USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
Tomorrow X Together's lands first no.1 album
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

Tomorrow X Together lands its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as The Name Chapter: Temptation debuts atop the tally (dated Feb. 11). The five-song set earned 161,500

equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 2, according to Luminate, largely driven by CD album sales. Temptation is the third top 10-charting effort for the South Korean vocal group, which reached the top 10 previously in 2022 with Minisode 2: Thursday’s Child (No. 4) and in 2021 with The Chaos Chapter: Freeze (No. 5). Of The Name Chapter: Temptation’s 161,500 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 152,000, SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 13.24 on-demand official streams of the set’s five songs) and TEA units comprise 500. The album scores the largest sales week for any album since Taylor Swift’s Midnights debuted at No. 1 with 1.14 million copies sold on the Nov. 5, 2022-dated chart. Of The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION’s 152,000 sold, 98% were CD sales (148,500), while 2% were digital album sales (3,500). The set was not available to purchase in any other configuration (such as vinyl or. Four former No. 1s are Nos. 3-6

on the new Billboard 200, as Taylor Swift’s Midnights falls 2-3 with 68,000 equivalent album units earned (though up 1%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains rises 5-4 with 47,000 (down 12%), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss climbs 6-5 with 44,000 (down 4%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album bumps 8-6 with 42,000 (up 5%). Sam Smith collects their fourth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Gloria debuts at No. 7 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 23,000 (equaling 30.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 14,000 and TEA units comprise 2,000. Gloria was preceded by its hit single “Unholy,” a co-billed collaboration with Kim Petras, which became both artists’ first No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October. Bad Bunny’s former leader Un Verano Sin Ti falls 7-8 on the Billboard 200 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%). Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here begins at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 31,500 (equaling 41.34 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 4,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. It’s the third top 10-charting effort for Lil Yachty on the Billboard 200. Rounding out the new Billboard 200’s top 10 is Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak, falling 9-10 with 31,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%). Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” leads the Billboard Hot 100 for a third week, encompassing its entire run on the chart so far, dating to its launch at No. 1. With its continued command, it ties the three-week rule of her prior leader, “Wrecking Ball,” in 2013. “Flowers,” released on Smiley Miley / Columbia Records, drew 56.4 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 38%) and 48 million streams (down 20%) and sold 37,000 (down 43%) Jan. 27-Feb. 2, according to Luminate. The single spends a third week at No. 1 on both the Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales charts and blasts 11-6 on Radio Songs, where it becomes Cyrus’ fourth top 10 – and first since “Wrecking Ball” (No. 4 peak, 2013). She first reached the region with “The Climb” (No. 7) and returned with “Party in the U.S.A.” (No. 8), both in 2009. With “Flowers” having drawn 48 million weekly streams in the latest tracking week, after it posted 59.7 million the week before and 52.6 million the week before that, it’s the first non-holiday song with three consecutive weeks of 40 million streams or more since Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” logged four such frames in a row (May 29-June 19, 2021). “Flowers” likewise links a sales streak not achieved since 2021, as it’s the first song to sell over 30,000 in three consecutive weeks, after moving 65,000 a week ago and 70,000 the week prior to that, since Coldplay and BTS’ “My Universe” sold over 30,000 in each of its first four weeks (Oct. 9-30, 2021). “Flowers” introduces Cyrus’ eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, due March 10. SZA’s “Kill Bill” ranks at its No. 2 Hot 100 best for a fourth week, with 48.6 million in radio reach (up 28%), 32.5 million streams (down 5%) and 2,000 sold (down 3%). It tops Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs, which use the same methodology as the Hot 100, for an eighth week each. The track also becomes her first top 10 as a lead artist on Radio Songs (15-10), and her third overall, following her featured roles on Maroon 5’s “What Lovers Do” (No. 5, 2017) and Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” (No. 2, 2021). Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’ ” rises to a new No. 3 high on the Hot 100, from No. 4; Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” slips 3-4, after leading for a personal-best eight weeks; and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” holds at No. 5, after it ruled for a week in October. The Weeknd’s “Die for You” rebounds to its No. 6 Hot 100 best, from No. 7, as it hits No. 1 on Radio Songs, up 5% to 85.2 million in airplay audience. The track tops Radio Songs over six years after its original release on The Weeknd’s album Starboy, sparked by a surge of interaction on TikTok in recent months, which led Republic Records to officially promote it to radio. David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” descends 6-7 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 4, as it leads the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 20th week; Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex” is steady at No. 8 on the Hot 100, after it reached No. 2, as it tops the multi-metric Hot Rap Songs chart for a 12th week; and Harry Styles’ “As It Was” holds at No. 9 on the Hot 100, following 15 weeks at No. 1 beginning last April, the fourth-longest rule in the chart’s history. Rounding out the Hot 100’s top tier, Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” jumps 12-10 with 28.7 million in airplay audience (up 10%), 15 million streams (up 5%) and 1,400 sold (up 14%). The rapper lands his seventh Hot 100 top 10 with the stand-alone single, following his featured turn on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” (three weeks at No. 1, 2017) and his own “XO TOUR Llif3” (No. 7, 2017), “Futsal Shuffle 2020” (No. 5, 2019), “Baby Pluto” (No. 6, 2020), “Lo Mein” (No. 8, 2020) and “Silly Watch” (No. 9, 2020).

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)
Sam Smith's 'Gloria' rules the album tally
Monday, February 6, 2023
by Alan Jones, London
 
TSam Smith is back on top of the album chart for the first time in more than five years, with fourth release, Gloria, becoming the artist’s third No.1. Potentially the first major album release of 2023, it achieves first week consumption of 14,155 units (7,898 CDs, 1,440 vinyl albums, 298 cassettes, 1,139 digital

downloads and 3,380 sales-equivalent streams), and is home to Smith’s eighth No.1 single – Kim Petras collaboration Unholy, which topped the chart for four weeks last October, as well as Calvin Harris & Jessie Reyez collaboration, I’m Not Here To Make Friends, which debuts this week at No.23, and two more minor chart entries. Gloria’s introductory sales are somewhat lower than 30-year-old Smith’s previous albums: debut set In The Lonely Hour spawned three No.1 singles before itself debuting at No.1 on sales of 101,752 copies in 2014; follow-up The Thrill Of It All almost matched that three years later, topping the chart on an initial frame of 97,328; and Love Goes sold 23,755 copies opening and peaking at No.2 behind Ariana Grande’s Positions in 2020. Smith’s overall album sales are approaching four million, with In The Lonely Hour on 2,852,368, The Thrill Of It All on 780,259 and Love Goes on 218,437. In The Lonely Hour, which climbs 63-53 (2,050

sales) this week, has spent 345 weeks in the Top 75 – the 14th highest total for any album, the seventh highest for a regular (not hits) album, and the second highest for a debut album, behind Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell (462 weeks) - and arguably above it, if we count Meat Loaf’s prior album release as half of Stoney & Meat Loaf. In The Lonely Hour ranks 21st in the 21st century, and fourth for the last decade (since February 2013). Housing new remixes of the 11 tracks that made up his 1997 album Time Out Of Mind, 25 previously unreleased outtakes and alternate versions, 12 live tracks (11 previously unreleased) and a dozen tracks reprised from an earlier album in the series, Fragments – Time Out Of Mind Sessions 1996-1997: The Bootleg Series Volume 17 debuts at No.9 (4,712 sales) for Bob Dylan. It is the 72nd Top 75 album, and 42nd Top 10 entry for the 81-year-old folk/rock legend, and the sixth of 15 releases – Volumes 1-3 were a single release – in the ongoing Bootleg Series to make the Top 10. The rest of the Top 10: The Highlights (4-2, 8,259 sales) by The Weeknd, Midnights (2-3, 8,159 sales) by Taylor Swift, SOS (3-4, 7,375 sales) by SZA, Curtain Call: The Hits (7-5, 5,622 sales) by Eminem, = (8-6, 5,088 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Diamonds (10-7, 4,872 sales) by Elton John, Harry’s House (12-8, 4,838 sales) by Harry Styles and Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (9-10, 4,690 sales) by Lewis Capaldi. The Weeknd album achieves both its highest position and highest consumption since it debuted at No.2 (8,617 sales) two years ago next week, while the Eminem set, on its 454th appearance in the Top 75, achieves its highest placing since its eighth week on the chart, 17 years ago this week. Overall album sales are up 0.39% week-on-week at 2,126,348, 2.00% above same week 2022 sales of 2,084,726. Physical product accounts for 275,812 sales, 12.97% of the total. Wilting ever so slightly, Flowers is still a runaway No.1 for Miley Cyrus, its consumption falling 12.09% to 106,508 units – 9,074 digital downloads, the rest from sales-equivalent streams - on its third week at the summit. It nevertheless has the highest sale for a single on its third week at No.1 since Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You (119,658), six years ago last week. It also outperforms its two nearest competitors together – Escapism (2-2, 53,110 sales) by Raye feat. 070 Shake, and SZA’s Kill Bill (3-3, 43,334 sales). With Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero continuing at No.4 (33,739 sales) and Messy In Heaven remaining at No.5 for Venbee & Goddard (29,098 sales), we have the exact same Top 5 in the same positions for the third week in a row – the second such occurrence in the 2020s, and the first since March/April 2020, when Dave, Aitch & Ashanti, Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran, Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott and Belters Only feat. Jazzy froze everything else out. Andrew Goddard of Venbee & Goddard is the only male in the Top 5 for the third week in a row. After all of the top five saw increases in consumption week-on-week last frame, they all lost sales this week. Miguel’s viral 2010 track Sure Thing is up for the third time since making its belated chart debut at No.14 last month, improving 10-6 (28,572 sales). Helped by sales of 6,547 copies of a single-track CD edition, Voices was as high as No.5 on Tuesday’s sales flashes, and on course to become the 24th hit and ninth Top 10 entry for KSI, and the third hit and second Top 10 entry for Californian singer/songwriter Oliver Tree. It was derailed, however, by Tree himself, with his Oliver Schulz collaboration Miss You, entering the Top 10 for the third time (11-10, 23,659 sales), while Voices opens at No.11 (23,434 sales). The rest of the Top 10: Calm Down (6-7, 28,139 sales) by Rema, Creepin’ (8-8, 25,371 sales) by Metro Boomin feat. The Weeknd & 21 Savage and Let Go (7-9, 24,281 sales) by Central Cee. Although only two songs in the Top 10 achieve growth week-on-week, overall singles consumption surpasses 26m. for the first time, climbing 1.05% week-on-week to 26,062,891 units – 7.11% above same week 2022 consumption of 24,333,047 units. Paid-for sales are up 4.50% week-on-week at 311,209 – 10.77% below same week 2022 sales of 348,768.