales). Parent albums Stars Dance is out today (22nd).
Based in Amsterdam but originally from the UK, Ben Westbeech records as Breach, under which name he has his debut hit Jack (number nine, 32,895 sales), a retro house track, which has a vocal by Westbeech himself, deliberately trying to sound both American and female.
Avril Lavigne has her biggest hit since 2007, with Here's To Never Growing Up, the first single from her upcoming fifth album debuting at number 14 (21,927 sales). It is the 28 year old Canadian's 14th hit, of which seven have made the Top 10. The sessions for the album brought Lavigne not only a hit but also a second husband - Nickelback's Chad Kroeger who was drafted in to assist, and ending up marrying her earlier this month. Kroeger and Lavigne co-wrote Here's To Never Growing Up.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines dips 1-2 (see album analysis for more details), John Newman's Love Me Again drifts 2-3 (61,745 sales), Icona Pop's I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) holds at number four (47,983 sales), Will.I.Am's Bang Bang remains at number five (42,734 sales), Naughty Boy's La La La (feat. Sam Smith) bounces 7-6 (38,437 sales). Sebastian Ingrosso, Tommy Trash and John Martin's Reload slides 3-7 (37,276 sales) and Passenger’s Let Her Go subsides 8-10 (31,827 sales).
While Holy Grail climbs 24-15 to become the first hit from Jay-Z's new album, his collaborator thereon, Justin Timberlake has three more songs in the Top 75. From his current album The 20/20 Experience, there's Mirrors (57-54, 5,374 sales) and Tunnel Vision, which debuted last week at number 64 and now falls to number 66 (3,971 sales) - but they are leapfrogged by Take Back The Night, the introductory single from upcoming album The 20/20 Experience: 2 Of 2, which advances 116-45 (7,225 sales) after being made instantly available to advance buyers of the album on iTunes. Amidst all this action, the original The 20/20 Experience album jumps 28-12 (6,810 sales), achieving its highest chart placing for 11 weeks.
Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan reached number 11 last September with her debut hit, Last Night, from her debut album Top Room At The Zoo. She returns to the chart with Lighthouse (number 26, 14,550 sales), which introduces her second album, Local Talent
Released fairly late in the day on Wednesday, Supersoaker is the initial single from The Kings Of Leon’s upcoming album Mechanical Bull, and debuts at number 32 (10,751 sales).
Overall singles sales are up 6.10% week-on-week at 3,431,468 – 4.18% above same week 2012 sales of 3,293,659.
Highest 21st Century Weekly Singles Sales (Sales/Title/Artist/Week/Year)
1108269
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN
WILL YOUNG
9
2002
850535
UNCHAINED MELODY
GARETH GATES
12
2002
742180
THAT'S MY GOAL
SHAYNE WARD
51
2005
576046
HALLELUJAH
ALEXANDRA BURKE
51
2008
571253
A MOMENT LIKE THIS
LEONA LEWIS
51
2006
555622
WHEREVER YOU ARE
MILITARY WIVES/GARETH MALONE
51
2011
549823
PURE AND SIMPLE
HEARSAY
11
2001
502672
KILLING IN THE NAME
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
51
2009
489560
IMPOSSIBLE
JAMES ARTHUR
50
2012
453426
EVERYBODY HURTS
HELPING HAITI
6
2010
450838
THE CLIMB
JOE MCELDERRY
51
2009
439007
WHEN WE COLLIDE
MATT CARDLE
50
2010
377074
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN
WILL YOUNG
10
2002
359639
CAN WE FIX IT
BOB THE BUILDER
51
2000
345498
IT WASN'T ME
SHAGGY FT RIKROK
9
2001
313244
HERO
X FACTOR FINALISTS
44
2008
311887
HALLELUJAH
ALEXANDRA BURKE
52
2008
306648
CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD
KYLIE MINOGUE
38
2001
292846
FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE
CHERYL COLE
43
2009
292594
DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS
BAND AID 20
49
2004
292318
UPTOWN GIRL
WESTLIFE
10
2001
287849
DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS
BAND AID 20
50
2004
275742
WHEN YOU BELIEVE
LEON JACKSON
51
2007
273508
SPIRIT IN THE SKY
GARETH GATES FT THE KUMARS
11
2003
269248
HE AIN'T HEAVY HE'S MY BROTHER
JUSTICE COLLECTIVE
51
2012
266844
(IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO
TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
11
2005
266524
WAKE MEUP!
AVICII
29
2013