Charts analysis: Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department returns to summit

Thirty-two weeks after it debuted at No.1, and 22 weeks after it last topped the charts, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) surges 16-1 for Taylor Swift, with a 320.95% increase in consumption week-on-week to 23,047 units, following the first-time release of physical formats of its The Anthology edition. With 35 tracks, including four acoustic bonus songs not hitherto released physically, The Anthology edition accounted for the vast majority of the 7,497 CDs and 10,622 vinyl albums that TTPD sold in the latest frame, the remainder of its consumption coming from 27 digital downloads and 4,901 sales-equivalent streams. Achieving its highest weekly consumption for 28 weeks, TTPD extends its already huge lead atop the year-to-date album rankings, raising its cume to 744,761 units – more than its nearest two rivals (The Highlights By The Weeknd [383,038 Units] and Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter [330,115 units]) combined. It is way ahead on vinyl and sales-equivalent streams but trails on both CD and digital downloads to Coldplay’s Moon Music. For the 2020s, TTPD ranks 20th, with The Highlights by The Weeknd at No.1 (1,214,021 sales). Never charting lower than No.18 so far, TTPD has racked up nine weeks at No.1, three more than any album in the 2020s, making the largest single contribution to Swift’s 25 weeks at the summit (9.69% of 258 that have elapsed) this decade. This Sunday (December 8), it will be five years since Chicago rapper Juice Wrld’s death. He had released three studio albums at the time (including a mixtape collaboration with Future), but that total rises to six with his latest posthumous release, The Party Never Ends, which debuts at No.5 on consumption of 9,422 units, despite being released only digitally. Including after the fact collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Kid Laroi and Offset, among others, it is his third Top 10 album. Juice Wrld’s first album, 2018’s Goodbye & Good Riddance, made its first appearance in the Top 75 for 79 weeks last week, and now climbs to its highest position for 178 weeks, at No.53 (2,851 sales). Despite being his joint lowest-peaking album – No.23, same as Future collaboration Wrld On Drugs – Goodbye & Good Riddance is his most-consumed title, with a to-date tally of 509,847 units. Michael Bublé’s perennial Christmas has been a seasonal visitor to the top tier ever since being released in 2011, only falling short of the Top 10 in 2015, when it stopped at No.12. No such impediment this year, as it surges 17-4 (10,001 sales) to achieve its 59th week in the Top 10. Six of those weeks have been at No.1 – three in 2011 and one apiece in 2020, 2022 and 2023. The rest of the Top 10: Short n’ Sweet (3-2, 13,619 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, GNX (1-3, 13,473 sales) by Kendrick Lamar, Brat (5-6, 9,375 sales) by Charli XCX, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (6-7, 8,279 sales) by Chappell Roan, +--=÷× Tour Collection (7-8, 8,203 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Highlights (8-9, 7,039 sales) by The Weeknd and From Zero (4-10, 7,018 sales) by Linkin Park. Exiting the Top 10: Hit Me Hard And Soft (10-11, 6,755 sales) by Billie Eilish, Diamonds (9-12, 6,296 sales) by Elton John and Small Changes (2-46, 3,189 sales) by Michael Kiwanuka. Released for RSD Indie Black Friday in a vinyl edition, Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft (Isolated Vocals) – a ‘stripped back and raw’ version of the album previously available digitally on Eilish’s own website – debuts separately at No.136 (1,644 sales). Ten months after his solo mixtape Thanks For Hating peaked at No.5 and seven months after his M Honcho mixtape, 36 Hours, peaked at No.28, prolific London rapper Potter Payper charts for the third time this year, and sixth time in total with new mixtape Nightmare Before Christmas (No.30, 4,298 sales). It is barely 19 years since Welsh metal band Bullet For My Valentine’s October 2005 debut album, The Poison, debuted and peaked at No.21. Now expanded for a ‘20th anniversary’ (sic) edition on double CD and in four new vinyl variants with bonus studio tracks, and live recordings, it returns to the chart for the first time since, re-entering at No.66 (2,499 sales). Despite peaking lower than six subsequent studio albums by the group, it remains their biggest seller, with to-date consumption of 217,314 units. Irish band Fontaines DC’s latest album, Romance, debuted at No.2 in August. It then fell for nine weeks in a row, reaching a low point of No.65. Since then, it has climbed for five weeks in a row, jumping 26-13 (6,126 sales) in its latest frame, just as their 10-date UK tour draws to a close. At its highest position for 12 weeks, it becomes their first gold album – for consumption of 100,000 units – with a to-date tally of 100,057, putting it marginally ahead of their 2019 No.9 album, Dogrel (99,693 sales) and slightly further ahead of their 2022 No.1 album, Skinty Fia (93,721 sales). Dogrel did 893 sales last week so should also go gold within the next few days. Despatched from the top of the box office chart after just one week by Moana 2, Wicked has better luck on the compilation chart, where it remains at No.1 on consumption of 18,462 units (3,318 CDs, 1,851 vinyl albums, 716 digital downloads and 12,577 sales-equivalent streams). The aforementioned Moana 2 naturally has a soundtrack, which jumps 54-12 this week on consumption of 1,444 units. Overall album sales are up 6.54% week-on-week at 2,823,031 units, their highest level thus far in the 2020s, and 9.65% above same week 2023 sales of 2,574,496. They were last higher nearly six years ago, in week 51 of 2018 (311 weeks ago) when they were 3,228,818. Physical product accounts for 584,336 sales, their highest level for 53 weeks, and 20.70% of the total.

Charts analysis: Kendrick Lamar scores second No.1 with surprise album release

More than nine years after Kendrick Lamar’s only previous No.1 album, To Pimp A Butterfly, the 37-year-old Californian rapper returns to pole position with sixth studio release GNX on consumption of 25,771 units (994 digital downloads and 24,777 sales-equivalent streams). A surprise release, it will doubtless achieve a second wind when it is released physically next year. Lamar’s uncharted 2011 debut, Section 80, achieved 154 first week sales and has to-date consumption of 70,501 units. His 2012 breakthrough, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, debuted and peaked at No.16 on consumption of 7,141 units, and is his biggest seller with to-date consumption of 530,828 units. To Pimp A Butterfly sold 29,695 units debuting at No.1 in 2015, and has to-date consumption of 359,151 units; Damn debuted and peaked at No.2 on sales of 31,543 units – his highest - in 2017, and has to-date consumption of 507,804 units; and Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers opened at No.2 on sales of 28,206 units in 2022, and has to-date consumption of 202,590 units. Michael Kiwanuka’s fourth album in total and first in over five years, Small Changes extends his record of making the Top 5 with every release. Debuting at No.2 (18,985 sales), it follows Home Again (No.4, 2012), Love & Hate (No.1, 2016) and Kiwanuka (No.2, 2019). Proving that timing is everything, his lowest charting album, Home Again, secured his highest first week sales (30,163) while his No.1, Love & Hate, secured his lowest first week sales (11,639). The rest of the Top 10: Short n’ Sweet (2-3, 13,557 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, From Zero (1-4, 8,615 sales) by Linkin Park, Brat (9-5, 7,531 sales) by Charli XCX, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (5-6, 7,431 sales) by Chappell Roan, +--=÷× Tour Collection (6-7, 7,368 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Highlights (7-8, 7,010 sales) by The Weeknd, Diamonds (8-9, 6,886 sales) by Elton John and Hit Me Hard And Soft (11-10, 6,536 sales) by Billie Eilish. The Secret Of Us (10-11, 6,127 sales) by Gracie Abrams, Access All Areas (3-123, 1,718 sales) by Flo and last week’s No.4 – Golden Hour Part 2 (1,048 sales) by Ateez which is no longer in the Top 200 – depart the Top 10. Nigerian Afrobeats singer WizKid has his highest charting album to date – just - with sixth studio set, Murayo, debuting at No.14 (5,619 sales). He previously charted with Made In Lagos (No.15, 2020) and More Love, Less Ego (No.16, 2022). Swedish progressive metal band Opeth released seven albums between 1995 and 2003 without making the Top 75, but all seven of their subsequent releases have made the grade, including The Last Will And Testament, their first album in more than five years, which debuts at No.42 (3,252 sales). Kim Deal makes her first venture into the chart alone with debut solo set, Nobody Loves You More (No.45, 3,159 sales). Deal previously had three Top 10 albums with the Pixies between 1989 and 1991, plus five chart albums with The Breeders (two of them Top 10) between 1990 and 2018. She also had one chart album with The Amps in 1995 (yes, her tenure with acts did overlap). How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean (No.69, 2,370 sales) is the 21st studio album and 18th chart entry for Joan Armatrading in a chart career spanning more than 48 years. Born in St. Kitts, but a UK resident from the age of seven, 73-year-old Armatrading wrote and produced the album singlehandedly. To be fair, Kim Deal (see above) did the same on her album but for one lyrical assist. Also new to the Top 75: Mahashmashana (No.12, 6,066 sales), the sixth album and fifth chart entry by 43-year-old singer/songwriter Father John Misty from Maryland; One Assassination Under God: Chapter 1 (No.36, 3,577 sales), the 12th studio album and 13th Top 75 entry (including live albums and compilations) by 55-year-old Marilyn Manson. Thirty-one weeks after debuting and peaking at No.2, Pet Shop Boys’ latest album, Nonetheless, has been released in expanded CD, vinyl and digital editions, and returns to the chart at No.44 (3,166 sales); and U2’s 2004 No.1 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, has been greatly expanded across the same formats to mark its 20th birthday and re-enters after an absence of more than 19 years at No.50 (2,983 sales). Nonetheless increases its to-date sales to 37,130 and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb to 1,279,183. Wicked is a new entry at No.1 on the box office chart, and its achievements are matched on the compilation chart, where its soundtrack set – including tracks from Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jeff Goldblum – debuts in pole position on consumption of 20,874 units (3,915 CDs, 3,911 vinyl albums, 1,609 digital downloads and 11,439 sales-equivalent streams). That is the highest for a compilation since Barbie: The Album had first week consumption of 21,207 units 70 weeks ago. The new version of Wicked, contains a dozen songs first heard on The Original Broadway Cast version which was released here in 2004, peaking at No.94 on the artist album chart 10 years later, and entering the compilation chart at No.82 when the chart regulations for soundtracks were revised at the start of 2020. It has remained there ever since, reaching a new high of No.5 last week. It remains in that position this week, scant reward for a 62.33% jump in consumption week-on-week to a new high of 3,144 units, raising its lifetime tally to 445,503. Overall album sales are up 3.59% week-on-week at 2,649,822 units, 0.34% below same week 2023 sales of 2,658,737. Physical product accounts for 456,097 sales, 17.21% of the total.

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