U.K. CHARTS: A TRULY BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH
Lewis Capaldi has claimed the fastest-selling album of 2019 so far in the U.K. with his debut, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent (Virgin EMI), hitting #1 on a wildly impressive 89.5k combined sales. Over on singles, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber stay on top.
Capaldi outsold the rest of the Official Albums Top 10 combined and overtakes Ariana Grande as the fastest seller of the year by 24.3k combined sales. Physical sales took 46% of that 89.5k total, including 7k copies on vinyl, 34% streams and 20% downloads. Overall, the album racked up 40.5m plays across audio and streaming platforms. Capaldi's sales far outperform the three other artists to have charted at #1 this year with a debut album in the U.K.—Tom Walker reached the top on 37k in March, swiftly followed by Dave with 26k and Billie Eilish with 48k in April.
In addition, Capaldi has three tracks in the Official Singles Top 10, with former #1 “Someone You Loved” posting its highest sales week yet with 74k at #3. That’s followed by “Hold Me While You Wait” at #5 and “Grace” flying 17 places to #9.
An all-new Top 4 also includes The National with I Am Easy to Find (4AD) at #2, Rammstein with their self-titled seventh LP (Spinefarm) at #3, and Tyler, The Creator’s Igor (Columbia) at #4.
DJ Khaled finishes at #6 with Asahd (Black Butter), and Slowthai’s debut, Nothing Great About Britain (Method), ends the week at #9. Digga D’s new mixtape, Double Tap Diaries (CGM Records), charts just outside the Top 10 at #11.
On the Official Singles Chart, Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber spend a second week at #1 with “I Don’t Care” (Atlantic) on 98k combined sales. Will they have competition from Sheeran’s new collaboration with Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock next week?
Lil Nas X sits 13k combined sales behind at #2 with the biggest sales week yet for “Old Town Road” (Columbia), which racked up 12.8m streams following the release of its music video.
Tyler, The Creator takes highest new entry honors with “Earfquake” at #17. Another track from Igor, “I Think,” lands at #30.
