USA
Billboard Report (Excerpt)
'Can't Hold Us' remains atop the digital song chart
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. & Silvio Pietroluongo, N.Y.

Country trio Lady Antebellum earns its third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as its new Golden debuts with 167,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album sold slightly better

than initially forecast: A week ago, industry sources suggested that Golden was to move around 150,000 copies. But the album performed well over the weekend, thus granting it a more robust debut. Blame Mother's Day gift shopping for some of that sales bump, as the holiday fell on the final day of the tracking week, Sunday, May 12. Golden follows Lady Antebellum's previous No. 1s Own the Night (2011) and Need You Now (2010). Their first set, a self-titled effort released in 2008, debuted and peaked at No. 4. Own the Night started bigger than Golden -- 347,000 when it was released in September of 2011. Before that, Need You Now, bolstered by its title track, launched with 480,000. Starting strong at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 this week is the soundtrack to the new movie "The Great Gatsby." The set charges in with 137,000 -- the best sales week for a soundtrack in over a year. The last to sell more in a week was "The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond," when it entered at No. 1 with 175,000. "The Great Gatsby's" sales were overwhelmingly driven by downloads: Its 119,000 digital haul is the largest digital sales week for a soundtrack ever. In turn, the set bows at No. 1 on the Digital Albums chart. The previous digital record for a soundtrack was set in June of 2010 by the "Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals" EP with 106,000 downloads. "The Great Gatsby," directed by Baz Luhrmann, opened in U.S. theaters on Friday, May 10. Its soundtrack is an all-star affair, as it includes songs by Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jack White, Fergie, Lana Del Rey and Sia, among others. Two earlier soundtracks from Luhrmann-directed films also had great chart success: 1996's "Romeo + Juliet" climbed No. 2, while 2001's "Moulin Rouge!" reached No. 3, after debuting at No. 5 three weeks earlier. At No. 3 on the Billboard 200 this week is the new Now 46 compilation, starting with 91,000. All of the regular numbered Now albums have reached the top 10, and all but the first debuted in the top 10. Now 45 entered at No. 3 earlier this year with 87,000, while Now 44 bowed at No. 2 last November with 99,000. Rounding out the top four is Michael Buble's To Be Loved, falling 2-4 with 84,000 (down 12%). At No. 5 is country trio Pistol Annies, whose second album, Annie Up, debuts with 83,000. The act comprises Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and superstar Miranda Lambert. The start for Annie Up almost doubles the launch of the group's first album, 2011's Hell on Heels (44,000 at No. 5). There's one more debut in the top 10 this week: Rod Stewart's Time clocks in at No. 7 with 52,000. It's the legend's highest-charting studio album of original material since -- believe it or not -- 1979, when Blondes Have More Fun spent three weeks at No. 1. Of course, Stewart has charted many albums since Blondes, but everything that reached the top six between then and now were either a Christmas set of mostly oldies (Merry Christmas, Baby, No. 3 in 2012), one of his many successful covers collections released between 2002 and 2010, or a live album (Unplugged. . . And Seated, No. 2 in 1993). As for the other chart holdovers in the top 10 this week: Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience slips 3-6 with 66,000 (down 3%). Last week's No. 1, Kenny Chesney's Life on a Rock, falls to No. 8 with 48,000 (down 68%), Blake Shelton's Based on a True Story slides 6-9 with 38,000 (though it's up by 9%), and Bruno Mars' Unorthodox Jukebox is pushed back 8-10 with 32,000 (despite a 24% increase). The latter title's gain can be owed in part to Mother's Day shopping, as it's likely a set sure to appeal to moms. Same goes for Shelton's set at No. 9, and just outside the top 10, P!nk's The Truth About Love. It gains by 14%, but falls 7-11. Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 12) totaled 5.53 million units, up 8% compared with the sum last week (5.11 million) and down 1% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (5.58 million). Year to date album sales stand at 106.29 million, down 5% compared to the same total at this point last year (112.31 million).
Over on the Digital Songs chart, the entire top five are non-movers, led once again by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us" (feat. Ray Dalton), with 241,000 (down 8%). At Nos. 2-5: P!nk's "Just Give Me a Reason" (feat. Nate Ruess) with 230,000 (down 10%), Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors" with 168,000 (down 5%), Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" with 151,000 (up 4%) and Rihanna's "Stay" (feat. Mikky Ekko) with 145,000 (up 4%). Selena Gomez's "Come & Get It" jumps 9-6 with 143,000 (up 24%), while Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" is steady at No. 7 with 141,000 (up 5%). Icona Pop's "I Love It" (feat. Charli XCX) falls 6-8 with 128,000 (down 5%) and Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man" rises 10-9 with 115,000 (up 6%). Closing out the top 10 is a new entry from Mariah Carey: "Beautiful," feat. Miguel. It starts with 114,000 at No. 10 and marks her best sales week for a song since 2009, when "Obsessed" arrived at No. 9 on Digital Songs with 119,000. "#Beautiful" is the lead track from Carey's upcoming album, due out this summer. Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.26 million downloads, up less than 1% compared with last week (24.17 million) and down 3% stacked next to the comparable week of 2012 (24.96 million). Year to date track sales are at 506.75 million, down 3% compared to the same total at this point last year (520.35 million).  COMPLETE CHARTS

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (Excerpt)
Caro Emerald shoots straight ahead the album chart
Monday, May 13, 2013
by Alan Jones, London

On Sunday 26 April 1981, Caroline Esmeralda Van Der Leeuw was born in Amsterdam. Eight days later, Dutch record producer Jaap Eggermont, formerly a drummer with rock group Golden Earring,

released an album of soundalike medleys. Following in the wake of a number two single, the album - Stars On 45 by Starsound - immediately entered the UK chart at number 20, and a week later it was number one, a position it held for five weeks. It was the first number one album in UK chart history by a Dutch act. The latest is The Shocking Miss Emerald by the aforementioned Caroline Esmeralda Van Der Leeuw under the more common compression of her name Caro Emerald. It debuts atop the chart this week on sales of 34,246 copies. Emerald's second album, it makes a considerably more striking debut than her first, Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor, which entered at number 74 on sales of 2,359 copies in October 2010. It peaked 39 weeks later at number four, and has gone on to become a major success, with sales to date of 410,662 copies. Surprisingly Emerald's success has been achieved without even a sniff of a Top 40 single - her highest charting single, A Night Like This, reached number 65 in June 2011. Aside from Starsound and Caro, the only other Dutch act to top the album chart is the pop/dance duo 2 Unlimited, who reached number one with No Limits in 1993, and returned to the summit the following year with Real Things. Actor Hugh Laurie's second album of blues songs, Didn't It Rain, debuts at number three (16,883 sales). It comes exactly two years after Laurie's 2011 album, Let Them Talk, which opened and peaked at number two, attracting almost twice as many first week buyers (33,174) on its way to cumulative sales of 226,558. Returning to recording after a hiatus of nearly six years, Alison Moyet is rewarded with a number five debut for The Minutes (13,536 sales), her first album for Cooking Vinyl. Although Moyet's Singles retrospective notably topped the chart in 1995, The Minutes is her highest charting album of new material since Raindancing reached number two in 1987. Moyet's last studio album, The Turn, debuted and peaked at number 21 in 2007. The fourth and last album to debut inside the Top 10 this week is Golden, the new album by country trio Lady Antebellum. Debuting at number seven (11,784 sales), it is their third Top 10 album, following Need You Now (number eight, 2010) and Own The Night (number four, 2011). Their most recent album, the seasonal set, On This Winter's Night, debuted and peaked at number 56 last November. Need You Now is their biggest selling album by far, with sales to date of 323,431, while the title track is their biggest selling, with sales of 456,920, despite peaking at number 15. The rest of this week's Top 10 comprises five albums in decline - Rudimental's Home (1-2, 31,458 sales), Michael Buble's To Be Loved (2-4, 15,035 sales), Pink's The Truth About Love (3-6, 11,871 sales), Passenger's All The Little Lights (6-8, 11,330 sales) and Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events (4-9, 9,559 sales) - and Bastille's debut album Bad Blood, which recovers 12-10 (8,456 sales). Overall album sales are down 7.11% week-on-week at 1,310,849 - 10.08% below same week 2012 sales of 1,457,792.
Becoming the first act from continental Europe to spend three straight weeks at number one since Basshunter in 2008, Daft Punk maintain a Gallic grip on the chart with Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams) selling a further 123,112 copies. Although that's 24.60% down on the prior frame, it sold almost as many copies as the number two and three titles added together, and raises its cumulative 23 day tally to 492,128. It jumps 10-4 on the year-to-date rankings, which it will surely top in two weeks time. Get Lucky is the eighth single in the 21st century to sell upwards of 120,000 copies for three weeks in a row. The previous seven: Can We Fix It? by Bob The Builder (2000), Stan by Eminem (2000), It Wasn't Me by Shaggy feat. RikRok (2001), Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue (2001), Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20 (2004), (Is This The Way To) Amarillo by Tony Christie (2005) and Impossible by James Arthur (2012). In what is the genre's best week in the 21st century, Get Lucky is one of five records in the Top 10 by core dance acts. American DJ Chris Malinchak joins the floorfilling frenzy, debuting at number two with his first hit So Good To Me (72,733 sales), while Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren enters at number six with This Is What It Feels Like (feat. Trevor Guthrie), easily eclipsing the number 18 peak of his previous biggest hit, 2000's Communication (credited simply to Armin). Completing the fab five, Play Hard is down a notch (6-7, 36,489 sales) for David Guetta feat. Ne-Yo & Akon, and I Need Your Love eases 5-8 (33,685 sales) for Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding. Elsewhere in the Top 10, Passenger's Let Her Go climbs 4-3 (63,864 sales), drum & bass band Rudimental's Waiting All Night (feat. Ella Eyre) eases 2-4 (59,530 sales), Can't Hold Us falls 3-5 49,814 sales) for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Roy Dalton, #thatpower dips 7-9 (25,038 sales) for Will.I.Am feat. Justin Bieber, and Just Give Me A Reason falls 8-10 (23,796 sales) for Pink feat. Nate Ruess. Overall singles sales are down 6.52% week-on-week at 3,253,255 - 3.82% below same week 2012 sales of 3,382,333.  COMPLETE CHARTS