USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Beyoncé 'Break My Soul' scores second week
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Beyoncé‘s “Break My Soul” banks a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, a week after the song became her eighth leader on the list. Released on Parkwood /

Columbia Records, drew 65.2 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 7%) and 14.5 million streams (down 23%) and sold 36,000 downloads (up 174% – as the song wins the Hot 100’s top Sales Gainer award for a second week) in the Aug. 5-11 tracking week, according to Luminate. The track pushes 5-2 on Digital Song Sales, which it led for a week in July, and 4-3 for a new high on Radio Songs, while falling from its No. 3 best to No. 7 on Streaming Songs. Sparking the song’s sales gain, its “The Queens Remix” — which features Madonna and shouts out a host of influential Black female entertainers — dropped Aug. 5. (Madonna is not listed on “Soul” on the Hot 100, as the remix did not account for the majority of the song’s overall consumption Aug. 5-11.) In addition to its original version and “The Queens Remix,” “Soul” was available for purchase in six alternate forms during the tracking week: its Honey Dijon, Terry Hunter and will.i.am remixes; its Nita

Aviance club mix; and a cappella and instrumental versions. Harry Styles’ former 10-week Hot 100 No. 1 “As It Was” rebounds 3-2. It also adds an 11th week atop the Songs of the Summer chart, as it has led the seasonal survey, which tracks the biggest hits between Memorial Day and Labor Day, each week this summer. Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” dips 2-3 after two weeks atop the Hot 100 beginning on the July 30-dated chart. It claims a sixth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs (88.5 million, down 4%). Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” keeps at No. 4 after reaching No. 3 on the Hot 100. Its revival spurred by its sync in the fourth season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the song, originally released in 1985 (when it reached No. 30). DJ Khaled’s “Staying Alive,” featuring Drake and Lil Baby, bounds onto the Hot 100 at No. 5, with 23.5 million streams, 10.1 million in radio airplay audience and 5,000 sold in its first week, following its Aug. 5 release. The track opens atop the Streaming Songs chart – marking Drake’s record-extending 14th No. 1, Lil Baby’s fourth and DJ Khaled’s second – and at No. 6 on Digital Song Sales. Steve Lacy’s first Hot 100 top 10, “Bad Habit,” rises 7-6 for a new high; Future’s “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, drops 5-7, following a week at No. 1 beginning in its debut frame in May; Nicky Youre and dazy’s “Sunroof” cruises 9-8 for a new best, as each act’s first top 10 scores top Airplay Gainer honors for a second week (62.3 million, up 13%); and Jack Harlow’s “First Class” descends 6-9, after three weeks at No. 1 starting upon its debut in April. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, benny blanco, BTS and Snoop Dogg’s “Bad Decisions” roars in at No. 10, with 10.1 million streams, 3.1 million in radio reach and 66,000 sold (45,000 digital downloads; 16,000 sold on CD; and 5,000 sold on cassette) in its first week, following its Aug. 5 arrival. The track begins atop the Digital Song Sales chart – marking BTS’ 11th No. 1, the most among duos or groups; Snoop Dogg’s fifth; and benny blanco’s first – and No. 28 on Streaming Songs. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti bounces back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 20) for an eighth nonconsecutive week on top, as the set rises from No. 2 with 108,800 equivalent album units earned (up 4%) in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 11, according to Luminate. Of Un Verano Sin Ti’s 108,800 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 102,300 (down less than 1%; equaling 143.44 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 6,000 (up 435% following its wide CD release on Aug. 5) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 6%). Un Verano Sin Ti has spent its first 14 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart lodged in the top two. The last album to start off as strong was Drake’s Views, which spent its first 17 weeks in the top two (May 21-Sept. 10, 2016-dated charts). At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, YoungBoy Never Broke Again collects his 10th top 10-charting effort, as The Last Slimeto debuts with 108,400 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 103,500 (equaling 161.92 million on-demand official streams of the album’s 30 tracks), album sales comprise 4,600 and TEA units comprise 300. The Last Slimeto was announced on April 5 and 11 of the album’s tracks had been available to stream in the weeks and months leading up to the album’s release on Aug. 5. Beyoncé’s Renaissance falls 1-3 in its second week on the Billboard 200 with 89,000 equivalent album units earned (down 73%). Morgan Wallen’s former leader Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 4 with 49,000 (down 1%) and Harry Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House is stationary at No. 5 with slightly more than 43,000 (down 5%). Eminem’s second greatest hits compilation, Curtain Call 2, debuts at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 43,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 25,000 (equaling 35.19 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 18,000 and TEA units comprise under 1,000. Eminem’s first hits set, Curtain Call: The Hits, spent two weeks at No. 1 following its release in late 2005. In total, Curtain Call 2 is Eminem’s 12th top 10 effort on the Billboard 200 – the entirety of his charting releases – dating back to the arrival of the No. 2-peaking The Slim Shady LP in 1999. The standard edition of Curtain Call 2 contains 34 songs, spanning 2009-onwards, including three new tracks. Among the selections are nine top 10-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including four No. 1s (“Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster,” both featuring Rihanna; “Not Afraid;” and “Crack a Bottle,” with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent). Rounding out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 are four former No. 1s: Future’s I Never Liked You (rising 9-7 with 29,000 equivalent album units; down 7%), Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind (10-8 with 26,000 units; down 9%), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour (14-9 with 25,000 units; down 2%) and Lil Durk’s 7220 (13-10 with 24,000; down 7%).

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)
LF System remain at number one
Monday, August 15, 2022
by Alan Jones, London
 
Previously looking susceptible to a challenge, LF System’s Afraid To Feel achieves an unexpected 6.60% increase in consumption to 49,320 units (2,501 digital downloads, the rest from streams), after two weeks of decline, to secure a sixth straight week at No.1, thus equalling the all-time record for an

act from Edinburgh set by the Bay City Rollers with Bye Bye Baby in 1975. Beyoncé, who had looked most likely to take their crown, remains at No.2 with Break My Soul, which reverses consumption 5.42% week-on-week to 40,626 units, despite the release of The Queens Remix version of the track, which features Madonna, and leans heavily on her 1990 No.1, Vogue. Both LF System and Beyoncé were swept aside on early sales flashes, which were led by KSI’s new single, Not Over Yet. Also featuring Tom Grennan, the track couldn’t maintain its blistering start but is still the highest of the Top 75’s new intake, debuting at No.4, on consumption of 34,959 units. KSI’s eighth Top 10 hit and 22nd Top 75 hit, Grennan’s fourth Top 10 hit and ninth Top 75 hit, it is emphatically No.1 on CD sales and download sales, with 7,459 of the former and 5,603 of the latter. CDs also helped Harry Styles’ new single, Late Night Talking, to return to the Top 10 after

a five-week absence, jumping 13-8 (25,930 sales, including 3,597 CDs) 11 weeks after debuting and peaking at No.2 as an album track. Its return is simultaneous with the 3-16 slide (18,992 sales) of Styles’ As It Was, which has fallen victim to ACR. No.1 for 10 weeks, it has spent all of its 18 previous weeks in the chart in the Top 3. Music For A Sushi Restaurant – which completed an all-Styles top three with the two titles above 11 weeks ago – also hits ACR, forcing its DUS below those of Matilda, which becomes the fourth hit from Styles’ Harry’s House album, debuting at No.63 (7,293 sales). Music For A Sushi Restaurant is ‘starred-out’ between No.75 and No.76. The biggest in-chart gainer is B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) which jumped 93-45 last week London DJ and singer Eliza Rose and Manchester DJ Interplanetary Criminal, and now gallops to No.10, with consumption soaring 135.14% week-on-week to 23,104 units. I Ain’t Worried reaches a new peak for OneRepublic, climbing 10-9 (25,911 sales). The rest of the Top 10: Green Green Grass (5-3, 35,472 sales) by George Ezra, Doja (4-5, 31,205 sales) by Central Cee, Last Last (6-6, 29,885 sales) by Burna Boy and Crazy What Love Can Do (7-7, 29,132 sales) by David Guetta, Becky Hill & Ella Henderson. Last Last is the only track in the Top 10 set to go to ACR next week. Singles consumption is up 2.80% week-on-week at 24,048,600 units, 10.81% above same week 2021 consumption of 21,702,005 units. Paid-for sales are up 4.61% week-on-week at 340,030 – 11.65% below same week 2021 sales of 384,868. Its consumption declining a hefty 62.59% week-on-week to 11,621 units – the lowest for a No.1 for 16 weeks - Renaissance is nevertheless the first album to spend its first two weeks at No.1 so far this year, and the first Beyoncé album to spend more than a week at No.1 since 4 in 2011. Beyoncé’s seventh solo studio album, Renaissance retained pole position this week primarily due to sales-equivalent streams which, at 10,147 units, accounted for 87.32% of its overall consumption, alongside sales of 984 CDs and 490 digital downloads. When his last studio album, Music To Be Murdered By, dropped unexpectedly in January 2020, it became Eminem’s 10th consecutive No.1 (nine studio sets, one compilation), furthering his lead over previous joint record-holders Led Zeppelin (1969-1979) and ABBA (1976-1982), who each achieved eight consecutive No.1s. More than five years after his last album, Funk Wav Bounces Volume 1, debuted at No.2 on sales of 19,913 copies on its way to to-date sales of 141,940, Calvin Harris’ follow-up, Funk Wav Bounces Volume 2 debuts at No.5 (6,023 sales). It is the sixth album by the 38-year-old Scot. All have made the Top 10, with his third album and second No.1, 2012’s 18 Months, selling almost as many copies as the rest combined – 1,140,656 copies. Harris has been spectacularly more successful as a singles artist, with no fewer than 13 of his tracks selling more than a million copies. Following her high-profile TV appearances on Love Island and the Women’s Euro finale, interest in Becky Hill continues to grow. Her latest album, Only Honest On The Weekend, is the main focal point, and surges 26-7 (4,773 sales) this week, to equal the position in which it debuted 49 weeks ago. Her 2019 debut album, Get To Know, is enjoying a revival too and moves 51-43 (1,970 sales) this week while her new Joel Corry collaboration History – on neither album – debuts at No.20 on the singles chart. The rest of the Top 10: Harry’s House (2-2, 9,546 sales) by Harry Styles, = (3-4, 7,169 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Highlights (4-6, 5,017 sales) by The Weeknd, Greatest Hits (7-8, 4,276 sales) by Queen, Sour (5-9, 4,209 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo and Gold: Greatest Hits (9-10, 4,196 sales) by ABBA. Overall album sales are up 0.56% week-on-week at 1,970,156, 13.94% above same week 2021 sales of 1,729,065. Physical product accounts for 258,121 sales, 13.10% of the total.