Month: May 2023

Liz Phair is coming to a city near you this fall to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her critically acclaimed album Exile in Guyville.

The 18-date trek — appropriately dubbed the Guyville Tour — will see Phair heading across the country starting on Nov. 7, beginning with a stop at The Magnolia in El Cajon, Calif. The Guyville Tour features support from Blondshell and will make stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, New York City and more before concluding on Dec. 3 at Majestic Theatre in Dallas.

“Liz embarks on the GUYVILLE TOUR this fall, celebrating 30 years of the acclaimed EXILE IN GUYVILLE, performing the record in its entirety, along with fan favorites,” the musician’s official Instagram account shared, alongside the tour’s poster. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 19, at 10 a.m. local time. Presale kicks off May 17 at 10 a.m. local time with code GUYVILLE. There will also be limited VIP packages.

Released in 1993, Exile in Guyville was Phair’s debut studio album. The set, which spawned singles “Never Said” and “Stratford-on-Guy,” peaked at No. 196 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at No. 12 on the Heatseekers Albums.

See Phair’s tour announcement — and the full list of dates — in the Instagram post below.

New York City-based drill rapper Lil Mabu is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as the newcomer scores his first career entry with “Mathematical Disrespect.”

The song, released May 4, debuts at No. 90 with 7.2 million official streams in the United States in the May 5-11 tracking week, according to Luminate.

In addition to its Hot 100 entrance, it starts at No. 17 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 27 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (both of which use the same multimetric methodology as the Hot 100).

Lil Mabu self-released the single, in which he raps, “Shoutout my label, that’s me/ I own 100% of my cuts, nobody takin’ a fee.” Similarly, the track closes with him singing, “I invested money in myself and it paid/ I can’t take a break ’til Mabu is a household name.”

TikTok has been instrumental in the song’s growing profile, as a portion of it has been used in nearly 80,000 clips on the platform so far. Lil Mabu himself boasts more than 3 million followers on the app. (TikTok itself does not contribute directly to Billboard’s charts.)

Lil Mabu (real name Matthew DeLuca), 18, is brand new to Billboard’s charts, as “Mathematical Disrespect” marks his first appearance on any Billboard survey. He has released all his music while attending the Collegiate School, an elite private prep school in Manhattan.

Last summer, Mabu self-released his debut mixtape Double M’s. The set includes features from fellow New York rappers Dougie B and Dusty Locane, among others.

After sweeping the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest with “Tattoo,” Sweden’s Loreen has another prize in view — a U.K. top 10.

Loreen’s Eurovision winner is making a charge. After appearing at No. 28 on the U.K.’s First Look chart, which measures the popularity of songs after the first 48 hours of the cycle, “Tattoo” climbs to No. 9 on the midweek chart.

If it continues to stick in the days ahead, “Tattoo” will give Loreen her second U.K. top 10 after 2012’s “Euphoria” went to No. 3. “Euphoria” won Eurovision that year, held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

At Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on Saturday night (May 13), Loreen became the first female artist to win Eurovision, with 583 points.

Meanwhile, Mae Muller continues on her mission for a maiden U.K. top 10 appearance with her own Eurovision entry, “I Wrote A Song.” Though Muller’s song wasn’t a hit with the Eurovision jury and viewers, limping-in second-from-last (with 24 points), the English artist’s song rises to No. 6 on the Official Chart Update.

Co-written by Mae, Karen Poole of Alisha’s Attic and Lewis Thompson, “I Wrote A Song” should convincingly outperform its No. 30 peak, set in March of this year.

According to the Official Charts Company, two other Eurovision numbers are set to crack the U.K. top 40. Norway’s Alessandra could nab her first U.K. top 40 appearance with “Queen of Kings,” new at No. 18 on the chart blast. Alessandra and “Queen of Kings” placed fifth in the grand final.

Also, Eurovision runner-up Käärijä of Finland could make a top 40 debut with “Cha Cha Cha,” new at No. 21 on the chart update.

At the top of the chart blast is “Miracle,” Calvin Harris’ hit collaboration with Ellie Goulding which is targeting a sixth non-consecutive week at the summit.

All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published Friday (May 19).

After sprinting to the summit last week with year-best sales figures, Ed Sheeran’s – (pronounced Subtract) is unlikely to budge anytime soon.

Sheeran’s latest set leads the midweek U.K. tally for a second week, ahead of batch of new releases.

The English singer and songwriter’s sixth studio LP accumulated 76,000 first-week combined sales, easily the fastest-selling album in the U.K. this year, eclipsing the 41,000 chart units shifted by Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.

Physical copies accounted for 71% of the Asylum set’s first-week total, the Official Charts Company reported, with an additional 10% from downloads.

Sheeran boasts a perfect six No. 1s, dating back to his 2011 full-length debut +, then x (from 2014), ÷ (2017), No. 6 Collaborations Project (2019) and = (2021). All of those LPs logged multiple weeks at No. 1, with 2017’s Divide the undisputed king with 20 weeks on the chart throne.

Coming in at No. 2 on the Official Chart Update is Wake Up & It’s Over (via Anvil Cat), the third EP from Brighton, England indie pop band Lovejoy. If Wake Up holds its form, it’ll give the four-piece a first top 10 appearance, bettering the No. 12 best for 2021 EP Pebble Brain.

Goldfrapp leader Alison Goldfrapp completes the podium at the midweek stage with her solo effort The Love Invention (Skint). It arrives at No. 3 on the chart blast, and could score the singer her first solo top 10. As a member of electronic act Goldfrapp with Will Gregory, the British artist has five U.K. top 10 albums.

Meanwhile, U.S. pop siblings Jonas Brothers are eyeing a No. 4 debut with The Album (Polydor), their sixth studio LP, and Daft Punk’s final album Random Access Memories (Columbia) is set to return at No. 5 thanks to a 10th anniversary reissue campaign.

British rapper Potter Payper (Real Back In Style at No. 6 via 0207); powerhouse Welsh electronic duo Overmono (Good Lies at No. 7 via XL Recordings); and U.S. singer-songwriter BC Camplight (The Last Rotation of Earth at No. 9 via Bella Union) are on track for top 10 berths.

All will be revealed this Friday (May 19) with the publication of the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

Ed Sheeran scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 20) as – (pronounced Subtract) debuts in the top slot. Further, it does so with his largest sales week since 2017 – thus bigger than any week posted by Sheeran’s last two albums (2021’s Equals and 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project).

Subtract starts with 81,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate. It’s the 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album, and the fifth-largest for a non-K-pop title.

Subtract’s sales were aided by its availability in both a standard 14-track and 18-track edition (digital download, CD and vinyl). The set was also available in nine vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart) and multiple CD iterations in collectible packages (including a signed CD, a version with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package).

Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, LE SSERAFIM’s Unforgiven debuts at No. 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at, appropriately, No. 3, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts enters at No. 8.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new May 20, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Subtract’s 81,000 sold, physical sales comprise 59,000 (45,000 on CD, 14,000 on vinyl – Sheeran’s largest sales week on vinyl – and a couple hundred on cassette) and digital download sales comprise 22,000. Subtract also enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart, his third leader on that list, as well as No. 1 on Tastemaker Albums and Top Current Album Sales. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Tastemaker Albums lists the week’s top-selling albums at independent record stores. Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales.

Korean pop girl group LE SSERAFIM debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with Unforgiven, selling 38,500 copies in the week ending May 11. It’s the second top 10, highest charting effort, and best sales week for the act. The album was released to digital retail on May 1 and sold less than 500 copies in the week ending May 4. Its debut on Top Album Sales was prompted by its CD release on May 5.

Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Unforgiven was issued in collectible CD packages (11 total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized photocards. Effectively all of Unforgiven’s album sales in the week ending May 11 were CDs, with a negligible sum generated by digital download album sales. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).

The Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales, with 29,000 copies sold. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 11,000 (enabling its debut at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart).

The multi-artist Guardians soundtrack (comprised entirely of previously released pop and rock songs) also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart and Top Rock Albums tally. All three of the Guardians theatrical film soundtracks have reached No. 1 on both the Soundtracks chart and the Top Rock Albums chart.

Soundtracks and Top Rock Albums ranks the week’s most popular soundtracks and rock releases, respectively, by equivalent album units.

A quartet of former No. 1s is next on Top Album Sales, as SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN: 10th Mini Album: FML falls 1-4 in its second week (27,000; down 80%), Agust D’s D-Day dips 2-5 (14,000; down 46%), Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 6 (12,000; up 7%) and Metallica’s 72 Seasons descends 5-7 (10,000; down 20%).

The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts debuts at No. 8 on Top Album Sales, selling 9,000 copies. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 4,000 – and the set bows at No. 8 on the Vinyl Albums chart. On Top Album Sales, ATUM marks the eighth top 10-charting effort for the rock act, and first since 2012’s Oceania debuted and peaked at No. 4.

Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart is Swift’s chart-topping Lover (13-9 with 7,000; up 17%) and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (12-10 with nearly 7,000; up 2%).

In the week ending May 11, there were 2.021 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 10.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.661 million (up 12%) and digital albums comprised 360,000 (up 4.5%).

There were 737,000 CD albums sold in the week ending May 11 (up 3.5% week-over-week) and 914,000 vinyl albums sold (up 19.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 12.673 million (up 5.7% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 17.972 million (up 27.9%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 37.554 million (up 10.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 30.842 million (up 17.6%) and digital album sales total 6.713 million (down 12.7%).