USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Silk Sonic tops Billboard Hot 100
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

"Leave the Door Open" by Silk Sonic, the duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, rises from No. 3 to No. 1 for its first week atop the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. "Door," released on

Aftermath / Atlantic Records, is the 1,121st No. 1 in the Hot 100's 62-year history. Streams, sales & airplay: "Door" drew 21.5 million U.S. streams (up 13%) and sold 28,600 copies, downloads and CDs combined (up 138%), in the week ending April 8, according to MRC Data. It also attracted 59.1 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 9%) in the week ending April 11. The track pushes 5-2 for a new high on Radio Songs and climbs 4-2 on Digital Song Sales and 7-3 on Streaming Songs, returning to its best rank on each of the latter two charts. Combining digital and physical sales, the song was the most-sold of the tracking week, aided by two CD versions that shipped to purchasers in that span (one for $2.50 and a live version for the standard $1.29 single price), as it wins the Hot 100's top Sales Gainer award. As the Silk Sonic billing counts for both Bruno Mars and Anderson. Paak's individual chart histories, "Door" marks the former's eighth

Hot 100 No. 1 and the latter's first. Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" drops to No. 2 after it launched atop the Hot 100 a week earlier. It adds a second week atop Streaming Songs (38.1 million, down 19%) and slips 2-3 on Digital Song Sales (14,500, down 31%), while gaining by 189% to 3.2 million in airplay audience. Justin Bieber's "Peaches," featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon, descends 2-3, two weeks after debuting atop the Hot 100, while claiming the chart's top Airplay Gainer nod (31.6 million, up 37%), and Cardi B's "Up" holds at No. 4, three weeks after reaching No. 1. "Up" adds a seventh week atop the multi-metric Hot Rap Songs chart. Olivia Rodrigo's former eight-week Hot 100 No. 1 "Drivers License" keeps at No. 5, as it spends a fifth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs (62.8 million, down 6%); The Weeknd's "Save Your Tears" is steady at No. 6 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 4; and Dua Lipa's "Levitating," featuring DaBaby, repeats at No. 7, after hitting No. 5. Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" follow-up "Deja Vu" debuts at No. 8 on the Hot 100, marking her second top 10. Released April 1, it enters at No. 4 on Streaming Songs with 20.3 million streams and No. 7 on Digital Song Sales with 7,400 sold in the April 2-8 tracking week; it also drew 9.3 million in radio reach in the week ending April 11. As "License," which soared onto the Hot 100 at No. 1 in January and "Deja Vu" are Rodrigo's first two singles promoted to radio, streaming services and other platforms (and mark her second and third Hot 100 entries, respectively, after "All I Want," from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series [Music From the Disney+ Original Series], reached No. 90 in January 2020), she is the first artist to send her first two proper singles straight onto the Hot 100 in the top 10. The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" backtracks 8-9 on the Hot 100, after spending four weeks at No. 1 in April-May 2020. It adds a record-extending 57th week in the top 10, after it became the first song to total a year in the region. Rounding out the Hot 100's top tier, Masked Wolf's first entry on the chart, "Astronaut in the Ocean," rises 12-10. It also reaches the Streaming Songs top 10 (11-8; 18 million, up 9%), while dipping 3-4 on Digital Song Sales (12,000, down 1%) and debuting at No. 50 on Radio Songs (15.5 million, up 26%). Justin Bieber’s Justice returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 17), scoring its second nonconsecutive week atop the list – and becomes his first multi-week No. 1 album since 2010. Plus, Demi Lovato lands her highest charting album since 2015, and Lil Tjay debuts in the top five. Justice rises 2-1 on the Billboard 200 in its third week on the chart, having earned 74,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending April 8 (down 25%), according to MRC Data. Of that sum, 67,000 comprise SEA units (down 23%, equaling 89.44 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 6,000 comprise album sales (down 43%) and 2,000 comprise TEA units (down 38%). Justice debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated April 3, and fell to No. 2 on the April 10 chart. Justice continues to profit from the success of its smash single “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. On the most recently published Billboard Hot 100 and Streaming Songs charts (dated April 10), the song sat at No. 2, after it debuted atop both charts the previous week (April 3). Demi Lovato lands her highest charting album since 2015 on the Billboard 200, as her new effort Dancing With the Devil… The Art of Starting Over debuts at No. 2. It’s also her seventh consecutive top five-charting album – the entirety of her charting efforts. Dancing bows with 74,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 38,000 comprise album sales (making it the top-selling album of the week), 33,000 comprise SEA units (equaling 46.50 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs) and 2,000 comprise TEA units. Rod Wave’s SoulFly falls 1-3 in its second week on the Billboard 200, earning 67,000 equivalent album units (down 48%). Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album rises 5-4 with 63,000 units (down 1%). Lil Tjay’s Destined 2 Win is the only other debut in the top 10, as the album bows at No. 5 with 62,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 58,000 comprise SEA units (equaling 86.14 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 3,000 comprise album sales and 1,000 comprise TEA units. The album was led by the single “Calling My Phone,” featuring 6LACK, which became his first top 10 hit on the all-genre Hot 100 chart, reaching No. 3 in February. Destined 2 Win is the rapper’s second top 10 effort on the Billboard 200, and matches his high on the chart. He previously debuted and peaked at No. 5 with True 2 Myself (Oct. 26, 2019-dated chart). The Weeknd’s The Highlights is a non-mover at No. 6 on the new Billboard 200 (43,000 equivalent album units earned; down 4%), Pop Smoke’s formerstalgia What You Get rises 14-10 (28,000 units; up 2%).

Record Of The Month

United Kingdom
Music Week (excerpt)
BScottish rockers The Snuts leading the album tally
Monday, April 12, 2021
by Alan Jones, London

Its chart sales surging by an impressive 36.6% week on week, Montero (Call Me By Your Name) spends a second week at the top of the singles chart for Lil Nas X. The single’s lead of 15,343 over the competition is slightly more comfortable than last week's margin, which saw it sneak to No.1 by the small matter of 324 copies.

Its sale this week of 62,065 (including 60,514 from 8.5m audio streams) is the most any No.1 has managed in nine weeks. Lil Nas X heads up a rather becalmed looking Top 10 as one of no fewer than six non-movers. Peaches rises to No.2 (46,712 sales) for Justin Bieber, Caesar and Giveon as the Canadian's fifth single to peak (so far) in second place. Nathan Evans' Wellerman dips to No.3 (43,283 sales) and there is no move for both Latest Trends by A1 & J1 (No.4, 36,992 sales) and Friday by Riton & Nightcrawlers (No.5, 36,827 sales). The market remains red hot overall, the average chart sale of a Top 10 single this week reaching a year-to-date high of 37,258. That consistency extends to the Top 20 as well, although there is room for a significant chart jump for Body by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne, which rockets to a new peak of No.12 (23,051 sales). Masked Wolf's Astronaut In The Ocean also eases to a new peak of No.18 (20,925 sales) and

Silk Sonic's Leave The Door Open finally returns to its No.20 peak after three weeks of decline as it rises to 19,528 sales. The highest new entry of the week is that of Olivia Rodrigo, whose new single Deja Vu drifts into view at a mere No.27 (16,522 sales). Her third Top 40 hit in total the single is of course the follow-up to global smash hit Drivers License which neatly enough sits one place below as it continues a gentle downward spiral. A drop in singles consumption of 2.55% takes the market to 22,625,463 but we cross a new watershed for paid-for sales which collapse to a mere 398,094, dipping below the 400K mark for the first time in over 16 years. It is the lowest weekly total since Week 6 2005 in which just 357,227 singles were purchased. After a nervous end to the week, during which time they briefly surrendered the lead to Demi Lovato and after outright war threatened to break out between competing online fandoms, the relentless cheerleading of The Snuts paid off in the nick of time. By the small matter of just 272 sales the debut, WL, from the Scottish rockers is this week's No.1 album as they become the first act from north of the border to top the charts with their debut release since 2007. In common with almost every chart-topping album so far this year, sales of WL are overwhelmingly on disc, 15,962 physical sales helping them to a first week total of 20,455. Some commiserations them to Demi Lovato, whose army of fans were also highly invested in her chart fate. Dancing With The Devil ... The Art Of Starting Over is the American singer's rawest and most emotional work to date, its songs dealing with her journey of recovery from the well-documented personal and health issues which continue to affect her life. Lovato's seventh studio album is her fifth to chart in this country and now becomes far and away her biggest chart success, hitting No.2 with an equally impressive first week sale of 20,183 copies. Her biggest British seller to date is 2013's Demi, which has accumulated 188,831 sales to date. Just behind Justin Bieber's Justice at No.3 (9,408 sales), are post-punks Dry Cleaning. The four-piece have captured attention thanks to their gimmick of having lead singer Florence Shaw narrate rather than sing their songs and that attention has proved to be more than sufficient to propel their debut album New Long Leg to No.4 with 7,203 sales to its name. The Top 5 is rounded off by the apparently evergreen Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, announced this week by Official Charts as the biggest album of 2021 to date, as it adds a further 6,379 sales to take its cumulative total to 340,347. Home to chart smash Calling My Phone, Lil Tjay's second album proper Destined 2 Win becomes easily his biggest chart success to date as the fourth new entry inside the Top 10 at No.7 with 4,741 sales. Effectively a mini hits collection such is the enduring popularity of its tracks, Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours has been more or less a chart constant in the six years since streams began to be counted for the album chart. Its evergreen popularity has been further boosted by both the surge in "grey streaming" during lockdowns and the continuing virality of the track Dreams and that popularity this week hits a new high as Rumours charges to a streaming-era peak of No.8 (4,545 sales). It is the album’s first visit to the Top 10 since a deluxe reissue in February 2013 propelled it back into the Top 3. Rumours spends a 45th week as a Top 10 album in what is now its 689th week on the Top 75. In tandem Fleetwood Mac’s actual hits collection 50 Years - Don't Stop returns to the Top 10 for the first time since October last year as it bounces to No.6 (4,769 sales). A 3.47% week on week decline takes album sales to 1,809,130. The holiday weekend is perhaps the reason that physical sales take a larger hit, falling fully 11.5% to 295,475 down once more to a mere 16.33% of the market. The impact of high street shops and record stores in particular reopening in England this Monday will be fascinating to observe.