USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
'Die With A Smile' spends second week at No.1
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” notches a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. A week earlier, the ballad about flashing pearly whites just before reaching the

pearly gates became Gaga’s sixth Hot 100 leader and Mars’ ninth. With the coronation, Gaga joined the elite company of Janet and Michael Jackson as the only artists with multiple Hot 100 No.1s in three distinct decades, with Gaga now boasting two leaders each in the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s. “Die With a Smile,” on Interscope /Atlantic, totaled 61.8 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 4% week-over-week), 28 million official streams (up 3%) and 5,000 sold (down 8%) in the United States Jan. 3-9. The track tallies a second week at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, holds at its No. 2 high on Radio Songs and lifts 4-3 on Digital Songs Sales, which it led for two weeks. Notably, “Die With a Smile” is Lady Gaga’s second Hot 100 No. 1 duet ballad, following “Shallow,” with Bradley Cooper. The latter, from the movie A Star Is Born, starring the pair, led for a week in March 2019. Gaga is just the second artist to top the Hot 100 with two duet

ballads between a male and female soloist and no other billed acts. Ariana Grande initiated the honor via “Stuck With U” with Justin Bieber, in May 2020, and “Die for You” with The Weeknd (after she joined for its remix), in March 2023. Morgan Wallen’s “Smile” surges 27-4 in its second week on the Hot 100, following the first full week of tracking for the song, which arrived on Dec. 31. It drew 24.7 million streams and 2.7 million in airplay audience and sold 7,000 Jan. 3-9. “Smile” becomes Wallen’s 12th Hot 100 top 10. It’s his third consecutive stand-alone top 10, after “Love Somebody” launched at No. 1 in November and “Lies Lies Lies” debuted at its No. 7 high last July. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100, following a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning last July. It rules Radio Songs for a 24th week (66.2 million in audience, down 3%). Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” repeats at No. 3 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2. Rosé and Bruno Mars’s “Apt.” keeps at its No. 5 Hot 100 high; Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the Hot 100 for a week in March 2024 – and became the year’s top song – slips 4-6; and Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” is steady at No. 7, after hitting No. 3. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” dips to No. 8 from its No. 6 best; Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen, backtracks 8-9, following six weeks at No. 1 beginning upon its debut last May; and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” descends 9-10, after reaching No. 3. Lil Baby collects his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, all tallied consecutively, as Wham opens atop the chart dated Jan. 18. The set earned 140,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 9, according to Luminate. The rapper previously topped the list with his last three releases: It’s Only Me (2022), The Voice of the Heroes (with Lil Durk, 2021) and My Turn (2020). Of Wham’s 140,000 first-week equivalent album units, SEA units comprise 90,000 (equaling 119.77 million on-demand official streams of the streaming version of the album’s songs; the set debuts at No. 3 on the Top Streaming Albums chart), album sales comprise 50,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS starts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 122,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 113,500 (equaling 152.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 17 songs; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 8,000 and TEA units comprise 500. The album was only available as a standard 17-song set via streaming services and to purchase as a digital download (also discounted to $4.99 in Bad Bunny’s official webstore and the iTunes Store). Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is his seventh top 10-charting set. Bunny’s album was released on an off-cycle Sunday (Jan. 5) and, thus, it arrives on the chart with only five days of activity (as the chart’s tracking week runs Friday through Thursday). The album’s release date was announced on Dec. 25. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was preceded by a pair of entries from the album on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart: “EL CLúB” and “PIToRRO DE COCO.” Three former No. 1s follow on the Billboard 200: SZA’s SOS falls 1-3 on the (113,000 equivalent album units earned; down 13%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX moves 2-4 (67,000; down 4%) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet slips 3-5 (51,000; down 9%). The Wicked film soundtrack dips 4-6 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 7%); Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls 5-7 (43,000; down 5%); Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 8 (40,000; down 1%); Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us is steady at No. 9 (38,000; down 5%); and Tyler, The Creator’s former leader Chromakopia is stationary at No. 10 (37,000; down 3%).

Record Of The Month
'Tu Boda' is the second collab between Mexican musician Óscar Maydon and American
regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida and it's a massive success in Latin America.
It was met with criticism for its lyrics, specifically the lyric reading, "Quiero manchar el vestido
blanco de rojo" ("I want to stain the white dress red"), which were suspected to promote femicide.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Gracie Abrams keeps the number one spot
Monday, January 13, 2025
by Alan Jones, London
 
That’s So True by Gracie Abrams is No.1 for the second week in a row, and the seventh week in total, with consumption rising 4.81% week-on-week to 49,122 units (455 digital downloads and 48,667 sales-equivalent streams) It also becomes her most-consumed track with a to-date tally of 528,920 units

putting it ahead of her only previous Top 10 hit, I Love You, I’m Sorry (520,900 units), which holds at No.36 (9,881 sales) this week. It remains well ahead in an unchanged top four where it is followed by Apt (2-2, 43,201 sales) by Rosé & Bruno Mars, Messy (3-3, 42,128 sales) by Lola Young and Sailor Song (4-4, 31,517 sales) by Gigi Perez. Catapulting 64-5 (23,721 sales) to achieve its highest chart placing since debuting 24 weeks ago at No.4, Who by Jimin is proving to be one of the biggest hits yet to emerge from the K-Pop scene. Its initial 17-week run in the Top 75 curtailed by the re-emergence of Christmas-related repertoire a few weeks ago, the track bounced back last week, and makes significant further progress after earning a reset. Its to-date consumption of 308,071 units makes it the biggest success yet for the South Korean singer solo, though six tracks he recorded as part of BTS have greater tallies. Who’s jump is due to a number

of factors, most notably a 74.56% increase in audio streaming, and 6.67% increase in video streaming week-on-week. The rest of the Top 10 is somewhat sluggish, with The Days easing 5-6 (23,716 sales) for Chrystal; The Door creaking 6-7 (20,724 sales) for Teddy Swims; Die With A Smile holding at No.8 (19,342 sales) for Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars to the detriment of Swims’ Bad Dreams (7-9, 18,799 sales); and Defying Gravity floating 10-10 (17,960 sales) for Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande. Every track in the Top 10 increases consumption. Overall singles consumption is up 2.30% week-on-week to 27,178,943 units, 1.30% above same week 2024 consumption of 26,829,609 units. Paid-for sales are down 20.45% week-on-week at 218,514, 15.48% below same week 2024 sales of 258,547. After a gestation of more than seven years, hits compilation Diamonds finally tops the chart for Sir Elton John, becoming his ninth No.1 and extending his span of chart-toppers to nearly 52 years. No.5 on debut in 2017, Diamonds previously peaked at No.2 in 2023, and was already flourishing anew because of the release of his Disney+ documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late. It receives more direct impetus in the latest frame from being released for the first time on cassette (a ‘glitter’ edition) and on blu-ray (boasting Dolby Atmos mixes) alongside a new Bad World exclusive ‘clear vinyl with diamond fill’ edition, and a variation of the 2CD version available only at Amazon with a unique slipcase, all of which – alongside existing variants – power a 6-1 jump for Diamonds on consumption of 14,759 units (3,838 CDs, 3,197 vinyl albums, 713 cassettes, 1,478 blu-ray, 98 Yoto cards, 227 digital downloads and 5,208 sales-equivalent streams). Lifetime consumption of Diamonds – which has been in the Top 75 for all but three of the 374 weeks that have elapsed since its release, with a low of No.82 – stands at 1,676,002 units, making it the 106th biggest album of the century to date. Seventy-seven year old John is the 19th artist to have more than eight No.1 albums, previously reaching No.1 with Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only The Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Caribou (1974), Elton John’s Greatest Hits (1974), Sleeping With The Past (1990), The Very Best Of Elton John (1990), Pnau collaboration Good Morning To The Night (2012) and The Lockdown Sessions (2021). Short N’ Sweet (2-2, 10,599 sales) is No.2 for the 14th time in 20 weeks since its release for Sabrina Carpenter. The rest of the Top 10: SOS (3-3, 8,823 sales) by SZA, +-=÷× Tour Collection (1-4, 7,479 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Highlights (8-5, 6,749 sales) by The Weeknd, Hit Me Hard And Soft (7-6, 6,371 sales) by Billie Eilish, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (4-7, 6,235 sales) by Chappell Roan, Brat (5-8, 5,891 sales) by Charli XCX, Stick Season (12-9, 5,770 sales) by Noah Kahan and 50 Years: Don’t Stop (10-10, 5,507 sales) by Fleetwood Mac. Overall album sales are down 4.93% week-on-week at 2,258,526 units, their lowest level for 22 weeks but 0.47% above same week 2024 sales of 2,247,970. Physical product accounts for 291,225 sales, 12.89% of the total.