Charts analysis: Miley Cyrus does the double for the second time

Miley Cyrus scores the chart double for the second time in her career, with Endless Summer Vacation debuting atop the album chart to become her first No.1 in almost a decade, while lead single, Flowers, extends its run at No.1 to nine weeks. Its 10 songs all co-written by Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation achieved consumption of 18,746 units in the week – 4,969 CDs, 3,150 vinyl albums, 2,385 digital downloads and 8,242 sales-equivalent streams. Her 10th charted album (including one as Hannah Montana), it is Cyrus’ second No.1, following October 2013 release Bangerz, which secured her highest first week sale of 30,759 copies, and debuted the same week as Wrecking Ball became her second No.1 single. Bangerz has gone on to achieve lifetime sales of 251,063, but is, perhaps surprisingly, not Cyrus’ biggest-selling album. That would be her 2008 release Breakout, which peaked at No.10, and houses her first three Top 40 hits, although none of them went Top 10. Despite this, Breakout has to-date consumption of 330,949 units. The 31-year-old is the first artist to simultaneously top the albums and singles charts in 2023. Recording artists since 2007 but uncharted until 2015, Nottingham post-punk duo Sleaford Mods’ 12th studio album, UK Grim, is the highest-charting of their seven Top 75 and four Top 10 albums, debuting at No.3 (9,064 sales). Their previous highest was last album Spare Ribs, which debuted and peaked at No.4 in January 2021 on sales of 6,877 copies. They burn brightly but briefly – their biggest selling album to date is Key Markets, No.11 in 2020, with to-date consumption of 26,715 units. They have never come near the singles chart, with their most popular track hitherto being B.H.S, a track from their 2017 album, English Tapas, which has accumulated lifetime consumption of 20,541 units. Returning to the Top 10 after an absence of nine weeks, Fleetwood Mac’s 2018 No.5 compilation 50 Years: Don’t Stop bounces 15-9 (5,083 sales). The Highlights (3-2, 9,271 sales) registers its third week in its peak position for The Weeknd, matching the place it held on debut 109 weeks ago, and returned to six weeks ago. His Starboy album rallies 27-23 – a 308 week high – on consumption of 9,271 units. No.5 in 2016 it is, of course, responding to the ongoing viral success of its song Die For You, which remains in the top five of the singles chart. The rest of this week’s Top 10: Trustfall (5-4, 7,669 sales) by Pink, Harry’s House (7-5, 5,284 sales) by Harry Styles, Curtain Call: The Hits (10-6, 5,245 sales) by Eminem, SOS (6-7, 5,233 sales) by SZA, Midnights (8-8, 5,115 sales) by Taylor Swift and Diamonds (14-10, 4,702 sales) by Elton John. All have lower sales than last week. Remarkably, SZA’s album has endured 14 weeks in the Top 10 without a physical release. If an upcoming deluxe version of SOS - which adds 10 tracks – were also to be made available physically it would seem a shoe-in for No.1. No.1 on debut last week, From Nothing To A Little Bit More tumbles to No.65 (1,849 sales) for The Lathums, while there are also Top 10 exits for Amelia (4-32, 2,829 sales) by Mimi Webb, Ugly (2-57, 1,971 sales) by Slowthai and I Can Only Be Me (9-104, 1,485 sales) by Eva Cassidy. Van Morrison’s sell-out concert at The Stables, Milton Keynes on Wednesday (March 15) was the opening date of an extensive world tour in support of his latest album, Moving On Skiffle, which debuts at No.16 (3,667 sales). Moving On Skiffle revisits the music of 77-year-old Morrison’s youth via covers of skiffle and country staples performed in his unique style. With 23 songs, and a playing time of 93 minutes, it is another considerable contribution to his extensive recording career. Already the most prolific chart-maker from Northern Ireland – indeed the island of Ireland – Moving On Skiffle is his 51st chart album and his 28th Top 20 album. Twin sisters Catherine & Lizzy Ward Thomas’ pleasing country/pop style secures the Hampshire duo, as Ward Thomas, their fifth chart album from as many releases with Music In The Madness (No.31, 2,833 sales). Having never previously fallen below No.11, Ed Sheeran’s = dipped to No.16 last week, its 71st in the chart. It rebounds to No.11 this week, despite its sales being off 2.49% week-on-week at 4,430 units. The fifth and last album in Sheeran’s so-called ‘mathematics’ series of releases, – (Subtract), is scheduled for release in May. Its 89 tracks all considerably older than 50 – some of them more than 60 – Now That’s What I Call 60s Pop – is by some distance the new No.1 on the compilation chart, with 4,767 sales (3,966 CDs, 488 vinyl and 313 digital downloads). Overall album sales are down 1.35% week-on-week at 2,154,817, 7.06% above same week 2022 sales of 2,012,711. Physical product accounts for 278,446 sales, 12.92% of the total.

Charts analysis: Miley Cyrus holds off No.1 challenge from PinkPantheress

Against expectations that it would surrender to PinkPantheress’ Boy’s A Liar, Flowers racks up an impressive eighth week at No.1 for Miley Cyrus, albeit with consumption down for the sixth week in a row – by 4.77% to 53,686 units. It was undoubtedly helped by the release of the demo version of Flowers, but the majority of its 3,837 digital downloads - which were added to 49,849 sales-equivalent streams to make up its total – were for the original studio version of the track. With parent album Endless Summer Vacation released today (March 10), Cyrus must be fancied to extend her reign still further – and that’s even without the unofficial David Morales’ club mix, which turns the track into a floorfiller, and extends it to more than six minutes. Boy’s A Liar does draw closer to Flowers but is also in marginal decline, with consumption off 0.98% at 52,391 units, in its third week at No.2. It actually trumps Flowers on sales-equivalent streams (51,507) for the second week in a row, but attracted just 389 digital downloads, as well as 495 sales on hard-to-find CD. After a record seven weeks in a row in which the top three was made up entirely of women, The Weeknd brings the sequence to an end with his viral 2016 recording Die For You becoming his sixth top three hit, advancing 4-3 (41,795 sales). Up two places in each of the last three weeks, Cameroon-born, American Afrobeats singer Libianca’s debut hit People is in the Top 10 for the first time - and speeding up, advancing 11-8 while recording the same sales (23,152) as Harry Styles’ As It Was (8-9). It is the only new arrival in the Top 10, which is completed by Kill Bill (3-4, 36,429 sales) by SZA, Sure Thing (5-5, 31,433 sales) by Miguel, Calm Down (6-6, 27,772 sales) by Rema, Ceilings (7-7, 26,461 sales) by Lizzie McAlpine and Players (9-10, 22,289 sales) by Coi Leray. As things stand, SZA and Miguel are due to hit ACR next week. 10:35 is squeezed out of the Top 10 for the second time, falling 10-11 (19,703 sales) for Tiesto & Tate McRae. Highest debut honours go to Nicki Minaj, who secures her 63rd Top 75 entry and 41st Top 40 hit, with her first new song of 2023, Red Ruby Da Sleeze, debuting at No.30 (9,617 sales). South Korean rapper J-Hope has his second and highest charting hit away from his BTS bandmates with On The Street (No.37, 8,760 sales) – a collaboration with American rapper J. Cole, for whom it is hit No.18. BTS have had nine Top 40 hits, and four of its members have had Top 75 entries outside the group, of which On The Street is the first to make the Top 40. Mimi Webb’s debut full length album Amelia – which debuts at No.4 this week - spawns her ninth hit single and its fourth in the form of Freezing, which debuts at No.73 (5,796 sales). Meanwhile, after seven weeks in a narrow band between its debut position of No.23 and its peak hitherto of No.15, her most recent hit, Red Flags, reaches a new high, advancing 17-13 (18,163 sales) Also new to the Top 75: Can’t Tame Her (No.59, 6,456 sales), the 14th hit for Swedish singer Zara Larsson; Rhyme Dust (No.63, 6,227 sales), the eighth hit for MK (Marc Kinchen) and the first for his Filipino/Australian collaborator and fellow DJ, Dom Dolla; Right Hand (No.70, 5,955 sales), the ninth chart entry for driller/rapper Unknown T; and Private Landing (No.74, 5,769 sales), the eighth hit for singer/rapper Don Toliver, the 76th hit (and third with Toliver) for Justin Bieber and the 21st hit for rapper Future. Caity Baser’s TikTok-powered debut hit Pretty Boys moves 35-26 (10,339 sales) on its second week on the list. There are also new peaks for: If We Ever Broke Up (20-18, 13,853 sales) by Mae Stephens, Rush (29-28, 10,031 sales) by Ayra Starr, 22 (67-32, 9,324 sales) by JayO, Whistle (46-34, 8,931 sales) by Jax Jones & Calum Scott, Oh Baby (42-35, 8,889 sales) by Nathan Dawe & Bru-C feat. Bshp & Issey Cross, Snooze (40-36, 8,847 sales) by SZA, Here (73-50, 7,110 sales) by Tom Grennan, React (64-54, 6,728 sales) by Switch Disco & Ella Henderson, Snowfall (61-57, 6,508 sales) by Oneheart & Reidenshi and In Ha Mood (71-58, 6,492 sales) by Ice Spice. It is a very good week for Mae Muller. Revealed as the UK’s Eurovision representative at Liverpool in May on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 show yesterday, her track I Wrote A Song immediately went on sale, and by midnight had attracted 897 digital downloads – enough for it to debut at No.9 on the download singles chart. With major streaming services Spotify, Apple and YouTube not returning data for Thursday streaming in time to be considered for the chart (a regular occurrence), and without prior streaming to be upweighted, I Wrote A Song’s sales-equivalent streams for the day were therefore severely under-reported. Even so, they lifted her final week tally to 992 sales, with the track looking certain to chart a week hence. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old singer/songwriter from London’s only Top 75 entry thus far – 2021 No.32 hit, Better Days, a collaboration with Neiked & Polo G - racks up a further 1,595 sales to go platinum, with to-date consumption of 300,468 units. Muller is also flirting with the chart with Sigala & Caity Baser collaboration Feels This Good – a track from Sigala’s new album Every Cloud: Silver Linings – which attracted consumption of 3,920 units last week. Overall singles consumption is up 0.43% week-on-week to 25,830,383 units – 6.08% above same week 2022 consumption of 23,926,676 units. Paid-for sales are up 1.68% week-on-week at 295,857 – 8.90% below same week 2022 sales of 324,754.

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