ALBUMS
In preparation almost since the release of their last studio album in 2009, The Prodigy's sixth studio album, The Day Is My Enemy, debuts at number one on sales of 45,302 copies (including 830 streaming sales), while former incumbent James Bay's Chaos And The Calm dips to number two (32,800 sales). The Day Is My Enemy is the Essex band's sixth consecutive number one spanning 21 years - both the quantity of number ones and span being records for a dance act, putting them ahead of The Chemical Brother, who have had five. The Prodigy are the 14th group and 29th act to have six number one albums, a total which includes their 2005 compilation Their Law: The Singles and all of their studio albums, except the first, Experience (1992).
All other Prodigy first week sales are massively overshadowed by the 316,953 copies that their fastest starter, Fat Of The Land, sold on debut in 1997. In descending order of sales, their other number one studio albums' first week tallies are as follows: Invaders Must Die - 97,254 (2009), Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - 64,266 (2004), Music For The Jilted Generation - 32,056 (1994). Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005 had a first week tally of 79,708 sales (2005). The Fat Of The Land remains their biggest seller, with a to-date tally of 1,392,273.
Prolific and eclectic 39 year old singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens has released 13 albums in the UK since 2004 (seven regular studio efforts, plus Christmas, live, soundtrack, outtake and mini album releases). The latest, Carrie And Lowell, is the first to reach the Top 10, debuting at number six on sales of 11,059 copies. His previous top placing came in 2010 when his experimental electronic album Age Of Adz peaked at number 30 (4,822 sales).
Liverpool indie quartet Circa Waves have been getting a lot of good press for their debut album Young Chasers, with favourable comparisons made to The Hives, The Strokes, The Vaccines and The Libertines, among others. The album debuts at number 10 (9,079 sales).
Jumping 24-5 (13,270 sales) to become her first Top 10 album, Sia's 1,000 Forms Of Fear has taken 39 weeks to do so. Previously peaking at number 11, first on the week of its debut and then again just seven weeks ago, its surge is likely due to Sia's appearance on The Voice UK's live semi-final show, on which she sung Elastic Heart. Said track also makes the Top 10 for the first time, ending five straight weeks of declines by bouncing 23-10. 1,000 Forms Of Fear, meantime, raises its career sales to 122,019 copies.
Absent from the Top 10 for five weeks, Meghan Trainor's debut album Title bounces 15-9 (8,696 sales) with overall sales climbing to 100,426 in 10 weeks. The album's revival coincides with the advance of third hit single Dear Future Husband, which climbs 61-48 (10,467 sales).
The rest of the Top 10: In The Lonely Hour (2-3, 23,303 sales) by Sam Smith, X (3-4, 21,206 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Wanted On Voyage (6-7, 10,897 sales) by George Ezra and 1989 (8-8, 10,741 sales) by Taylor Swift.
Five albums depart the Top 10 - Seasick Steve's Sonic Soul Surfer crests 4-13 (7,793 sales), Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' Chasing Yesterday falls 10-16 (6,747 sales), Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly flutters 5-17 (6,533 sales), Laura Marling's Short Movie declines 7-35 (3,114 sales) and The Cribs' For All My Sisters dives 9-113 (1,046 sales).
Extremely popular worldwide, the symphonic metal sextet Nightwish make the UK Top 20 for the first time, with their eighth studio album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, debuting at number 12 (8,463 sales). Comprising a core of four Fins, one Brit and a Netherlander, they came closest to the Top 20 previously in 2007, when Dark Passion Play debuted and peaked at number 25 on a nicely rounded sale of 7,700. Their only subsequent studio album, Imaginaerum, failed to capitalise on that impetus, opening and peaking at number 69 on very similar first week sales of 7,462 just before Christmas in 2011.
Handed an unexpected gig closing Alan Carr's show after Morrissey cancelled last week, Irish sibling rock duo Hudson Taylor doubtless gained impetus as a result, and their first album, Singing For Strangers, debuts at number 24 (4,576 sales).
None of American indie band Death Cab For Cutie's first five albums - released between 1998 and 2005 - made the Top 75, but both the sixth (Narrow Stairs, 2008) and the seventh (Codes And Keys, 2011) reached number 24. The eighth, Kintsugi, can't quite match them, and debuts at number 28 this week, after selling 3,771 copies.
It is three years since French dance DJ/producer Madeon landed three songs on the singles chart, though all fell short of the Top 20. All of them are included on the deluxe edition of his debut album Adventure alongside a plethora of new tracks including You're On (feat. Kyan) and Pay No Mind (feat. Passion Pit), both of which have made the top five of the club chart already this year. The album duly debuts at number 30 (3,394 sales).
A member of Genesis from 1970 to 1977, 65 year old guitarist/vocalist Steve Hackett has subsequently released more than two dozen solo album, and secured his highest chart position for 29 years - number 24 - when he revisited the band's material on Genesis Revisited II in 2012. Eclectic follow-up Wolflight consists entirely of new original compositions, and debuts at number 31 (3,365 sales).
Also new to the Top 75 this week are: Day Of The Dead (number 34, 3,228 sales) by Hollywood Undead, Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress (number 37, 2,850 sales) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, We Are Harlot (number 58, 1,873 sales), 8:58 (number 72, 1,604 sales) and Tokyo Dome - Live In Concert (number 74, 1,526 sales) by Van Halen.
Selling substantially more copies than the rest of the Top 200 compilations added together and nearly six times more than the number one artist album, Now That's What I Call Music! 90 inevitably arrives atop the compilation chart. I was going to say 'makes its debut' - but there was a leakage of sufficient magnitude (458 copies) last week for the album to debut at number 84.
Total sales over the chart week, however, amounted to 264,159 - that's down 6.67% on immediate predecessor Now! 89's opening tally of 283,026 sales last November, but a chunky 28.68% up on the 205,280 first week sales of 2014 equivalent, Now! 87.
Boosted by the release of Now! 90 and Easter gift buying, overall album sales are up 33.15% week-on-week at 1,667,988. That's 20.47% above same week 2014 sales of 1,384,610 and 11.89% above the week immediately before Easter in 2014, when it fell on 20 April and brought sales of only 1,490,706, even though the last day of the week was also Record Store Day.
SINGLES
Although lagging behind Ed Sheeran's Bloodstream in all of last week's sales flashes, Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand closed the gap consistently throughout the week and eventually retained its title on sales of 80,177 copies, including 16,218 streaming sales.
After previously moving 32-36-37-26-26, Bloodstream's sales exploded 317.11% week-on-week to 75,205, as it advanced to number two following the release of a beefed-up new version of the X album track that also includes an artist credit for Rudimental. Although failing to become Sheeran's third number one, Bloodstream raises his tally of Top 10 hits to eight. Sheeran also secured his 25th Top 75 entry with I Will Take You Home, a new song that was bundled with the new version of Bloodstream but also managed to attract 6,383 stand-alone purchases to debut at number 69.
Maroon 5's Sugar revisits the peak it first scaled six weeks ago, climbing 9-7 (41,598 sales).
Previously spending three weeks at number 11, Sia's Elastic Heart makes the Top 10 at the 13th attempt, jumping 23-10 (31,534 sales) after she performed it on the live semi-final of The Voice UK. Parent album 1,000 Forms Of Fear also makes its Top 10 debut this week.
The rest of the Top 10: Hold Back The River (2-3, 59,961 sales) by James Bay, King (3-4, 58,520 sales) by Years & Years, Uptown Funk! (8-5, 43,094 sales) by Mark Ronson feat, Bruno Mars, FourFive Seconds (4-6, 43,003 sales) by Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney, Take Me To Church (7-8, 36,411 sales) by Hozier and Love Me Like You Do (6-9, 35,919 sales) by Ellie Goulding.
Former N-Dubz star Dappy has the week's highest new entry but whether he will want to celebrate Beautiful Me's modest number 19 debut (22,717 sales) is debatable. The track serves as the first single from his upcoming second solo album Miracles. No Regrets - the first single from his 2012 debut solo album Bad Intentions - did significantly better, reaching number one.
More than 15 months after he finished third on the 10th (2013) season of The X Factor behind Sam Bailey and Nicholas MacDonald, 18 year old Devonian singer/songwriter Luke Friend's debut single, Hole In My Heart - which he co-wrote with Scouting For Girls' Roy Stride - makes an even more lukewarm number 40 debut (12,204 sales).
Also new to the Top 75 this week: Nothing Really Matters (184-72, 6,262 sales) by Mr. Probz.
Climbing to new peaks within the chart are Firestone (22-15, 26,417 sales) by Kygo feat. Conrad Sewell, Bitch Better Have My Money (29-27, 16,984 sales) by Rihanna, Seasons (41-34, 14,286 sales) by Olly Murs, Cheerleader (47-37, 12,602 sales) by OMI, Lean On (48-38, 12,422 sales) by Major Lazer ft. MO & DJ Snake, Trouble (50-43, 11,723 sales) by Iggy Azalea feat. Jennifer Hudson, Let It Go (57-52, 9,543 sales) by James Bay, The One (62-53, 9,034 sales) by Kodaline, Where Are You Now (75-63, 7,149 sales) by Skrillex & Diplo feat. Justin Bieber and One Last Time (70-65, 6,867 sales) by Ariana Grande.
Overall singles sales increased 4.20% week-on-week to 6,913,761. Streaming accounted for 4,184,115 sales – 60.52% of the total. Under previously existing criteria where only paid-for purchases were included, overall singles sales are up 5.69% week-on-week at 2,729,646 – 7.46% below same week 2014 sales of 2,949,645 and the 86th consecutive week in which they have declined versus a year ago.
