USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
'As It Was' tops Hot 100 for 15th week
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Harry Styles‘ “As It Was” logs a 15th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. Only three songs have led longer over the survey’s 64-year history, while “As It Was”

claims outright the longest reign for a song by a British artist, as well as by an act with no accompanying artists. Styles also sports the rare achievement of holding the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 while starring in the top movie at the box office, as Don’t Worry Darling premiered as the weekend’s top film domestically. “As It Was,” released on Erskine / Columbia Records, tallied 66 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 2%), 13.5 million streams (down 6%) and 3,000 downloads sold (up 13%) in the Sept. 16-22 tracking week, according to Luminate. The single scores a seventh week atop the Radio Songs chart; dips 6-9 on Streaming Songs, after two weeks on top starting in its debut week in April; and rebounds 24-15 on Digital Song Sales, following a week in the lead in May. Steve Lacy’s first Hot 100 top 10 “Bad Habit” spends a fourth week at its No. 2 high, with 37.8 million in airplay audience (up 10%), 19.6 million streams

(essentially even week-over-week) and 2,000 sold (up 39%). The track rebounds from No. 2 for a fifth week at No. 1 on Streaming Songs; becomes Lacy’s first Radio Songs top 10, surging 13-8; and debuts at No. 37 on Digital Song Sales. Post Malone’s “I Like You (A Happier Song),” featuring Doja Cat, rises 5-3 for a new Hot 100 best; Nicky Youre and Dazy’s “Sunroof” holds at its No. 4 high; and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” drops 3-5, after it soared in at No. 1 on the Aug. 27 chart, as it tops the multi-metric Hot Rap Songs chart for a sixth week. Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” keeps at its No. 6 Hot 100 highpoint, while leading the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart for a sixth week, and OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried” ascends 8-7 for a new top rank. Luke Combs notches his second Hot 100 top 10, as “The Kind of Love We Make” bounds 14-8 with 32.7 million in airplay audience (up 5%), 13.9 million streams (up 13%) and 3,000 sold (up 8%). Thanks to Wallen’s “You Proof” and Combs’ “The Kind of Love We Make,” two top 10 Hot Country Songs hits place in the Hot 100’s top 10 together. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” descends 7-9, after two weeks at No. 1 beginning in late July, and Future’s “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, repeats at No. 10, following a week on top in its debut frame in May. Blackpink lands its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Oct. 1) as its second full-length studio album, Born Pink, starts atop the list with 102,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 22, according to Luminate. The eight-song set is the first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 by an all-female group since 2008. Born Pink is the second top 10 for the South Korean quartet, which previously debuted and peaked at No. 2 in October 2020 with its full-length debut, The Album. In addition, Born Pink is the third album by a South Korean act to top the Billboard 200 in 2022, following BTS’ Proof and Stray Kids’ Stray Kids Mini Album: Oddinary. Of Born Pink’s 102,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 75,500; SEA units comprise 25,000 (equaling 37.49 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 1,500. Born Pink also debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart with the seventh-largest sales week of any album in 2022 — 75,500 copies sold. Of that sum, 85% were CD sales (64,000), while 15% were digital album sales (11,500). The set was not available in any other configuration (such as vinyl LP or cassette). Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti falls 1-2 on the Billboard 200 after 11 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list. The set earned 93,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking week (down 4%). NCT 127’s 2 Baddies debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, giving the South Korean pop ensemble its third top 10-charting effort. It matches the act’s chart high, first achieved with its previous album, Sticker: The 3rd Album, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Oct. 2, 2021-dated list. 2 Baddies bows with 58,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 55,500; SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 3.85 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 48,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%). Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 88 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It now solely has the sixth-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. The Weeknd’s compilation album The Highlights vaults back to the top 10, rising 32-5 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned (up 139%). The set contains such hits “Blinding Lights” and the resurgent “Die for You” (from The Weeknd’s studio albums After Hours and Starboy, respectively). On the new chart, the TEA and SEA units for those songs contribute to The Highlights, as a song’s activity is assigned to the artist’s album with the most traditional album sales in a week. Beyoncé’s former leader Renaissance climbs 8-6 on the new Billboard 200 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%) and Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House is stationary at No. 7 with 35,000 units (down 8%). EST Gee clocks his second top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as I Never Felt Nun bows at No. 8 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 41.15 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) while album sales comprise 1,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Closing out the top 10 are Rod Wave’s former No. 1 Beautiful Mind, holding steady at No. 9 (29,000 equivalent album units earned, down 9%), and YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s Realer 2, falling 6-10 in its third chart week (27,000, down 30%).

Record Of The Month
'Until I Found You' is a fantastic, old-fashioned tune with a lovely voice and an acoustic-guitar, performed by the 19 year-old American newcomer Stephen Sanchez.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
David Guetta has another number one
Monday, September 26, 2022
by Alan Jones, London
 
Dance music returns to the top of the singles chart, with David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s I’m Good (Blue) (2-1, 50,988 sales), wresting control from Lewis Capaldi’s Forget Me, which debuted at No.1 last week, ending a 10-week period of supremacy for the genre. The first No.1 for both Guetta and

the Parlophone label since his Lovers On The Sun collaboration with Sam Martin topped the chart a shade over eight years ago, it is the seventh No.1 in all for 54-year-old Frenchman – more than any other act from continental Europe than ABBA, who have nine – and sold 5,011 digital downloads, with the rest of its consumption from sales-equivalent streams. David Guetta also ranks second among dance acts with most No.1 hits, trailing only Calvin Harris (10). I’m Good (Blue), on the other hand, is the first No.1 for 33-year-old vocalist Bebe Rexha from New York. Her previous highest-charting hit was her first, Take Me Home, a collaboration with Cash Cash that reached No.5 in 2014. Forget Me slips to No.2 (46,766 sales) in a Top 10 which admits no newcomers, and is somewhat becalmed with only I’m Good (Blue), James Hype & Miggy DeLa Rosa’s Ferrari (7-6, 24,711 sales) and Chris Brown’s viral hit, Under The Influence reaching new

peaks. A fortnight shy of its third birthday, Under The Influence rises for the eighth week in a row since its belated debut at No.63, climbing 9-8 (23,392 sales). Former No.1 B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) holds at No.3 for Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal, with its consumption off for the first time, contracting 3.11% to 45,285 units after 12 straight weeks of growth. The rest of the Top 10: I Ain’t Worried (4-4, 34,284 sales) by OneRepublic, Super Freaky Girl (5-5, 29,641 sales) by Nicki Minaj, Not Over Yet (6-7, 24,284 sales) by KSI feat. Tom Grennan, Big City Life (11-9, 21,672 sales) by Luude & Mattafix and Doja (8-10, 21,411 sales) by Central Cee. Singles consumption is down 2.07% week-on-week at 22,898,349 units, 1.55% above same week 2021 consumption of 22,549,669 units. Paid-for sales are down 5.73% week-on-week at 273,046 – 25.52% below same week 2021 sales of 366,591. The balance of power at the top of the album chart this week shifts from the West Midlands to East Asia, with South Korean girl group Blackpink’s Born Pink taking pole position and Japanese-born singer/songwriter Rina Sawayama at No.3. Although only two of their four members were born there – the others are from Thailand and New Zealand, the latter being of Korean descent – Blackpink identify as South Korean, and are only the second act from the country to have a UK No.1 album, the others being their K-Pop compatriots BTS, who have two chart toppers to their credit. Only two other No.1 album acts were born in Asia - Cliff Richard and Engelbert Humperdinck (both born in India). Securing first week consumption of 20,957 units – 11,640 CDs, 5,067 cassettes, 839 digital downloads and 3,411 sales-equivalent streams – Born Pink is Blackpink’s third album chart entry, following 2019’s Kill This Love, which peaked at No.40, and the following year’s The Album, which debuted and peaked at No.2 (behind Queen & Adam Lambert’s Live Around The World) on consumption of 19,310 units. Kill This Love was officially an EP with five songs and 19 minutes of music. The Album and Born Pink are both albums – but barely, with each comprising eight songs and 24 minutes playing time. In fact, the total duration of all three added together comes to less than the standard version of Robbie Williams’ outgoing No.1, XXV. The 111th No.1 album of the 2020s, Born Pink is only the second by an all-female group, following sister act Haim’s 2020 topper Women In Music Part III. Arriving exactly four years after their last album, The Blue Hour, which debuted and peaked at No.5 (10,986 sales), alt-rockers Suede’s ninth studio album Autofiction (No.2, 14,038 sales) is also their ninth Top 10 album and highest charting set since 1999 when Head Music became their third and last No.1 Born in the city of Niigata in Japan but resident in the UK for all but five of her 32 years, Rina Sawayama earned rave reviews for her 2020 debut album Sawayama, which has achieved to-date consumption of 30,990 units while never venturing above No.80 on the chart. Follow-up Hold The Girl – featuring 13 new songs, all of which she co-wrote – makes a significantly bigger splash debuting at No.3 (13,961 sales) on the overall chart while topping the vinyl rankings (7,148 sales). It is the highest-charting album by a Japanese act, surpassing the No.15 peak of Babymetal’s 2016 second album, Metal Resistance. A trio comprising Suzuka Nakamoto (18) and 16-year-olds Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi, Babymetal were also the highest charting girl group from Asia before Blackpink happened along. Completing an all-new top four – the first for 19 weeks – Mumford & Sons’ guitarist and lead singer Marcus Mumford’s first solo album, (self-titled) debuts at No.4 (11,282 sales). All four Mumford & Sons studio albums made the top two. No.2 for three weeks on original release in 1977 behind instrumental leviathans The Shadows’ 20 Golden Greats compilation, Pink Floyd’s 10th studio album, Animals, is back in the chart for the first time in over 45 years, re-entering at No.5 (7,183 sales), after the release of a newly remixed and remastered edition in multiple formats. Descending to its lowest position yet on its 18th appearance in the chart, Harry’s House dips 3-6 (6,680 sales) for Harry Styles. That being said, it is the only one of last week’s historic first-ever all West Midlands top three to continue in the Top 10, with Robbie Williams’ XXV diving 1-18 (3,342 sales) and Ozzy Osbourne’s Patient Number 9 sliding 2-32 (2,228 sales). None of Williams’ 13 previous solo No.1 albums has fallen more than five notches from the summit previously. The rest of this week’s Top 10: The Highlights (6-7, 5,430 sales) by The Weeknd, = (7-8, 4,800 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (9-9, 4,187 sales) by Lewis Capaldi and AM (8-10, 4,160 sales) by Arctic Monkeys. Overall album sales are down 2.48% week-on-week at 1,857,916 – their lowest level for 38 weeks, but 7.18% above same week 2021 sales of 1,733,374. Physical product accounts for 276,626 sales, 14.89% of the total.