Last week, Music Week spoke to key retailers about the impending arrival of Mother's Day – one of the biggest gifting days of the year. Ahead of the weekend, HMV’s head of music, John Hirst, told Music Week that the store expected to be a "a good 30% up week-on-week” and, whether viewing albums that have been around for a long time or only recently surfaced in Q1, it seems that certain releases have felt the benefit of people looking for a gift for their mums...
Despite already racking up colossal sales over the previous weeks, according to Monday's midweek data from the Official Charts Company, Ed Sheeran's ÷ is up 31.3% on last week, selling another 123,696 copies to retain the No.1 spot. Another smash hit record seemingly buoyed by Mother's Day is Rag'N'Bone Man's Human, which is up 89.2%, selling an additonal 22,654 to move up from No.4 to 3. Vera Lynn's 100 may be down from No.3 to 5, but it has still shifted an impressive 16,277 copies, marking a 9.4% uplift on this time last week.
While there's no comparative data available, the sales of some new entires also suggests that Mother's Day may have aided some artists' comebacks. Take That are currently reaping the rewards of their campaign plan, occupying the No.2 spot with Wonderland selling 95,867 to date, this is in addition to their Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection shifting 2,471 copies to jump from No.92 to 25 - an uplift of 346.8%. Also in the Top 10, James Blunt returns to the charts with The Afterlove selling 17,235 to take the No.4 spot.
Further down the Top 200, the actual sales numbers may necessarily decrease, but the percentage variances increase dramatically.
Bruno Mars' 24K Magic may still be nestled in the same position as last week at No.13, but that disguises the fact that it is actually up 77.2%, selling 4,005 copies. Even more impressive is Emeli Sandé's Long Live The Angels seeing a 99.7% uplift, moving from No.40 to 31 with sales of 1,885, and Michael Ball & Alfie Boe's Together jumping up 200% in sales, leaping from No.18 to 10 and selling an additional 4,686 copies in the process. An even greater gain is Phil Collins' The Singles collection, which jumps up 280.7%, leaping from No.74 to 33 and shifting 1,883 copies in the process.
All of this, however, pales in comparison to Michael Bublé's Nobody But Me, which sold 3,222 copies - a staggering 635.2% increase that takes it from No.68 to 19.
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