Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ Hits No. 1 on U.K. Chart, Followed by 3 Prince Albums
The sudden release of Beyoncé’s Lemonade (Columbia) prevented a possible top 5 Prince takeover on the new U.K. album chart, announced Friday (April 29). Drake’s “One Dance” (Cash Money/ Republic/ Universal), featuring Wizkid & Kyla, starts a third week atop the singles chart, on which Prince has six titles in the top 100.
Early-week sales flashes from the Official Charts Company showed Prince albums holding down the entire top 5 after his death on Apr. 21. But Lemonade overtook The Very Best Of Prince (Warner Bros.) with opening sales of 73,000, including 10,000 equivalent sales via streaming — 14 percent of its total. That’s the biggest percentage since streaming data became part of chart methodology last year. It’s Beyoncé’s third U.K. No. 1 album.
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No fewer than six tracks from Lemonade became top 40 hits, with “Hold Up” leading the way at No. 17, then “Formation” (No. 31), “Sorry” (No. 33), “6 Inch” (35), “Don’t Hurt Yourself” (36) and “Freedom” (40).
The 2001 retrospective The Very Best Of Prince thus climbed 18-2 on the album survey, with another Warner Bros. release, 2006’s Ultimate, up 10-3. The Purple Rain soundtrack by Prince and the Revolution climbed 55-4. He has three more titles in the top 30, with The Hits/The B-Sides reappearing at No. 13, Sign O’ The Times at No. 15 and 1999 at No. 28. Six more Prince albums appear in the top 100.
Adele fell 2-6 with 25 (XL Recordings) in its 23rd week, marking its first time outside the top 5 since its release last November. Sia’s This Is Acting (Monkey Puzzle/RCA/Sony) moved 6-5, while Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins’ Celebration (Decca/Universal), marking the Queen’s 90th birthday, debuted at No. 7.
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Drake enjoyed another 129,000 combined chart sales of “One Dance,” which thus also creates a new streaming record: its contributing total of 7.86 million streams is the U.K.’s highest weekly tally to date. Adele’s “Hello” had held that distinction, with 7.32m streams in its first week last October.
Sia combined her top five album placing with a fourth consecutive week at No. 2 on the singles chart with “Cheap Thrills,” while Mike Posner’s former No. 1 “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” (Universal Island) began a third week at No. 3. After two weeks at No. 9, DNCE climbed to No. 4 with “Cake By The Ocean” (Republic/Universal).
Prince & the Revolution’s “Purple Rain” single raced 65-6, while “When Doves Cry” re-entered at No. 26, “Kiss” at No. 38, “Raspberry Beret” No. 47, “1999” No. 49 and “Little Red Corvette” No. 70.
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