USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
'Luther' leads Hot 100 for an 11th week
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Dating to the Hot 100’s Aug. 4, 1958, start “Luther” matches Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’ “I’ll Be Missing You” (featuring vocal group 112), in 1997, for the most weeks spent at No. 1 among

duets by co-billed lead solo men and women. “Luther,” whose title honors late R&B great Luther Vandross (who is also sampled on the song), became Lamar’s sixth Hot 100 No. 1 and SZA’s third. Lamar and SZA each extend their longest career commands on the chart with the song. “Luther” totaled 67.9 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 1% week-over-week), 20.5 million official streams (down 6%) and 2,000 sold (up 4%) in the U.S. April 25-May 1. It leads Radio Songs for a fifth week; holds at No. 3 following seven weeks atop Streaming Songs; and reenters Digital Song Sales at No. 24, after reaching No. 4. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” ascends 3-2 for a new Hot 100 high. It tops Streaming Songs (21.5 million streams, up 2%) and Digital Song Sales (7,000 sold, up 6%) for a second week each, while boasting a 17% surge to 19.7 million in radio audience. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” dips 2-3, following five nonconsecutive weeks

atop the Hot 100 beginning in January, and Drake’s “Nokia” holds at No. 4, after reaching No. 2. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” keeps at No. 5 on the Hot 100, following its record-tying 19 weeks at no. 1 beginning last July. It notches a 43rd week in the top five, matching The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” in 2020-21, for the most weeks spent in the tier all-time. Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” is steady at No. 6 on the Hot 100 after hitting No. 4. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the Hot 100 for a week in March 2024, and became the year’s No. 1 song, lifts 9-7, as it logs a record-extending 60th week in the top 10; two weeks earlier, it surpassed the 57-week run in the region of “Blinding Lights” for the most such frames in the chart’s history. “Lose Control” notches an 89th week on the Hot 100 overall, the third-longest stay in the chart’s history. The only hits with longer runs: Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (91 weeks, in 2021-22) and “Blinding Lights” (90, in 2019-22). Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” slips 7-8 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2; Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” rises 10-9, also after peaking at No. 2; and, rounding out the top 10, Doechii’s “Anxiety” returns to the tier, up two spots back to its No. 10 best. Ghost grabs the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time, as the Swedish hard rock band’s new studio effort Skeletá debuts atop the tally (dated May 10) with 86,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 1, according to Luminate. Of the album’s starting sum, 89% was driven by traditional album sales — buoyed by a big vinyl sales figure. Skeletá launches with Ghost’s best week ever by both equivalent album units and traditional album sales. Skeletá marks the ninth charted effort for the group on the Billboard 200. The band first visited the list in 2013 with its second album, Infestissumam, which also marked the act’s first top 40-charting set, reaching No. 28. Skeletá scores Ghost its eighth top 40 set, and fifth to reach the top 10. The band had previously gone as high as No. 2 with its last full-length studio album, 2022’s Impera. Of Skeletá’s 86,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 77,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 12.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across more than 15 vinyl variants, three CD variants and four cassette variants (all containing the same tracklist, but in collectible packaging). Skeletá is the lone debut in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart. The titles at Nos. 2-7 are all former No. 1s: SZA's SOS slips to No. 2 (52,000 equivalent album units earned; down 1%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX falls 2-3 (48,000; down 5%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is down 3-4 (46,000; down 4%), Sabrina Caprenter’s Short n’ Sweet descends 4-5 (44,000; down 8%), PartyNextDoor and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U falls 5-6 (43,000; down 6%) and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos is down 6-7 (38,000; down 3%). Shaboozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going gallops 45-8 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (up 110%) after a deluxe reissue on April 25 that added six additional songs, bringing its total song count to 18. The set debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the June 15, 2024-dated list. (He also played the Stagecoach Festival on April 26.) Playboi Carti’s chart-topping MUSIC (7-9; 34,000 equivalent album units, down 11%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (9-10; 33,000, down 3%) round out the Billboard 200’s top 10.

Record Of The Month
The song was originally self-released by American rapper and songwriter Doechii to YouTube
on November 10, 2019. It was re-recorded in 2025 following it gaining traction on social media
platforms, being released to streaming platforms on March 4, 2025. 'Anxiety' contains a prominent sample of the 2011 song 'Somebody That I Used To Know' by Gotye feat. Kimbra.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Alex Warren stays a seventh week at number one
Monday, May 5, 2025
by Alan Jones, London
 
The imminent threat of ACR removed as it returns to growth, Ordinary is No.1 for the seventh consecutive week for Alex Warren, with consumption growing 4.90% week-on-week to 69,243 units (2,140 digital downloads, 67,103 sales-equivalent streams) after two weeks of decline. It has now equalled the

seven-week run atop the chart achieved by Noah Kahan’s Stick Season last year, to share the record for longest-running No.1 by a male solo artist since Harry Styles spent 10 consecutive weeks at the summit with As It Was in 2022. Ordinary is now Alex Warren’s most-consumed track: with a to-date tally of 602,896 units, it leapfrogs Carry You Home (585,397 units) this week to assume that position, and will reach another landmark in the next few days when it becomes his first platinum single (600,000 units). Ordinary’s runner-up for the sixth week in a row is Pink Pony Club, which also returns to growth improving 1.51% to 37,923 units for Chappell Roan. Achieving new peaks and highest weekly sales thus far, Show Me Love moves 4-3 (34,554 sales) for WizTheMC and Bees & Honey while Love Me Not climbs for the 10th week in a row, closing 9-5 (31,256 sales) for Ravyn Lenae. The only new arrival in the Top 10, Steve’s Lava Chicken jumps  

11-9 (24,365 sales) to become the first Top 10 hit for actor/comedian Jack Black. Already the shortest hit in chart history, at just over half a minute – it has an audible presence for 31 seconds but is a 34 second track – its latest leap means it is also now the shortest Top 10 hit replacing 1939 track Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead by The Munchkins (The Wizard Of Oz Film Cast), which ran for 51 seconds and reached No.2 in April 2013, following a campaign to get it to No.1 to coincide with the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Perhaps the premier purveyors of pithy pop are The K*nts, who had four very sweary anti-Tory and anti-Monarchy Top 20 hits in 2021/2022, none of which broke the two-minute barrier. Holding at No.7 (25,953 sales), Beautiful Things racks up its 29th week in the Top 10 for Benson Boone (17 weeks at the start of 2024, 12 in its current run) weeks, its overall tally being inferior to only five songs in chart history. Its resilience this week is despite competition from Boone’s new single Mystical Magical, which debuts at No.17 (18,765 sales), becoming his third Top 20 and eighth Top 75 hit. The rest of the Top 10: Azizam (3-4, 31,472 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Anxiety (5-6, 27,471 sales) by Doechii, Sports Car (6-8, 25,571 sales) by Tate McRae and Busy Woman (8-10, 23,571 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter. Overall singles consumption is up 8.01% week-on-week to 31,760,641 units, 6.45% above same week 2024 consumption of 29,836,597 units. Paid-for sales are up 1.90% week-on-week at 261,654, 12.09% below same week 2024 sales of 297,644. The spectre of Ghost haunted Stereophonics all week, with the former’s new album Skeletá drawing closer to, but never quite overhauling, the latter’s simultaneously unleashed Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry, Make ‘Em Wait. Their 13th studio album and ninth No.1, Make ‘Em Laugh… is Stereophonics’ most concise release yet, with just eight songs – all written by their 50-year-old lead singer and founder member Kelly Jones – and a playing time of less than 30 minutes. That isn’t even half as long as its immediate predecessor, Oochya!, which debuted at No.1 in 2022 on consumption of 24,067 units. Effecting the 20th change of leadership in the chart in as many weeks, Make Em Laugh… had a 29.62% bigger first week than Oochya!, racking up consumption of 31,195 units (21,551 CDs, 7,161 vinyl albums, 1,323 digital downloads and 1,160 sales-equivalent streams). Their 1997 debut, Word Gets Around, had the worst first week sale of any album by the act, opening and peaking at No.6 with 13,155 copies sold. Their third album, Just Enough Education To Perform, provided their biggest first week sale (139,728) as it debuted at number one in 2001. With sales to date of 1,847,774, it is their second-biggest seller, behind their second album, 1999’s Performance And Cocktails (1,954,029). Stereophonics are the 20th act in chart history to have at least nine No.1 albums. The only groups to have more are The Beatles (15), The Rolling Stones (12, or 14 if the expanded versions of Exile On Main Street and Goats Head Soup are included), U2 (11), Abba (10), Queen (10) and Coldplay (10). Make ‘Em Laugh…’s initial sales flashes lead of nearly 8,000 over Skeletá was down to 4,673 units in the final chart, with Swedish metal band Ghost’s seventh album, sixth Top 75 entry and fifth Top 10 album securing an impressive first week tally of 26,522 units to debut at No.2. Equalling their previous peak, set in 2022 by their last full length studio album Impera on consumption of 14,021 units, Skeletá had an 89.16% bigger first week, thanks in part to the release of 22 physical formats (three CD, five cassette, one Blu-ray and 13 vinyl variants, if anyone is counting). Skeletá delivers Ghost’s fifth No.1 in their homeland, their second No.1 in Germany and is expected to become their first No.1 in The USA when this week’s data is assembled over the weekend. Impera, incidentally, is their all-time biggest seller here with to-date consumption of 69,684 units. Completing the first all-new top three for 13 weeks, James Arthur becomes only the second X Factor graduate to make the Top 3 with all of their first six studio albums, with latest studio set, Pisces, debuting at No.3 (15,298 sales). Only Olly Murs (seven and counting) has managed this feat thus far – although One Direction had five, with three of their members subsequently extending their runs via solo releases. Winner of the ninth of 15 seasons of The X Factor in 2012, singer/songwriter Arthur, now 37, released his eponymous debut album the following year. It attracted first week sales of 63,995 copies but had to settle for a No.2 debut/peak behind The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem. Follow-up Back From The Edge gave Arthur his first No.1 in 2016, despite lower first week sales of 40,906 and he returned to No.1 with his last album, Bitter Sweet Love, which had first week consumption of 16,901 units as it opened at the summit just 15 months ago. A Complicated Woman (No.5, 11,635 sales) is the third album, and first Top 10 entry, for 38-year-old Rotherham singer/songwriter Rebecca Taylor as Self Esteem. Taylor wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, which follows 2019 No.172 album Compliments, Please and 2021 No.11 album Prioritise Pleasure. Boosted by the inclusion of collaborations with his Wicked movie co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as well as Scarlett Johansson and Maiya Sykes, 72-year-old actor Jeff Goldblum scores his highest album chart position yet with third full-length MOR/jazz set, Still Blooming. Accompanied, as ever, by the splendidly-named but fictitious Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Goldblum sings and plays piano on the set, which debuts at No.10 (5,769 sales). His first album, The Capitol Studios Sessions, debuted and peaked at No.26 in 2018; his second, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, reached No.20 in 2019. His 2023 EP, Plays Well With Others, failed to chart. The rest of the Top 10: Short N’ Sweet (2-4, 12,573 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, +-=÷× Tour Collection (3-6, 8,192 sales) by Ed Sheeran, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (4-7, 6,996 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, The Highlights (5-8, 6,206 sales) by The Weekn d and Brat (8-9, 5,863 sales) by Charli XCX. Overall album sales are up 7.81% week-on-week at 2,616,587 units, 6.33% above same week 2024 sales of 2,460,878. Physical product accounts for 326,058 sales, 12.46% of the total.