GLOBAL NO.1 - 30 YEARS AGO... "Unchained Melody" was originally written in 1955 as the theme for the little-known prison film 'Unchained'. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers. Their version was released 1965 and peaked at no.5 globally in September of that year. It was re-released in 1990 after the Righteous Brothers' recording was used in the box office blockbuster film "Ghost", starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. Consequently the epic hymn reached the no.1 spot in United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, Austria, New Zealand, and Ireland.

USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Ariana Grande tops Billboard Top 200 a second week
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

24kGoldn's "Mood," featuring iann dior, spends a fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. It also takes over as the most-streamed song of the week for the first time,

logging its first frame atop the Streaming Songs tally. "Mood," released on Records / Columbia Records, and the first Hot 100 No. 1 for both 24kGoldn and iann dior, drew 25.3 million U.S. streams (up 32%) and sold 13,000 downloads (up 86%) in the week ending Nov. 12, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also earned 85 million radio airplay audience impressions (up nearly 1%) in the week ending Nov. 15. The track spends a third week at No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart; as noted above, tops Streaming Songs for the first time, surging from No. 6; and jumps 6-2 for a new peak on Digital Song Sales. It was helped by the Nov. 6 release of its remix with, in addition to 24kGoldn and dior, Justin Bieber and J Balvin (although neither Bieber nor J Balvin receives billing on the song on the Hot 100, as the remix did not outperform the original version in chart activity in the tracking week). Ariana Grande's "Positions" holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100 after it entered atop

the Nov. 7-dated chart. It dips to No. 3 on Streaming Songs after two weeks at the summit (21.2 million, down 17%); climbs 28-21 on Radio Songs (31.6 million, up 14%); and ranks at No. 22 on Digital Song Sales (5,000). Gabby Barrett's "I Hope," featuring Charlie Puth, rises 5-3 on the Hot 100, hitting a new high, as it posts a third week at No. 2 on Radio Songs (78.1 million, down 2%), after a week at No. 1; bounds 15-6 on Digital Song Sales (9,000, up 81%); and re-enters Streaming Songs at No. 30 (9.8 million, up 14%). The song gains in all metrics after Barrett and Puth performed it on the 54th annual Country Music Association Awards, broadcast on ABC on Nov. 11. Drake's "Laugh Now Cry Later," featuring Lil Durk, drops 3-4 on the Hot 100, after debuting at its No. 2 peak. It adds a third week atop the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where two weeks earlier it became Drake's record-setting 21st No. 1. The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" retreats 4-5 on the Hot 100, after spending four weeks at No. 1. It ranks in the top five for a record-extending 33rd week, while adding a record tying 39th week in the top 10, matching Post Malone's "Circles." Internet Money and Gunna's "Lemonade," featuring Don Toliver and NAV, rises to a new No. 6 Hot 100 high, from No. 7. Justin Bieber's "Holy," featuring Chance the Rapper returns to the Hot 100's top 10 (11-7), after debuting at its No. 3 high (Oct. 3). The track ascends 11-10 on Radio Songs (48.1 million, up 8%), becoming Bieber's 16th top 10 and Chance the Rapper's third (all in collaboration with Bieber; DJ Khaled's "I'm the One," featuring the pair, as well as Quavo and Lil Wayne, and "No Brainer," by the same lineup except for Lil Wayne, reached Nos. 5 and 8 in 2017 and 2018, respectively). Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez's "Dakiti" rises 9-8 in its second week on the Hot 100, as it holds at No. 2 on Streaming Songs with 22.2 million streams (essentially even week-over-week). It crowns the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart for a second week. Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo's "Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)" descends 6-9 on the Hot 100, after a week at No. 1, aided by BTS remixes. Rounding out the Hot 100's top 10, Pop Smoke's "For the Night," featuring Lil Baby and DaBaby, re-enters the tier (12-10) for the first time since it debuted at No. 6 on the July 18-dated chart. The song has spent all 19 of its weeks on the Hot 100 in the top 40, and this week posts its 15th frame in the top 20, as it holds at No. 5 on Streaming Songs (18.5 million down 6%) and debuts at No. 42 on Radio Songs (17.8 million, up 34%, good for the Hot 100's top Airplay Gainer award). Ariana Grande’s Positions spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set earned 82,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 12 (down 53%), according to Nielsen Music / MRC Data. It bowed atop the list a week ago with 174,000 units earned. It’s Grande’s second chart-topping album to spend two weeks at No. 1, following Thank U, Next, which spent a total of two weeks in the lead (its debut week, and second week – Feb. 23 and March 2, 2019). Positions is Grande’s fifth No. 1 album overall. Of Positions’ 82,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Nov. 12, SEA units comprise 73,000 (down 43%, equaling 99.5 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), 8,000 comprise album sales (down 81%) and 1,000 comprise TEA units (down 61%). Pop Smoke’s former No. 1 Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon rises 3-2 with 57,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%). With Positions and Shoot for the Stars both released via Republic Records, the company holds the top two for the eighth time in the last three months. (Shoot for the Stars was released via Victor Victor Worldwide / Republic Records.) The Kid Laroi hits a new high on the Billboard 200, as his F*ck Love album surges to a new peak of No. 3 (up from No. 81 a week ago), following the set’s deluxe reissue on Nov. 6 with seven bonus tracks (including tunes featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Marshmello and Machine Gun Kelly). For tracking and charting purposes, all versions of the album are combined, and the set earned 52,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 12 (up 458%) -- a new one-week high for the artist and the album. The original 15-track album was released on July 24 and debuted at No. 8 on the Aug. 8-dated chart with 40,000 units. Both the No. 8 debut and the 40,000 units represented high-water marks for the artist until this week. Luke Combs’ former No. 1 What You See Is What You Get is a non-mover at No. 4 on the new Billboard 200, with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (down 12%). King Von’s Welcome to O’Block surges into the top 10, rising 13-5 in its second chart week, following the rapper’s death on Nov. 6 (the first day of the latest chart’s tracking week). The set earned 44,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 12 (up 69%). The album bowed on the chart a week ago with 26,000 units. Welcome to O’Block is the first top 10 for the late artist (born Dayvon Daquan Bennett), who died at 26 after being shot in an Atlanta nightclub. NAV tallies his fourth top 10 album, as his mixtape Emergency Tsunami storms in at No. 6 with 42,000 equivalent album units earned. He previously visited the region with Good Intentions (No. 1 this May 23), Bad Habits (No. 1; April 6, 2019) and Reckless (No. 8; June 2, 2018). Of Emergency Tsunami’s starting sum, 35,000 comprise SEA units (equaling 46.4 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs), 7,000 comprise album sales and a negligible figure comprises TEA units. Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die falls one rung to No. 7 (39,000 equivalent album units; down 1%), Lil Baby’s My Turn is steady at No. 8 (33,000; down 5%), the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical rises a spot to No. 9 (31,000; up 5%) and Taylor Swift’s Folklore jumps 27-10 (29,000; up 52%) thanks to a surge in vinyl album sales from Swift's official webstore. The set sold 14,000 copies across all formats for the week (up 309%), with vinyl albums comprising 9,000 of that sum. The vinyl edition of the album has been available to order since Folklore was released on July 24, but its manufacturing and shipment was delayed. (Sales of physical albums only count once they are fulfilled to the customer.)

Record Of The Month

United Kingdom
Music Week (excerpt)
Kylie Minogue starts with highest weekly sales of 2020
Monday, November 16, 2020
by Alan Jones, London

No pun intended, but Ariana Grande’s position is unchanged at the head of the singles market. Positions remains firmly in place at No.1 to become the sixth chart-topper in the last seven to spend at least three weeks at the summit. Her lead at the top remains comfortable despite a 12.9% drop in consumption week-on-week to 44,348 chart

sales (1,222 of these paid). Lemonade by Internet Money remains in second place for its own third week in succession since it was deposed from the top. This is now the single’s sixth straight week as a Top 3 hit single, as it adds 35,435 to take its cumulative chart sales to date to 340,193. Surging into the Top 3 are Little Mix, their sixth album Confetti making them one of the most streamed acts of the week. That is to the benefit of the album’s latest single Sweet Melody, which reverses its previous decline and rockets 12-3 with consumption rising 42.3% week-on-week to 33,270 sales. It is their first Top 3 hit single in just over two years and seventh of their career. The rest of the Top 10 adopt a holding pattern with everyone appearing to have bedded down for the month. See Nobody by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio is down to No.4 (31,181 sales) while Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus climbs back to its peak of No.5. This rise is attributable to the

release of a new remix which plays up the track’s links to Stevie Nicks’ 1982 track Edge Of Seventeen and stirs in specially recorded new vocals from the lady herself. It was enough to cause the single to jump 6.3% week on week to post 29,732 sales. The only other new arrival to the Top 10 is Levitating by Dua Lipa, which is No.10 (22,874 sales) to become the fourth Top 10 single to be taken from her Future Nostalgia album and the 10th such hit of her career. Exiting the top end of the chart are Ariana Grande’s 34+35 (down to No.18) and Ain’t It Different by Headie One, AJ Tracey and Stormzy, whose 11-week stay in the Top 10 comes to an end with a 6-31 drop as the single falls onto ACR. Singles sales remain steady, 20,791,454 sales a 0.09% increase on last week’s total. Paid-for sales though are up, rising 4.76% to stand at 432,773. It is a tale of two albums. One from a veteran star of over 30 years standing, who still inspires as much excitement as she did at the height of her career. The other from four women who continue to defy assumptions and expectations of the shelf life of both pop bands and talent show discoveries. The winner of what remained throughout the week an absorbing chart battle is Disco by Kylie Minogue. The Australian singer's 15th studio album surges to the top with a quite phenomenal sale of 54,905, the highest weekly tally of 2020 so far. It is her eighth No.1, Madonna (12) the only solo female with more chart-topping albums. Kylie becomes the latest addition to a growing list of acts who can boast No.1 albums in five consecutive decades, chart-toppers in the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and now 20s making her the first female solo artist to achieve such a run. Runners up then are Little Mix, who by no means disgrace themselves with a chart sale of 49,887 for Confetti, the highest total for a No.2 album since Week 51 last year. Assuming it climbs no further Confetti will be their second album to peak in the runners-up position. But they still deserve accolades, the first all-female act to release six studio albums with an unchanged line-up. They lost the chart race thanks to fewer physical sales (35,646 vs 45,497) and fewer downloads (3,981 vs 6,368), their superior streaming numbers (10,260 vs 3,040) not enough to close the ensuing deficit. Last week's No.1 and No.2 are bumped down, Positions from Ariana Grande at No.3 with 11,576 sales and Love Goes by Sam Smith at No.4 with 9,888 sales. All but overlooked in the KylieMix battle was the impressive performance of I Owe It All To You by Shirley Bassey. It is the first album in six years from the 83-year-old industry legend and the mixture of new songs and cover versions makes a glorious debut at No.5 with 8,568 sales, only the eighth Top 10 album of her long and storied career and her highest charting record since her literally titled 25th Anniversary Album reached No.3 almost exactly 42 years ago this week. With six chart singles to his name already in 2020, Stephan "Dutchavelli" Allen makes his albums chart debut with mixtape Dutch From The 5th. Home to hit singles Bando Diaries and Cool With Me, it debuts with a splash at No.8 with 7,555 sales, needless to say the vast majority of these from calculated streams. Two big new pop albums help assuage fears that Lockdown 2 might impact the market the same way as the first, sales hitting 1,893,310 this week to once more post their highest total for 45 weeks. Physical sales are slightly down and stand at exactly 463,000 but their market share of 24.45% tops the 20% barrier for the seventh week in a row.