Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR (Geffen), which claimed the year’s biggest week of album chart sales on Friday, is on the cusp of a second week on the chart throne, racking up the most album streams over the bank holiday. She has two challengers, though.
Life’s A Beach (Island), the debut full-length from Leicester indie-pop quintet Easy Life, is #2 at midweek with the most physical sales so far. The 10th studio album from Texas, Hi (BMG), was the most downloaded set over the holiday weekend and is #3. It’s on course to become Texas’ highest-charting album since The Greatest Hits reached #1 in 2000.
Taylor Swift’s evermore (EMI) returns to the Top 5 following its release on vinyl. At #4, it’s one slot ahead of Del Amitri’s first album in 19 years, Fatal Mistakes (Cooking Vinyl).
David Bowie rarities set The Width of a Circle (Rhino) is new at #7, experimental rock outfit Black Midi are heading for their first Top 10 with Cavalcade (Rough Trade) at #8, Bugzy Malone’s second LP The Resurrection (B-Somebody) is #9, and Blackberry Smoke’s You Hear Georgia (3 Legged) is #10. Moby is eyeing his 13th U.K. Top 40 album as his orchestral set Reprise (DG) is #12.
The long-term future of the U.K.’s music festivals is at risk if a government-backed insurance scheme is not instituted immediately, the House of Commons’ Committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has reported.
The Guardian quoted committee chair, the Conservative MP Julian Knight, as saying, “If the commercial insurance market won’t step in, ministers must, and urgently: events need to know now whether the government will back them, or they simply won’t take place this year. There’s still time to get the music playing, but no more room for excuses.”
With another “lost summer” due to COVID-19 looming, many smaller festivals could shutter permanently and the staffs of companies who work in the sector would be jobless. In a normal year, the nearly 1,000 festival events contribute £1.76b to the UK economy and support 85k jobs.
At this point, the government’s plan is to announce on 6/14 whether social distancing rules will be lifted 6/21 as planned. Early July festivals will have forked over close to half their expenses, making a cancellation costly and threatening to its future. A quarter of festivals with a capacity of more than 5,000 have already canceled.
There’s no doubt Olivia Rodrigo is the biggest breakthrough artist of 2021, and the U.K. charts are brimming with data to back up that claim. It starts with her scoring #1s on the Official Albums and Official Singles charts this week.
Rodrigo’s debut, Sour (Geffen), earns the biggest opening week for an album this year, surpassing Foo Fighters’ Medicine at Midnight (Roswell/RCA) on 51K chart sales. It’s also the biggest opening week for a debut album in two years, the best stanza since Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent in May 2019.
Speaking of Capaldi, Sour overtakes Divinely Uninspired in racking up the most first-week streams for a debut album: 45.7m track streams.
At 18 years and 3 months old, Rodrigo becomes the youngest solo artist in U.K. chart history to achieve the Official Chart Double. She is the first artist in six years to claim the Official Chart Double with a debut album; the last was Sam Smith with The Lonely Hour and “Lay Me Down” in 2015.
“Good 4 u,” her second #1 single, is the biggest #1 single of 2021, notching up 117K chart sales across seven days, including 13.5m streams. Two other songs from Sour are in the Top 10: “déjà vu” is up seven places to a new peak of #4; and “traitor” is new at #8.
Believe it or not, there were other albums released last week. Gary Numan’s 22nd solo studio album Intruder (BMG) is new at #2 and twenty one pilots’ Scaled and Icy (Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic) debuts at #3.
P!nk’s mostly live album All I Know So Far (RCA) opens at #4 and My Bloody Valentine scores their first-ever U.K. Top 10 with the reissue of Loveless (Domino) at #7. It’s also week’s best-selling album on vinyl.
At #10, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys gains his first U.K. Top 10 album with his seventh full-length Seeking New Gods (Rough Trade).
At singles, BTS comes in behind Rodrigo with the highest new entry of the week, “Butter” (Big Hit) at #3. It was the week’s most downloaded single.
“Heartbreak Anthem” (Atlantic) becomes Little Mix’s 17th Top 10 single as the Galantis/David Guetta collaboration debuts at #9.
Eurovision winners Måneskin, cleared of accusations of drug use at the show, hit the Official Chart for the first time with “Zitti E Buoni,” landing at #17. We’re pretty sure we ordered that at Cecconi’s a few weeks ago.
British musicians are eyeing a move to Europe or a career change in the of Brexit rules kicking in as the COVID-19 rules ease.
A new survey by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and the Musicians’ Union reveals that 43% of musicians are still planning tours or shows in the EU in the future; 42% of musicians would consider relocating to in order to continue working; and 21% are considering a change of career. Almost three-quarter of the poll-takers said that the effects of Brexit will impact their ability to make a living.
Nearly 80% of the 545 musicians polled expect their earnings in Europe to decrease once restrictions are lifted. Work permits, visas, equipment and transportation expenses have risen and some survey respondents expect those costs to hit. as much as £15,000 extra per tour.
Zero cases of COVID were diagnosed among the BRIT Award attendees giving the U.K. Government hope that it can stick to its plan to reopen 6/21. Included in the next phase of testing is the Download festival.
Zero cases of COVID were diagnosed among the BRIT Award attendees giving the U.K. Government hope that it can stick to its plan to reopen 6/21. Included in the next phase of testing is the Download festival.
The BRITS award ceremony was the first major indoor event with an audience, in this case 4,000 frontline workers who were allowed to forego social distancing and face coverings.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told the Evening Standard the event was “a real success” and that he was “very hopeful” that venues and theaters would be able to reopen at full capacity on 6/21.
The BRITs were part of the Events Research Programme that came up with just 15 cases of COVID-19 among the 58k people who attended events such as the FA Cup final and a Blossoms concert in Liverpool.
The government is in the process of commissioning a second round of trials involving larger crowds at major venues including a 10k-capacity edition of the Download festival 6/18-21 in Derby. Attendees will need to prove they have tested negative in the days before the show. Organizers will announce the lineup on Friday.
Professional musicians, though, are far better off than amateurs: Amateur choirs in England have been restricted to gatherings of six people indoors and 30 outdoors.
Olivia Rodrigo is on track to secure an Official Chart Double with her debut album Sour (Geffen) atop the albums chart and “Good 4 U” at #1 at the midweek stage at singles.
Sour, the most-streamed album of the week so far, is already 7,500 chart sales ahead of its closest competition, Gary Numan’s 22nd studio album Intruder (BMG). “Good 4 U,” one of three Sour tracks in the Top 10, is poised to dethrone Tion Wayne & Russ Millions’ “Body,” which has dropped to #3. Rodrigo’s “Déjà Vu” is #5 and “Brutal” enters at #10.
Back at albums, where Numan’s Intruder is the best-selling physical release of the week, twenty one pilots are on track for their third Top 10 with Scaled And Icy (Atlantic/Fueled By Ramen) at #3. P!nk’s concert film companion album All I Know So far: Setlist (RCA) is #4 and the most downloaded release of the week so far.
My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 album Loveless (Domino) is #5 thanks to a full catalog reissue that dropped on CD and vinyl on 5/21. The band’s other two studio albums also feature in the midweek Top 10: 1988’s Isn’t Anything is #8 and 2013’s MBV is #10.
Seeking New Gods (Rough Trade) from Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys starts at #7 and Waterparks’ Greatest Hits (300 Entertainment) could land a Top 20 debut at #14.
At singles, BTS is on track to secure the highest new entry of the week as “Butter” (Big Hit) opens at #2. Little Mix’s “Heartbreak Anthem” (Atlantic), a collaboration with Galantis and David Guetta, is #8, the second highest new entry of the week.
Olivia Rodrigo claims her second Top 5 single on the Official Singles Chart as Paul Weller extends his #1 success at albums across five decades.
Weller, the former frontman of The Jam and Style Council, claims his sixth #1 as a solo artist as Fat Pop (Polydor) opens at #1, with 91% physical sales. Weller first hit #1 with The Jam in 1982; his solo sets have topped the chart in the ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s and ‘20s.
Weller held off J. Cole’s The Off-Season (Interscope), which registered the most streams of album in a single week this year. St. Vincent scores a new chart peak—#4—with her sixth album, Daddy’s Home (Loma Vista). The Black Keys’ Delta Kream (Nonesuch), at #5, is their fourth U.K. Top 10 album. Be Right Back (Famm) by BRIT Award-winning soul singer Jorja Smith debuts at #9, becoming her second Top 10 record.
At singles, Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” (Geffen) opens at #2 behind “Body” by Atlantic’s Tion Wayne & Russ Millions, which clocks its third week at #1 with 71k chart sales. “Good” follows “driver’s license,” which went straight to #1 on its release in January and spent nine straight weeks at the top.
Three songs from Cole’s The Off-Season pile into the Top 20: “My Life” (#13) “Pride Is The Devil” (#15); and “Amari” (#16). The other Top 40 debut comes from Warner’s Bella Poarch, whose “Build a Bitch” opens at #37.
Glastonbury organizers have been granted a license to hold a one-day festival in September. They’re calling it Equinox.
The license allows for up to 50,000 attendees, but they will not be allowed to camp overnight. There is no line-up or ticketing info nor a specific date.
The Guardian reported that Sam Phripp, the Mendip council’s chair of licensing, said, “Any event would have to be COVID-safe, and Mendip will work with other organizations and the organizers to make sure that’s the case.”
On Saturday, Glastonbury organizers are livestreaming a five-hour concert, Live at Worthy Farm, featuring filmed performances on the deserted Glastonbury festival site from Coldplay, Haim, Michael Kiwanuka, and others.
