USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Bad Bunny's 'Un Verano Sin Ti' debuts at no.1
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Future earns his eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as I Never Liked You debuts atop the list with the year’s largest week for any album. It earned 222,000 equivalent album units in

the Bad Bunny notches his second chart-topping album on the Billboard 200 chart as his latest release, Un Verano Sin Ti, debuts at No. 1 (on the May 21-dated chart) with the year’s biggest week for any album: 274,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 12, according to Luminate. It’s also Bad Bunny’s best week ever in terms of units earned. Un Verano Sin Ti marks the second all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 on the 66-year-old chart. The first was Bad Bunny’s last album, 2020’s El Último Tour del Mundo. The new album’s release date of May 6 was announced on May 2 via an Instgram post, after Bad Bunny had teased hints about the project for months. Of Un Verano Sin Ti’s 274,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 261,000 (equating to 356.55 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 23 tracks), album sales comprise 12,000 and TEA units comprise 1,000. Un Verano Sin Ti logs the largest

week, by equivalent album units, for any album since Adele’s 30 earned 288,000 units in the week ending Dec. 2, 2021 (the album’s second week), and the biggest debut for an album since 30 debuted with 839,000 a week earlier. At No. 2 on the Billboard 200 is Future’s I Never Liked You, which falls from No. 1 in its second week with 116,000 equivalent album units earned (down 47%). Jack Harlow clocks his highest charting album yet on the Billboard 200, as his new studio set Come Home the Kids Miss You bows at No. 3. The album earned 113,000 equivalent album units, of which SEA units comprise 103,000 (equaling 137.05 million on-demand official streams for set’s songs), album sales comprise 8,000 and TEA units comprise 2,000. Come Home is Harlow’s second top 10 album, following the No. 5-peaking Thats What They All Say in 2020. Come Home was led by the hit single “First Class,” which gave Harlow his second No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and his first unaccompanied by another act. (His first leader was “Industry Baby,” a co-billed collaboration with Lil Nas X, in 2021.) Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album falls 3-4 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned (up 6%) and Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Sour is a non-mover at No. 5 with 32,000 units (down 6%). Rock band Arcade Fire collects its fifth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as We debuts at No. 6. The set starts with nearly 32,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 26,500 (making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 6.43 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 500. Lil Durk’s former leader 7220 falls 6-7 with 31,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%), and the chart-topping Encanto soundtrack dips 7-8 with 30,000 units (down 8%). Eslabon Armado lands its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as Nostalgia debuts at No. 9 with 29,500 equivalent album units earned. The all-Spanish-language album is also the first top 10-charting regional Mexican album ever on the Billboard 200. (Regional Mexican albums are defined as those that have hit Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart.) Nearly all of the set’s starting sum was driven by SEA units — 29,000, equaling 42.82 million on-demand official streams of the album’s 14 songs. Rounding out the Billboard 200’s top 10, Drake’s former leader Certified Lover Boy dips 9-10 with 28,000 equivalent album units (down 5%). Jack Harlow‘s “First Class” reclaims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, rebounding from No. 3, for a second total week on top. Four weeks earlier, it piloted to No. 1 in its debut frame. The song introduced the rapper’s LP Come Home the Kids Miss You, which opens at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The track oversees a top 10 that includes five songs new to the region, as Bad Bunny debuts four songs in the tier. “First Class,” released on Generation Now/Atlantic Records, drew 47.9 million radio airplay audience impressions – up 31%, as it wins the Hot 100’s top Airplay Gainer award for a fourth consecutive week – and 31.1 million streams (up 21%) and sold 8,000 downloads (up 14%) in the May 6-12 tracking week, according to Luminate. The track rises 3-2 on Streaming Songs, after three weeks at No. 1, and 10-8 for a new high on Radio Songs. It dips 6-7 on Digital Song Sales, after a week on top, despite its sales gain. Harry Styles’ “As It Was” holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100, after three weeks at No. 1, with 65.9 million in airplay audience (up 12%), 23.2 million streams (down 9%) and 7,500 sold (down 54%; a week earlier, it surged by 78% in sales, aided by the May 4 release of a download option with alternate artwork). Future’s “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, slips to No. 3 on the Hot 100, a week after it launched at No. 1. Still, it spends a second week atop Streaming Songs (31.5 million, down 21%). Bad Bunny debuts four songs on the Hot 100 in the top 10, all from his new Billboard 200 leader Un Verano Sin Ti, paced by “Moscow Mule” at No. 4 (driven by 30.4 million streams). It’s followed in the bracket by “Tití Me Preguntó” at No. 5 (25.1 million), “Después De La Playa” at No. 6 (24.9 million) and “Me Porto Bonito,” with Chencho Corleone, at No. 10 (23.7 million). The star Puerto Rico native doubles his top 10 Hot 100 total to eight – all of which have debuted in the region – after he previously hit the top 10 with “I Like It,” with Cardi B and J Balvin (one week at No. 1, July 2018); “MIA,” featuring Drake (No. 5, October 2018); “Dákiti,” with Jhay Cortez (No. 5, December 2020); and “Yonaguni” (No. 10, June 2021). Corleone collects his first Hot 100 top 10. Bad Bunny also single-handedly makes history in the Hot 100’s top 10, as four all-Spanish-language songs place in the region simultaneously for the first time in the chart’s 63-year archives. Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” dips 5-7 on the Hot 100, after five weeks at No. 1, as it rules the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts for a 34th week each, and Latto’s “Big Energy” backtracks 6-8 on the Hot 100, after hitting No. 3. Elsewhere in the Hot 100’s top 10, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” vaults 19-9. After it debuted at No. 50 on the April 30-dated chart, it fell to No. 60, before surging the last two weeks as its profile swelled on TikTok, with users dancing to the song (although some not quite up to Lizzo’s standards, she teased. “I’ve never had a viral dance song before … y’all got my eyes sweatin,” she added in a caption accompanying a compilation of dances on the platform after the song soared 60-19 on the Hot 100.
The track gained by 50% to 16.9 million streams and 72% to 17,500 sold in the tracking week, as it climbs 21-15 on Streaming Songs and holds at its No. 3 high on Digital Song Sales and earns top Streaming and Sales Gainer honors on the Hot 100. It also flies 44-28 on Radio Songs (21 million, up 32%).

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United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Arcade Fire with another number one
Monday, May 16, 2022
by Alan Jones, London
 
Montreal indie rockers Arcade Fire blaze to their fourth (consecutive) No.1, with sixth studio album, We, opening at the summit. The 18th different leader of the album chart in as many weeks, We comprehensively eclipses its rivals in an all-new top four, with consumption of 18,821 units (6,319 CDs, 6,932 vinyl

albums, 1,457 cassettes, 1,932 digital downloads and 2,181 sales-equivalent streams). On a less positive note, We’s first frame was the weakest for any Arcade Fire album since their debut album, Funeral, sold 4,782 copies on debut at No.71 in March 2005 on its way to a No.33 peak the following January. Their best first week came from 2007 follow-up Neon Bible, which debuted and peaked at No.2 on sales of 65,700, falling just 525 sales short of dethroning The Kaiser Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob. Arcade Fire's third album, The Suburbs, opened at No.1 on sales of 61,263 copies in 2010, fourth album Reflektor topped the list on sales of 45,252 copies in 2013, and fifth album Everything Now’s No.1 debut was accompanied by 36,306 sales in 2017. Despite its low start and peak, Funeral is Arcade Fire’s second biggest seller (394,330 sales), just ahead of Neon Bible (393,760 sales) and just behind The Suburbs (398,272). A little over three years after

her debut album Sucker Punch debuted at No.4 on sales of 18,318 copies, 25-year-old Norwegian singer / songwriter Sigrid’s follow-up How To Let Go achieves a higher place on lower consumption, opening at No.2 (11,623 sales). It may be pertinent that Sucker Punch – which has thus far sold 102,063 copies - had spawned two Top 20 hits by the time it debuted, while How To Let Go has yet to spawn even a Top 40 hit. His introductory Top 75 single (SL collaboration Nice And Good) peaked at No.51 last month, so rapper Knucks – a 27-year-old from North London whose real name is Ashley Nwachukwu – makes an impressive stride forward with debut full-length album Alpha Place debuting at No.3 on consumption of 9,143 units. It is No.1 on the cassette chart, with 2,497 sales in that format. With First Class at No.2 on the singles chart for the fifth straight week, rapper Jack Harlow’s second full length album, Come Home The Kids Miss You makes a strong album chart debut, arriving at No.4 on consumption of 8,603 units. Deriving 97.90% of that total from sales-equivalent streams (it sold 181 downloads), it far exceeds his debut album, That’s What They All Say, which sold 2,169 copies debuting and peaking at No.73 in the penultimate week of 2020, and has since gone on to achieve consumption of 44,025 units. A hugely successful duo in the first half of the 1980s, when they racked up four Top 20 albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the million-selling chart-topping Tainted Love, Soft Cell split in 1984, with Marc Almond going on to become a major solo star while colleague David Ball also prospered as a member of dance act The Grid. They reunited in 2002 for Cruelty Without Beauty, but the public were seemingly not ready, and the album peaked at No.116. Twenty years on, Almond and Ball – now 64 and 63, respectively – are back again – and new album, Happiness Not Included, gets a much better reception, debuting at No.7 (5,291 sales), and becoming their sixth Top 10 album in all. Bit Of Previous (No.8, 5,204 sales) is the 11th studio set, 13th Top 75 entry and 5th Top 10 album for Scots veterans Belle & Sebastian. The seventh and final new arrival in the Top 10 in a very busy week is Back From The Dead (No.9, 5,108 sales), the fifth album from Pennsylvania hard rock quartet Halestorm, and their third straight Top 10 album following Into The Wild Life (No.10, 2015) and Vicious (No.8, 2018). Their biggest seller is still their second album, The Strange Case Of…, which reached only No.49 in 2012 but has sold 76,860 units. The only albums from last week’s Top 10 to remain in situ are = by Ed Sheeran (4-5, 8,332 sales), Between Us (6-6, 5,536 sales) by Little Mix and Sour (8-10, 4,827 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. Ahead of Little Mix’s last pre-hiatus gigs this weekend, that makes it a full six months (26 weeks) in the Top 20 for Between Us, which has risen no higher than No.3 and fallen no lower than No.17. No.1 on debut last week, Blossoms’ Ribbon Around The Bomb dips to No.11 (4,636 sales). Overall album sales are up 1.76% week-on-week at 2,070,082 – their highest level for 14 weeks, and 10.31% above same week 2021 sales of 1,876,606. Physical product accounts for 294,237 sales, 14.21% of the total. About damn time: while the top two singles on the chart extend their duopoly to five weeks there is, at last, change in the air with Lizzo’s appositely-titled About Damn Time making spectacular progress for the second week in a row. The introductory single from her fourth album Special, About Damn Time exploded 67-15 last week, making the biggest climb within the Top 75 to the latter position since 2006, when Scots band The View’s debut hit, Wasted Little DJ’s, surged 73-15. It never went any higher, but Lizzo does with About Damn Time securing growth of 116.72% week-on-week to 40,424 units as it jumps to No.4. In so doing, it becomes her second Top 10 hit, and highest-charting single superseding 2019 No.7 hit, Good As Hell. About Damn Time sold 42,619 fewer copies than the No.1 last week but is now just 18,857 in arrears – that’s because, on its sixth straight week at No.1, Harry Styles’ As It Was suffers a further 3.26% diminution in its consumption to 59,281 units. With consumption of 414,347 units to date, As It Was becomes Styles’ ninth solo track to go gold (400,000 units), adding to the 14 he achieved with One Direction. Styles’ runner-up for the last five weeks, First Class by Jack Harlow, had also been on a downwards sales trajectory but the release of parent album Come Home The Kids Miss You boosts its consumption by 7.10% to 45,452. The all-time record for consecutive weeks in a row at No.2, incidentally, is eight, set by Johnnie Ray’s Such A Night in 1954. The last time we had the same runner-up to the same champion for five weeks in a row was in 2019, when Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello’s Senorita took pole ahead of Ed Sheeran’s Beautiful People. Having last week equalled the all-time record of four consecutive weeks at No.6 - set by Nashville Teens’ Tobacco Road in 1964 and matched by Joel Corry’s Sorry in 2019 – Peru is in the Top 10 for the 21st week in a row for Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran, slipping a notch to No.7, albeit with sales up slightly at 29,676. About Damn Time is only the sixth new arrival in the Top 10 in eight weeks – the rest of this week’s barely shuffled pack are: Go (3-3, 43,169 sales) by Cat Burns, Starlight (4-5, 31,206 sales) by Dave, Baby (5-6, 30,105 sales) by Aitch & Ashanti, Wait For U (8-8, 29,264 sales) by Future feat. Drake & Tems, Bam Bam (7-9, 28,595 sales) by Camila Cabello feat. Ed Sheeran, and Where Did You Go? (10-10, 25,505 sales) by Jax Jones feat. MNEK. Singles consumption is up 2.93% week-on-week at 25,035,774 units – 9.78% above same week 2021 consumption of 22,806,191 units. It is the first time it has exceeded 25m, a mere 22 weeks after it first exceeded 24m. Paid-for sales are down 3.81% week-on-week at 323,173 – 21.51% below same week 2021 sales of 411,741.