Sony Music UK is celebrating a successful start to 2023 in the singles chart, as its acts dominated the upper reaches of the list in Q1.
Miracle, by Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding (above) is chasing a third consecutive week at singles No.1 and already has 222,676 sales to date.
Of the 15 chart weeks of 2023 so far, a Sony act has topped the list on 13 frames. Sony has had a minimum of 10 tracks in the Top 20 for the last 12 weeks, while the company has been the market leader in singles chart share for 13 weeks.
The major has had 21 UK Top 20s and 13 UK Top 10s, with seven of those signed in the UK.
Miracle is the third No.1 of 2023 so far for Sony, who began the year by celebrating Raye’s inaugural chart-topper Escapism (feat. 070 Shake), released via Human Re Sources and The Orchard. The track reached the summit 12 weeks after it was released, six weeks after it debuted at No.31 and four weeks after its previous peak of No.2. It jumped 13-1 in the year’s first chart week with 45,570 sales.
Sony’s next No.1 proved to be a juggernaut, as Miley Cyrus stormed to the top of the chart in January’s penultimate chart week when Flowers topped the 90,000 mark in its opening week.
It stayed at the summit for 10 weeks as Cyrus made chart history when Flowers became the first ever recording by a female soloist to spend its first 10 weeks on the chart at No.1. A week earlier, Flowers became the fourth single to spend its first nine weeks in the chart at No.1 in the 2020s, following Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran and As It Was by Harry Styles. Flowers now has 892,645 sales to date.
After Ed Sheeran returned to top the tree with Eyes Closed in the 13th chart week of the year, Sony had another No.1 as Miracle debuted at the top, becoming the first of three Harris/Goulding collaborations to do so.
Calvin Harris is now ranked eighth among artists with most No.1 hits – leading the way among both Scottish and dance acts.
The longevity of Calvin Harris’ chart success speaks for itself
Dipesh Parmar, Columbia
Dipesh Parmar, president of Columbia Records, told Music Week that Miracle has become a “global dance anthem”.
“Calvin is an architect of the electronic music scene,” Parmar added. “The longevity of Calvin’s chart success speaks for itself and even after 11 UK No.1 singles, he continues to raise the bar.”
Alongside Miracle, Sony acts took five of the Top 10 spots in last week’s singles chart. Libianca’s People rose to a new peak of No.2 after a steady rise, Harry Styles’ As It Was charted at No.6, Flowers was at No.7 and George Ezra’s 2022 hit Green Green Grass (his sixth million-seller) was No.9.
Meanwhile, Sony holds the Top 3 spots in the year to date singles chart with Flowers, Escapism and SZA’s Kill Bill. Miguel’s Sure Thing (RCA) and Venbee’s Messy In Heaven (Columbia) are also in the Top 10.
In terms of the overall market for Q1, Sony took a 20.3% share with 7,652,603 sales across album and single sales and streams, up from a 20% share in Q1 2022 (7,116,548). This percentage increase of 8% is higher than the figure for the whole market, which grew 6% year-on-year.
Measuring track streams only, Sony’s Q1 figure of 7,533,979,099 represents a 9% increase year-on-year. This is in line with overall market growth of 36,725,149,495, 9% up from 33,738,430,636.
Sony's 884,304 figure for Q1 track sales, meanwhile, is up 2% from Q1 2022. The major reported increases year-on-year across every category measured by the Official Charts Company's market share numbers.
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