charts analysis week 02 Albums number 1
David Bowie Blackstar
n BY ALAN JONES I
n a week when his new album Blackstar was, in any case, destined to top the chart, the sudden and shocking death of David Bowie not only powered the album to secure his highest ever weekly sale but also resulted in a mass influx of his recordings to both album and singles charts. The outpouring of grief and affection helped to generate sales of 260,499 albums and 361,679 singles (both totals including streams) in the week. Blackstar was to have been his 10th No.1 album as a living artist - a total surpassed only by the 11 secured by Madonna - but is instead his first posthumous No.1. Although physical stocks were exhausted in many outlets, Blackstar racked up sales of 146,168 copies in the week (81,644 CDs, 12,090 vinyl, 49,721 downloads, 2,713 streams). Comprising 10,510 copies on regulation black and 1,580 on clear vinyl, overall vinyl sales of Blackstar were the highest of any album in any week in the 21st century, surpassing the 10,023 copies that Radiohead’s The King Of Limbs’ vinyl edition sold when it was belatedly released in April 2011, four weeks after the CD and digital formats of the album debuted. The only higher January sales are the 363,735 copies that Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am sold on debut in 2006, and the 208,090 copies that Adele’s 21 sold on its arrival exactly five years later. Bowie’s previous highest first week sale came from his last album, The Next Day, which launched with 94,048 sales the week of its release in March 2013. Previously No.1 with Aladdin Sane (1973), Pin Ups (1973), Diamond Dogs (1974), Scary Monsters And Super Creeps (1980), Let’s Dance (1983), Tonight (1984), Changesbowie (1990), Black Tie White Noise (1993) and The Next Day (2013), Bowie is the 11th solo artist in chart history to secure a posthumous No.1. Otis Redding was the first, topping the chart in 1968 with The Dock Of The Bay six months after he died in a plane crash. Jim Reeves (1975), Elvis Presley (1977), Nat ‘King’ Cole (1978), John Lennon (1982), Roy Orbison (1987), Eva Cassidy (2001), Michael Jackson (2009), Amy Winehouse (2011) and Cilla Black (2015) have also been added to the list, and there’s a case to be heard for Buddy Holly (1978) and Bob Marley (1981), although both shared chart billing with their respective groups, The Crickets and The Wailers. John Lennon’s immediate posthumous No.1 album, Double Fantasy, was a collaboration with wife Yoko Ono - the 1982 date above refers to The John Lennon Collection.
Presley’s death delivered his Elvis’ 40 Greatest compilation to No.1, and saw him create a new
MUSIC Week
chart dominance record as a further 10 of his albums re-entered the Top 75. Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 saw him register nine simultaneous Top 75 albums, occupying four of the Top 5 slots simultaneously, with some assistance from The Jackson 5. Although Jackson’s Top 5 domination is unchallenged, Bowie annihilates Presley’s Top 75 record, with 16 albums in the frame this week. Aside from Blackstar, the regular albums to make the cut are Hunky Dory (No.14, 9,520 sales), The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust (No.17, 9,088 sales), Aladdin Sane (No.23, 5,756 sales), The Next Day (No.25, 5,153 sales), Low (No.31, 4,127 sales), Diamond Dogs (No.37, 3,342 sales), Let’s Dance (No.42, 3,070 sales), Heroes (No.45, 3,053 sales), Station To Station (No.55, 2,404 sales), Young Americans (No.60, 2,218 sales) and Scary Monsters And Super Creeps (No.61, 2,183 sales). The highest ranked compilation is Nothing Has Changed: The Very Best Of, which charges 118-5 (22,355 sales), followed by The Best Of - 1969/1974 (No.11, 10,951 sales), Best Of Bowie (No.18, 8,611 sales) and The Best Of 1980/1987 (No.59, 2,251 sales). 2014’s Nothing Has Changed previously peaked at No.9, while 1997’s The Best Of - 1969/1974 got to No.13, 2002’s Best Of Bowie reached No.11, and 2007 release The Best Of 1980/1987 reached No.34.
With Bowie’s 16 concurrent Top 75 albums being supplemented by offerings from Presley (two titles), Amy Winehouse, Cilla Black, Whitney
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Houston and Michael Jackson, there are 23 albums by six dead artists on the list, both records. Regardless of Bowie, the seven week run of
Adele’s third album, 25, was destined to end this week. It dips to No.3 (33,051 sales). That’s just 104 sales fewer than If I Can Dream (2-2, 33,165 sales) by Elvis Presley, who shared a birthday with Bowie. It is the seventh week at No.2 for If I Can Dream in total, and fifth in a row. It marks the first time the Top 2 have been by different dead artists. The rest of the Top 10: Purpose (3-4, 32,077
sales) by Justin Bieber, Chaos And The Calm (5-6, 16,118 sales) by James Bay, I Cry When I Laugh (4-7, 15,461 sales) by Jess Glynne, Get Weird (6-8, 12,962 sales) by Little Mix, Made In The A.M. (7-9, 12,196 sales) by One Direction and A Head Full Of Dreams (8-10, 12,099 sales) by Coldplay. Meanwhile there are Top 10 exits for Taylor
Swift’s 1989 (9-12, 9,724 sales) and Ed Sheeran’s X, which slides 10-15 (9,234 sales), achieving the lowest chart placing of its 82 week career. After seven weeks at No.1, Now That’s What I Call Music! 92 is relegated to No.2 (15,208 sales). Ministry Of Sound’s compilation Go Hard Or Go Home debuts atop the list on sales of 16,413. Overall album sales are up 9.33% week-on- week at 1,907,704. Streaming accounted for 466.879 sales - 24.47% of the total. Sales of paid-for albums are also up 8.85% week-on-week at 1,440,825 - but 2.03% below same week 2015 sales of 1,470,711.
For unabridged Official Charts analysis each week, visit
MusicWeek.com JANUARY 18
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