USA
Billboard Report (Excerpt)
Black Sabbath earns first ever no.1 album on Billboard 200
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. & Silvio Pietroluongo, N.Y.

Almost 43 years after Black Sabbath debuted on the Billboard 200, the iconic rock band earns its first No. 1 album this week with the arrival of "13." The set starts at No. 1 with 155,000 copies sold,

according to Nielsen SoundScan. "13" is the band's 23rd chart entry, and first studio album with singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's "Never Say Die!" The new release is only the group's second top 10, following 1971's "Master of Reality," which reached No. 8. Sabbath made its Billboard 200 debut the week of Aug. 29, 1970, with its self-titled album. The launch of “13” with 155,000 is also easily the biggest sales week for the band since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. Its previous best frame was when the live set "Reunion" bowed with 62,000 back in 1998 at No. 11. Frontman Osbourne has yet to tally a solo No. 1 album, despite seven top 10 titles. He's gone as high as No. 3, with 2007's "Black Rain." Black Sabbath's debut this week also beats Osbourne's best solo SoundScan-era sales frame, when his 2001 album "Down to Earth" bowed with 153,000 at No. 4. While Sabbath's nearly 43-year wait for its first No. 1 is long, it's not the longest. Tony Bennett waited 54 years for his first No. 1: 2011's "Duets II." The pop singer's first charting album was 1957's "Tony," which debuted on the Feb. 23, 1957, list. Last week's No. 1 album, Queens of the Stone Age's "Like Clockwork," tumbles out of the top 10, falling to No. 15 with 24,000 (down 74%). It's the third title this year to debut at No. 1 and slip out of the top 10 in its second week, following Chris Tomlin's "Burning Lights" (1-21 on the Feb. 2 chart) and Paramore's self-titled album (1-11 on the May 4 chart). No. 2 this week is Daft Punk's former No. 1 "Random Access Memories," which holds in the runner-up slot for a second frame (48,000; down 22%). The set's cumulative sales surpass the half-million mark this week, as its total climbs to 543,000. Thanks to Father's Day (June 16) sale pricing and promotion in the iTunes Store, Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" is one of several albums experiencing a surge in sales this week. The album vaults 9-3 on the chart, selling 35,000 (up 31%). In terms of download sales, it moved 19,000 last week, a gain of 79%. The album was featured in an iTunes email blast sent to its customers last week and was discounted to $6.99. Behind Timberlake is the debuting Big Time Rush, whose new album "24/Seven" bows at No. 4 with 35,000. That's far less than the 70,000 that greeted the vocal quartet's last full-length set, 2011's "Elevate" (which debuted at No. 12). Florida Georgia Line's "Here's to the Good Times" also benefits from Father's Day gifting and a temporary price cut at digital retailers, as it rises to a new peak of No. 5 (up from No. 8) with 33,000 (up 20%). Darius Rucker's "True Believers" slips 5-6 with nearly 33,000 (down 3%) while Blake Shelton's "Based on a True Story . . ." falls 4-7 with 31,000 (down 15%). Goo Goo Dolls notch their fourth top 10 album as "Magnetic" enters at No. 8 with 29,000. The rock trio's last studio set, 2010's "Something for the Rest of Us," debuted and peaked at No. 7 with 34,000 sold in its first week. It previously hit the top 10 with 2006's "Let Love In" (No. 9). Two more debuts round out the top 10: the "Man of Steel" film soundtrack at No. 9 (29,000) and the Lonely Island's third release, "The Wack Album," at No. 10 (28,000). The "Man of Steel" album, by composer Hans Zimmer, is the highest-charting non-vocal score soundtrack since almost a year ago: Zimmer's own "Dark Knight Rises" debuted and peaked at No. 8 on the Aug. 4, 2012, chart. As for the Lonely Island, its latest set is off to a slower start than its last effort, 2011's "Turtleneck & Chain," which launched at No. 3 with 68,000. The comedy troupe's first album, 2009's "Incredibad," debuted and peaked at No. 13 with a 48,000 start. Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 16) totaled 5.3 million units, up 8% compared with the sum last week (4.9 million) and down 10% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (5.8 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 131.5 million, down 5% compared with the same total at this point last year (138.8 million).
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," featuring T.I. and Pharrell, nets the best sales week for any song in nearly four months. "Blurred Lines," which holds at No. 1, sold 371,000 downloads last week (up 18%). It’s the largest sales week for a song since the March 2 chart, when Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop," featuring Wanz, moved 412,000. Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" flies 5-2 with 208,000 (up 8%), Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" slips 2-3 with 205,000 (down 9%), and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," featuring Pharrell Williams, holds at No. 4 with 195,000 (up 1%). Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us," featuring Ray Dalton, rises 6-5 with 158,000 (down 9%), and Blake Shelton's "Boys 'Round Here," featuring Pistol Annies and Friends, jumps 11-6 with 136,000 (up 10%). Avril Lavigne's "Here's to Never Growing Up" sees a massive 72% sales increase as it climbs 23-7 with 131,000 sold, its best sales week yet. The sales surge follows sale pricing in the iTunes Store for the cut, where its price dropped from $1.29 to 69 cents. As of Tuesday night (June 18), it was the only song among iTunes' 40 best-selling songs priced for less than $1.29. Also helping the cause for “Never”: Lavigne tweeted a link to purchase the discounted song on June 14, and she performed on TV twice during the tracking week, on "Live With Kelly & Michael" (June 14) and the MuchMusic Video Awards (June 16). Closing out the top 10 on the Digital Songs chart are Selena Gomez's "Come and Get It" (7-8 with 129,000; down 16%); P!nk's "Just Give Me a Reason," featuring Nate Ruess (8-9 with 118,000; down 11%); and Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" (18-10 with nearly 118,000; up 26%). The band performed the latter track on NBC's "The Voice" last week (June 11). Digital track sales this past week totaled 25.6 million downloads, up 3% compared with last week (24.9 million) and up 1% stacked next to the comparable week of 2012 (25.4 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 630.5 million, down 3% compared with the same total at this point last year (647.6 million).  COMPLETE CHARTS

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (Excerpt)
Black Sabbath storms the album chart
Monday, June 17, 2013
by Alan Jones, London

Almost 43 years after they topped the album chart for the first time, Black Sabbath return to the summit, with 13 - surprisingly, their 19th studio album, not their 13th - debuting atop the list on sales of

47,694 copies. Sabbath's second album, Paranoid, topped the chart in the wake of the title track's number four placing - it was their only Top 10 singles - moving 27-3-1 in September 1970 to become the fourth of eight albums to dethrone Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. At the time Paranoid topped the chart, Birmingham band Sabbath were a very youthful quartet, comprising Ozzy Osbourne (21), Geezer Butler (21), Tony Iommi (22) and Bill Ward (22). The only younger vocal group to top the chart at that point were Osbourne's heroes, The Beatles. The current incarnation of Black Sabbath is the first since 1978 in which Osbourne, now 64, has featured. Butler (63) and Iommi (65) complete what is now a trio - Ward didn't participate in the making of 13 for contractual reasons. With an average age of 64, Sabbath thus become the oldest group to top the chart, replacing The Eagles, whose average age was 59 when they topped the chart for the only time in 2007, with Long Road Out Of Eden. They also became the group to have a number one album furthest into their chart career, doing so more than 33 years after their debut with On The Border. Black Sabbath shatter that record too, by a full decade. It's not all bad news for The Eagles this week, however - BBC2's screening of their documentary feature History Of The Eagles helps their 2003 compilation The Complete Greatest Hits to vault 61-9 to equal its 2006 peak. It sold 14,192 copies last week to raise its overall sales to 512,491. Sabbath also shatter the record for gap between number one albums, set by Bob Dylan, who waited more than 38 years between New Morning topping the chart in 1970 and Together Through Life doing likewise in 2009. They also seize the British record from Rod Stewart, who ended a 37 year absence from the summit with Time just four weeks ago. Black Sabbath's return to prominence robbed Beady Eye of the opportunity of scoring their first number one. Essentially Oasis without Noel Gallagher, they debut at number two (34,552 sales) with second album BE. It marks a new high for the group in terms of chart position - their 2011 debut Different Gear Still Speeding debuted and peaked at number three, but did so on substantially higher sales of 66,817 copies. Beady Eye frontman Liam Gallagher has theorised that Oasis fans are boycotting the band to force an Oasis reunion, conveniently overlooking the fact that although only 181,680 of them have bought Different Gear Still Speeding, far more seem to be happy to but Noel's High Flying Birds, which gave it a 33 week start but has sold more than four times as many copies (754,838). Disclosure slide 1-5 (22,869 sales) with their debut album Settle but are joined in the Top 10 by another fraternal electronic duo, namely Boards Of Canada. Comprising siblings Mike and Marcus Sandison, BOC has by far its highest charting album to date with Tomorrow's Harvest debuting at number seven (18,223 sales). Their last album, The Campfire Head, debuted and peaked at number 41 (6,795 sales) in 2005, while their highest charting set hitherto, Geogaddi, debuted and peaked at number 21 (9,774 sales) in 2002. Their biggest selling album is neither of these - it is their first album, Music Has The Right To Children, which sold 678 copies while debuting at number 193 in 1998, and never made the Top 200 again, although it has thus far sold a very respectable 60,317 copies. While Boards Of Canada achieve their best chart placing to date, fellow Scot KT Tunstall falls short of the top five for the first time, with fourth album, Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon settling for a number 14 debut (11,645 sales). Tunstall reached number three with 2004 debut Eye To The Telescope and 2007 follow-up Drastic Fantastic and number five with 2010's Tiger Suit. Both BOC from Edinburgh and Tunstall from Fife fare better in Scotland than in the UK as a whole, with Tomorrow's Harvest debuting at number four north of the border, and Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon at number seven. Beady Eye's album is a very narrow victor of the chart battle north of the border, with 4,318 sales - just four more than Rod Stewart's Time, and 96 more than Black Sabbath's 13. Status Quo score their 35th chart album but their first with a soundtrack with Bula Quo!. A companion release to their feature film of the same name, it contains both new songs and re-recordings of classic Quo tracks, some live and some in 'Fijian' style. Debuting at number 10 (14,130 sales), it matches the 2011 debut of last album Quid Pro Quo, and beats its debut sales of 10,757 by a 31.36% margin. Pitched in TV advertising as a suitable Father's Day gift, Rod Stewart's Time increased sales 42.90% week-on-week to 33,778, and climbs 4-3. BBC One screened its excellent new documentary Agnetha: Abba And After last Tuesday, helping Ms. Faltskog's A album to enjoy a massive 656.02% leap in sales week-on-week, as it rebounds 43-6, equalling the position in which it debuted four weeks earlier. It sold 19,867 copies last week, its highest tally yet. The music of Abba was (natch) featured extensively in the documentary too, and their Gold: Greatest Hits enjoyed a 95.31% uptick week-on-week, climbing 143-95 (1,364 sales). Albums in the Top 10 not mentioned above: Daft Punk's Random Access Memories dips 3-4 (23,178 sales) and Passenger's All The Little Lights falls 5-8 (15,879 sales). Father's Day fell on Sunday, and helped to boost sales by 21.60% week-on-week to 1,825,281 - 7.11% above same week 2012 sales of 1,704,055. Unlike Mother's Day, which dodges around the calendar (it was 10 March this year but 30 March next year, for example), Father's Day is a static holiday, always falling on the third Sunday in June, so this year's figures are directly comparable with last year's. It's the highest sales week since the one immediately prior to Easter Sunday 11 weeks ago, and the fourth highest tally of the year.
Blurred Lines continues to dominate the chart, increasing sales yet again on its third straight week at number one for Robin Thicke feat T.I. & Pharrell. After debuting at number one a fortnight ago on sales of 190,572 copies, it enjoyed an unexpected 4.35% uplift to 198,856 the following week, and has barely subsided, with a spectacular third week tally of 193,783, a decline of just 2.55%. It is the highest sale for a single on its third week at number one since Band Aid 20's Do They Know It's Christmas sold in 234,641 copies on its third frame in 2004. With sales of 1,794 prior to charting, Blurred Lines' overall sales are 585,005. It jumps 14-5 on the year-to-date rankings, where it will jump to number two next week. Blurred Lines' admittedly sensational start has served to overshadow another monster hit - Naughty Boy's La La La, which dislodged Daft Punk from the summit, and has since spent three straight week as runner-up. Its opening sales tally of 145,326 - then the highest of the year - has been followed by tallies of 105,251, 100,827 and - last week - 85,978. Its fast start and slow decline suggest it has plenty more sales still to come, and should stand Naghty Boy's debut album Hotel Cabana in good stead as and when it is eventually released. The song Blurred Lines needs to overhaul to become the biggest hit of the year, Daft Punk's Get Lucky, continues its slow decline, falling 3-4 on its ninth week, with sales of 60,599 raising its overall tally to 930,031. It swaps places with Passenger's Let Her Go, another smash which has been in the top five for seven weeks, and sold 63,484 copies last week to increase its career haul to 512,625. Unlucky to have been up against four massive hits at the same time, Olly Murs' Dear Darlin' gamely hangs on at number five, selling a further 51,305 copies. Number 50 last November, when cherry-picked from the newly released Red as an album track, Taylor Swift's Everything Has Changed collaboration with Ed Sheeran is now officially a single, and benefits from fast increasing airplay and the pair's performance on the final of ITV's Britain's Got Talent nine days ago, by catapulting 53-7 (44,329 sales). It's the fourth Top 10 hit from Red, the fifth of Swift's career, and the sixth of Sheeran's career. Red responds by jumping 25-18 (11,035 sales) to achieve its highest chart placing for six weeks. It is not on Sheeran's + album, but said disc dashes 49-30, registering its highest placing for 16 weeks on sales of 5,128, partly because the show increased Sheeran's visibility, and partly because Ash Morgan performed his version of + track Lego House on The Voice. Speaking of which, The Voice finalist Leah McFall's version of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive sprints 16-8 (34,688 sales) on its first full week of availability, while the song she sang on Saturday's show (the Roberta Flack/Fugees hit Killing Me Softly With His Song) debuts at number 105 (2,390 sales). Fellow finalist Mike Ward's version of Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man jumps 104-65 (4,242 sales), and he also has a second entry, with his version of Paloma Faith's Picking Up The Pieces new at number 137 (1,801 sales). Rapper Wiley scores his fourth straight Top 10 single from current album The Ascent, with Angel and Tinchy Stryder collaboration Lights On soaring 189-9 (34,355 sales) on its first full week of availability. We've mentioned before that as one of the best-known and longest established British rappers, Wiley has racked up 11 Top 40 singles, and overall UK sales of more than 2m but has been curiously unappealing to album buyers with eight studio albums and half a dozen mix albums all failing to make the Top 40, with combined sales of just 108,000 until The Ascent, broke the mould. But, even though it is home to four Top 10 hits, Wiley is still finding album sales tough to come by - The Ascent debuted and peaked 10 weeks ago at number 26, and responds to his latest success by retreating 155-164, selling 738 copies in the week to increase its overall tally to a still small 14,699. Elsewhere in the Top 10, Jessie J's Wild rebounds 8-6 (44,746 sales), and Fuse ODG's Antenna dips 7-10 (31,039 sales). Overall singles sales are down 1.01% week-on-week to 3,488,100 - 5.01% above same week 2012 sales of 3,321,530.  COMPLETE CHARTS