Song Of The Month
It's the sound from the current publicity campaign of the Swedish car manufacturers Volvo,
'If You Got Somebody Waiting' by compatriot Joel Alme.
The song reminds something of American country legend John Denver

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
George Ezra remains at number one
Monday, July 9, 2018
by Alan Jones, London
 
The Singles Chart will be 66 in four months but instead of retiring, it takes on a new, more radical shape this week, with the incorporation of video streaming and an adjustment to audio stream conversion rates making it more fit for purpose. Despite these radical changes – which value both audio and video streams on subscription services

at 1/100th of a sale and on ad-funded services at 1/600th of a sale – there is no change at the top of the chart, with George Ezra’s Shotgun blasting us into the new era, just as it fired the final shots of the old era. No sales that I quote this week are strictly comparable with anything that has gone before but, cosmetically at least, Shotgun’s consumption is up 41.51% week-on-week to 75,986 units. With more physical sales (1,415 copies on 7-inch), more paid-for downloads (18,132) and more audio and video streams combined (8,090,633) than any other track, its continued reign is not even slightly contentious. It is, however, possible that at some point in the future a track will be top of physical and download rankings, with more audio streams and video streams than any other record and still not be No.1 overall, if most of its streaming is at a 1:600 conversion ratio and something else scores well on 1:100 conversion ratio. Drake established a chart record that can’t

be broken – unless the rules change – in March 2017, when all 22 songs from his album/playlist More Life were present in the Top 75 at the same time. Under current rules, no act can now have more than three simultaneous Top 100 entries as a primary artist, otherwise Drake would have shattered that record with his new set, Scorpion. The album surrenders three new chart entries – Don’t Matter To Me (feat. Michael Jackson, No.2, 61,432 sales), Nonstop (No.4, 54,774 sales) and Emotionless (No.5, 44,483 sales) this week but the other 22 songs from the album are among the Top 66 of the Tracks chart, which doesn’t take into account either ACR or Primary Artist limits. Back on the main chart, I’m Upset – which was No.53 last week - sees consumption surge 206.90% week-on-week but is ‘starred out’ between No.9 and No.10. I’m Upset was one of three tracks from Scorpion to chart previously, and with the three that enter this week. Drake’s tally of hits jumps to 74 - a record for a rapper. If, as would have been the case previously, the other 19 were admitted this week, he would be up to 93 hits. The one category in which George Ezra’s Shotgun didn’t lead the way last week was video streaming, where the top track was Girls Like You by Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B. With 2,671,862 streams of its female celebratory packed video – 377,204 more than Shotgun – contributing to its overall consumption of 35,219 units, Girls Like You jumps 13-10 to become Maroon 5’s 10th Top 10 hit and Cardi B’s third. The rest of the Top 10: Solo (2-3, 55,802 sales) by Clean Bandit feat. Demi Lovato, 2002 (3-6, 41,875 sales) by Anne-Marie, I’ll Be There (4-7, 38,610 sales) by Jess Glynne, I Like It (8-8, 37,849 sales) by Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin and If You’re Over Me (6-9, 37,743 sales) by Years & Years. With conversion rates amended, notional singles sales are down 7.95% week-on-week at 15,666,764, 17.60% above same week 2017 sales of 13,321,629. Paid-for sales are up 5.03% week-on-week at 989,537, and are 27.41% below same week 2017 sales of 1,363,196. They are below same-week, previous-year sales for the 257th week in a row. Aiming for her/their fourth straight No.1 album, Florence + The Machine’s high hopes for High As Hope end in stinging disappointment as Drake’s Scorpion hightails it to the summit. Drake’s fifth official studio album – and his first double – Scorpion contains 25 songs and almost 90 minutes of music, including the No.1 hits God’s Plan and Nice For What, the No.37 hit I’m Upset and a trio of new hits that debut in the Top Five of the singles chart this week. Not released on CD until July 13, Scorpion racked up first week sales of 63,690 copies, including a massive 49,715 from sale-equivalent streams a total surpassed only by the 78,944 streaming sales registered by Ed Sheeran’s ÷ on debut 69 weeks ago. Scorpion’s first week sales are 18.76% below the 78,397 sales (including 12,232 from streams) that attended the debut and coronation of Drake’s last album, Views, in May 2016. (Note: subsequent release More Life, which debuted and peaked at No.2 with exactly 1,000 fewer sales than Scorpion – 62,690, including 36,411 from streams – was officially a mixtape). Drake’s seventh Top 10 album/mixtape, Scorpion was always going to struggle to match Views and More Life, and has had a lot of negative reviews in the press, while also leaving some fans underwhelmed. Its average iTunes rating of 3.66 stars out of five at the time of writing is substantially below the 4.43 average achieved by Views and the 4.48 average achieved by More Life; and even further adrift of 2018’s best received albums: George Ezra’s Staying At Tamara’s (4.52) and Kylie Minogue’s Golden (4.49). The Greatest Showman – technically a 2017 release – beats them all with ease, however, with a 4.72 average from 1,237 ratings. Had High As Hope had as high a sale as hoped – or as high as any of its predecessors – Florence + The Machine would be No.1 but its first week sales of 40,304 copies see it debut at No.2. That’s a 41.41% downturn on the introductory sales of 68,788 copies for Florence + The Machine’s last album, How Big, How Bold, How Beautiful in June 2015. Debut album, Lungs, sold 63,032 copies on debuting at No.2 in 2009 while 2011 follow-up, Ceremonials, sold 94,050 copies to debut at No.1 in 2011. Lungs did reach No.1 eventually – but not until its 28th week on the chart. However, it is by far the biggest seller of the three with a to-date tally of 1,775,511, followed by Ceremonials (820,942) and How Big… (364,617). All tallies include sales-equivalent streams. With a pair of debuts thus outperforming it, The Greatest Showman is not No.1 for only the fifth time in 26 weeks and not in the top two for the first time in 26 weeks. Its sales off a mere 0.45% to 26.650 to a 10-week low as it dips to No.3, while its consumption has exceeded 20,000 copies for the 26th week in a row. Arriving just 14 months after their last album, Humanz, debuted at No.2 on sales of 44,465 copies, virtual band Gorillaz – fronted, as always by Blur’s Damon Albarn – chalk up their fifth top five albums with The Now Now debuting at No.5 (16,535 sales). Remastered for the first time, and released in much-expanded deluxe and super deluxe editions across several formats, Guns N’ Roses 1987 debut album – Appetite For Destruction – which peaked at No.5 in 1989 – is in the Top 10 for the first time since, re-entering at No.6 (10,576 sales). The rest of this week’s Top 10: Staying At Tamara’s (3-4, 20,493 sales) by George Ezra, ÷ (5-7, 7,798 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Cruising With Jane McDonald (6-8, 6,951 sales), Pray For The Wicked (2-9, 6,856 sales) by Panic! At The Disco and Beerbongs & Bentleys (7-10, 6,848 sales) by Post Malone. Overall album sales are up 5.04% week-on-week at 1,744,526, 5.02% above same week 2017 sales of 1,661,060. Streaming accounted for 978,996 sales – 56.12% of the total. Sales of paid-for albums are up 11.55% week-on-week at 765,530, 16.29% below same week 2017 sales of 914,529.  COMPLETE CHARTS