USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
'Luther' leads Hot 100 a fourth week
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” tops the Billboard hot 100 songs chart for a fourth week. Three weeks earlier, the single – whose title is an tribute to late R&B icon Luther

Vandross, who is sampled on the track – became Lamar’s sixth No. 1 and SZA’s third. Lamar rewrites his longest Hot 100 domination. “Luther” totaled 55.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 3% week-over-week), 31.3 million official streams (down 9%) and 3,000 sold (down 24%) in the U.S. March 7-13. The track adds a fourth week at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart; rises 3-2 for a new high on Radio Songs; and falls 8-17, after reaching No. 4, on Digital Song Sales. Below “Luther,” Lamar lands two other songs in the Hot 100’s top five: “Not Like Us,” which holds at No. 3, and “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay, down 4-5 after reaching No. 2. Lamar adds his sixth week with at least three songs in the Hot 100’s top five simultaneously, after he first scored such a triple in December. He ties Drake for the most such frames among soloists, with The Beatles the only act with more. Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Lady Gaga and Bruno

Mars’ “Die With a Smile” keeps at No. 2, following five nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in January. It notches a sixth week atop Radio Songs (62.9 million, down 3%). Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” rises 5-4 on the Hot 100, following its record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning last July. ROosé and Bruno Mars’ “Apt.” repeats at No. 6 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3; Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” trots 8-7 for a new best; and Drake’s “Nokia” also pushes 10-8 for a new high. Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” dips 7-9 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the list for a week in March 2024 – and became the year’s No. 1 song – slips 9-10. It notches an 82nd week on the survey overall, the fourth-longest stay in the chart’s archives, below only Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (91 weeks, in 2021-22); The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (90 weeks, 2019-22); and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” (87 weeks, 2012-14). Lady Gaga’s Mayhem moves in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set debuts atop the tally dated March 22. It’s the seventh leader for the superstar. The set — her seventh studio album — launches with 219 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 13, according to Luminate — the biggest week of the year for an album by a woman. It also scores Gaga her largest streaming week ever. Of Mayhem’s 219,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 136,000 (it’s the top-selling album of the week and debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 80,500 (equaling 108.05 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; Gaga’s biggest streaming week ever, and it debuts at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart) and TEA units comprise 2,500. Mayhem was officially announced on Jan. 27 and went up for pre-order that same day. The set was released on March 7 and was preceded by a trio of top 40-charting titles on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart: “Disease” (reaching No. 27 in November 2024), “Die With a Smile” (No. 1 for five weeks beginning in January; a duet with Bruno Mars), and “Abracadabra” (No. 13 in February). Kendrick Lamar’s GNX falls to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 with a little more than 81,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%), while five more former leaders round out the top six. PartyNextDoor and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U dips 2-3 (79,000; down 13%), SZA’s SOS is steady at No. 4 (69,000; down 7%), Tate McRae’s So Close To What descends 3-5 (63,000; down 27%), and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet falls 5-6 (61,000; down 5%). Jennie’s first solo studio album, Ruby, arrives at No. 7 on the new Billboard 200, marking the Blackpink member’s first chart entry. The set launches with 56,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 39.93 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 13 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 26,500 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 500. Ruby was preceded by three charting titles on the Hot 100 songs chart: “Mantra,” “Love Hangover” (with Dominic Fike) and “ExtraL” (with Doechii). Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Debí Tirar Más Fotos falls 6-8 (52,000 equivalent album units; down 8%), Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 9 (43,000; up 3%), and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess dips 8-10 (42,000; down 1%).

Record Of The Month
The song was originally self-released by American rapper and songwriter Doechii to YouTube
on November 10, 2019. It was re-recorded in 2025 following it gaining traction on social media
platforms, being released to streaming platforms on March 4, 2025. 'Anxiety' contains a prominent sample of the 2011 song 'Somebody That I Used To Know' by Gotye feat. Kimbra.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
'Pink Pony Club' remains at the top spot
Monday, March 17, 2025
by Alan Jones, London
 
Chappell Roan lengthens her stride and gallops to a second straight week at No.1 with Pink Pony Club upping the ante again, with a 1.00% increase in consumption to 39,032 units (62 vinyl singles, 1,245 digital downloads and 37,725 sales-equivalent streams) – the highest since its release, some 258

weeks ago. Its to-date consumption now stands at 697,457 units – more than all but one Pony song, the exception being Ginuwine’s 1997 No.16 hit Pony, which has to-date consumption of 1,229,004 units. On a wider equine ranking, Katy Perry’s 2013 No.4 hit Dark Horse (feat, Juicy J), takes pole position, with to-date consumption of 1,809,651 units, having become Perry’s third triple platinum (1.8m units) single three weeks ago. Her 2010 No.1 collaboration with Snoop Dogg, California Gurls, also joined the club this week (1,801,742 units). Little more than a week after being released to streaming services for the first time, Doechii’s Anxiety – which originates from her Coven sessions for YouTube in 2019 – is the highest of five new entries to the Top 75, catapulting to a No.4 debut on consumption of 28,619 units. A viral smash on TikTok it is the 26-year-old Floridian singer/rapper’s sixth Top 75 entry, second and highest-charting Top 10 hit. It effectively

halts the march of the version of the track credited to Sleepy Hallow feat. Doechii. That version, which samples the Doechii original extensively, was No.52 in 2023, and hurtled back onto the chart last week at No.15, but slips back to No.16 (18,819 sales) this week. As mentioned last week, both versions of Anxiety are prodded by a sample from Gotye’s 2012 No.1 Somebody That I Used To Know, Doechii’s solo version more prominently than the Sleepy Hallow version. They are great reminders of the original Gotye hit, which featured Kimbra, and which saw a 10.87% increase in consumption this week to 7,924 units – its highest level for 637 weeks (more than 12 years), raising its lifetime cume to 3,277,144 units. Incidentally, if the Doechii solo version had been charted first, the Sleepy Hallow version could have been added as a remix, and the pair combined together for chart purposes, in which case the track would be No.1 this week on consumption of 47,438 units. Increases in consumption in excess of 20% push Ordinary (3-2, 34,018 sales) by Alex Warren and Busy Woman (12-8, 25,346 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter to new peaks. Carpenter’s track previously peaked at No.10 on debut three weeks ago. Earlier hits by both are also growing, namely Warren’s Carry You Home (28-24, 15,327 sales) and – reaching a new peak - Burning Down (37-33, 11,859 sales); and the currently touring Carpenter’s Bed Chem (19-13, 21,386 sales) and Please Please Please (18-14, 21,357 sales). Powered by streaming of her new Mayhem album, Abracadabra, which peaked at No.3 four weeks ago, returns to that position (6-3, 30,211 sales) for Lady Gaga. Die With A Smile, her No.2 hit collaboration with Bruno Mars, also reclaims lost ground jumping 22-18 (18,430 sales), while her primary artist allotment is filled by new hit Garden Of Eden, which debuts at No.23 (16,857 sales) to become her 35th Top 75 and 32nd Top 40 hit. 10 more tracks from Mayhem are among 22 songs ‘starred-out’ of the Top 75 this week. The rest of the Top 10: Beautiful Things (4-5, 27,978 sales) by Benson Boone, Sports Car (5-6, 27,383 sales) by Tate McRae, Not Like Us (2-7, 26,986 sales) by Kendrick Lamar, Bad Dreams (10-9, 22,874 sales) by Teddy Swims and Nice To Meet You (8-10, 22,439 sales) by Myles Smith. Overall singles consumption is up 0.56% week-on-week to 30,652,612 units, 6.79% above same week 2024 consumption of 28,703,865 units. Paid-for sales are up 0.38% week-on-week at 253,921, 5.23% below same week 2024 sales of 267,940. A return to form that has already generated three Top 10 singles, Lady Gaga’s newly-unleashed Mayhem album duly debuts at No.1 this week, racking up first week consumption of 55,577 units (20,937 CDs, 13,339 vinyl albums, 1,883 cassettes, 2,463 digital downloads and 16,955 sales-equivalent streams). Outselling the rest of the Top 5, it provides Gaga’s highest first week sale since 2013, when her third album, Artpop, debuted at No.1 on consumption of 65,608 units. Mayhem is Gaga’s sixth No.1 album, joining regular studio sets The Fame (2009), Born This Way (2011), Artpop and Chromatica (2020) and 2018 Motion Picture Cast Recording, A Star Is Born, which also features Bradley Cooper. It arrives at the summit a mere 23 weeks after Gaga’s last album, Harlequin – largely comprising jazz standards – debuted at No.59. It peaked at No.11 a fortnight later, and was a companion album to the film Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she starred as Harley Quinn (sic). There was also a 16-song soundtrack set for Joker: Folie à Deux, which had no overlap with Harlequin, and on which Gaga sang on nine songs, with co-star Joaquin Phoenix on 11. Mayhem’s first week sales are almost three times the combined to-date tallies of Harlequin (14,449 sales) and Joker: Folie à Deux (3,704 sales). Gaga’s oeuvre includes collaborations with Tony Bennett, remix albums and soundtracks, as well as bona fide solo sets. Mayhem is widely regarded as her seventh (solo) studio album, but it is her 10th Top 10 and 12th Top 75 entry on the artist album chart in total. Her 2008 debut, The Fame, remains her biggest-seller by some distance, with to-date consumption of 3,479,924 units (this total excludes the separately tracked The Fame Monster [93,510 units]). Surprisingly, her only other platinum albums are second release Born This Way (1,176,726 units including a Gaga best of 215,639 units the week it was released in 2011) and A Star is Born (720,836 units). Jennie – 29-year-old singer and rapper Jennie Kim – becomes the third member of K-Pop band Blackpink to chart a solo album in the last three months, and the most successful, with her introductory solo set, Ruby, debuting at No.3 (16,856 sales), thereby eclipsing bandmates Rosé – who reached No.4 with debut solo set, Rosie, 13 weeks ago – and Lisa, whose Fxck Up The World reached No.20 last week. Of the band’s members, only Jisoo – whose mini album Amortage dropped last month – has yet to chart an album solo. As a group, Blackpink have landed three albums on the UK chart, reaching No.1 with 2022 set Born Pink. Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet (1-2, 20,660 sales) and Tate McRae’s So Close To What (6-4, 10,100 sales) complete an all-solo, all-female top four – the first such configuration since Beabadoobee, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Taylor Swift did likewise 30 weeks ago. Carpenter’s album enjoys a 16.32% uplift in consumption, as she ends her current batch of UK tour dates in Manchester tonight (March 14). Her 2022 album Emails I Can’t Send secures an even bigger 28.62% increase in consumption week-on-week to 3,195 units as it sprints 67-40, surpassing the previous peak of No.41 it achieved 37 weeks ago. The rest of the Top 10: People Watching (4-5, 8,266 sales) by Sam Fender, +-=÷× Tour Collection (8-6, 7,505 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (9-7, 6,758 sales) by Chappell Roan, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (15-8, 6,610 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, SOS (13-9, 6,423 sales) by SZA and The Highlights (14-10, 6,365 sales) by The Weeknd. Overall album sales are down 0.43% week-on-week at 2,563,451 units, 8.16% above same week 2024 sales of 2,369,978. Physical product accounts for 304,842 sales, 11.89% of the total.