Charts analysis: Beyoncé's Texas Hold 'Em returns to singles summit

Already Beyoncé’s longest-running No.1, Texas Hold ‘Em returns to the top of the chart following the release of her new album, Cowboy Carter, which itself debuts at No.1 while spinning-off two new Top 10 hits for the 42-year-old Texan. Previously No.1 for four weeks, it bounces 3-1 with consumption up 29.39% to a four-week high of 58,576 units (3,470 digital downloads, 55,106 sales-equivalent streams). It is the first Beyoncé single to have a second stint at No.1, and ends the week with to-date consumption of 425,751 units, becoming her 37th track achieve gold (400,000 sales) status, including seven with Destiny’s Child. It is joined in the top tier by her cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene (No.8, 31,884 sales) and Miley Cyrus collaboration, II Most Wanted (No.9, 28,739 sales). She has now had 83 Top 75 singles, 58 Top 40 singles and 38 Top 10 singles, including her Destiny’s Child output. II Most Wanted is Miley Cyrus’ 29th Top 75, 25th Top 40 and ninth Top 10 hit. Twenty-one further tracks from Cowboy Carter are ‘starred-out’ of the Top 75 under primary artist rules, the top exclusions being Bodyguard (19,845 sales), Blackbiird (sic) (with Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell and Tiera Kennedy, 18,320 sales) and American Requiem (17,305 sales). It is the second time that Jolene has been a Top 10 hit – Dolly Parton’s original 1973 recording belatedly reached No.7 in 1976, and returned to the chart after Dolly played Glastonbury Festival in 2014, reaching No.52. Consumption of Parton’s recording increased 17.79% to 6,873 units in the latest frame raising its digital (since 2004) era consumption to 1,571,329 units, with pure sales (digital downloads) rising to 309,029, making the track Parton’s third highest digital seller, behind 9 To 5 (391,591 sales) and Kenny Rogers collaboration Islands In The Stream (350,134 sales). Parton has also released Jolene as a duet with Olivia Newton-John, with Mary Sarah, with Maneskin, in a new orchestral setting, live and in a capella versions with both Straight No Chase and Pentatonix. If that’s not enough, her sister Stella has also recorded it. Last week, the Top 10 was the first since the 1950s in which no UK act figured in a main or featured role. This week, order is restored with a song recorded only a month ago – I Like The Way You Kiss Me – jumping 13-6 (37,862 sales) for Artemas, originally from Oxfordshire but now based in London. It is already a global smash, even entering the US Hot 100 at No.70 this week. Meanwhile, his first chart entry, If U Think I’m Pretty, reaches a new peak, climbing 62-52 (8,791 sales), three weeks after debuting at No.71. There is no UK act in the top five for the sixth week in a row. Irish singer/songwriter Hozier’s biggest hit since his 2014 debut Take Me To Church reached No.2, Too Sweet climbs 8-4 (41,701 sales). Hozier’s latest album, Unreal Unearth, retreats 42-64 (2,195 sales) but his eponymous 2014 debut jumps 77-60 (2,242 sales), reaching its highest chart position for exactly eight years. Beyoncé’s bounce ends Bernson Boone’s two-week residency of the top spot, with Beautiful Things ebbing 1-2. Its consumption is down for the first time after 10 straight weeks of gains, falling 4.70% to 54,384 units. Boone’s latest hit, Slow It Down, jumps 42-27 (13,816 sales). With Boone’s debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, dropping today (5th), Beautiful Things could regain both impetus and pole position a week hence. The rest of the Top 10: Lose Control (2-3, 43,651 sales) by Teddy Swims, Why Can’t We Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) (4-5, 38,422 sales) by Ariana Grande, End Of Beginning (5-7, 36,146 sales) by DJO and Like That (6-10, 25,992 sales) by Future & Metro Boomin feat. Kendrick Lamar. Exiting the Top 10: Stick Season (7-11, 24,493 sales) by Noah Kahan, Scared To Start (9-12, 22,920 sales) by Michael Marcagi and Obsessed (10-19, 17,294 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. Becky Hill scores her 23rd hit – but only fourth with solo billing – with anthemic new song Outside Of Love (No.60, 7,886 sales), a track from her upcoming second album, Believe Me Now? Also new to the Top 75: I Luv It (No.61, 7,815 sales), the first single from Camila Cabello’s upcoming fourth album C, XOXO, her 20th hit and featured rapper Playboi Carti’s seventh; Jump (80-62, 7,679 sales), the third hit for South African singer Tyla, the 19th for US rapper Gunna and the second for Jamaican rapper Skillibeng; and Neuron (No.64, 7,545 sales), the third hit outside BTS for singer/rapper J-Hope, a collaboration with rapper Gaeko and singer Yoon Mi-Rae, providing the first hit for both. Neuron is No.1 on the digital downloads chart, with the format providing 73.66% (5,558 sales) of its overall consumption. Birds In The Sky (23-20, 16,542 sales) takes wing again for Irish duo NewEra, settling on its highest perch yet. There are also new peaks for: We Belong Together (54-22, 15,480 sales) by Mark Ambor, Happier (40-26, 14,708 sales) by The Blessed Madonna & Clementine Douglas; Green & Gold (30-29, 12,717 sales) by Rudimental & Skepsis feat. Charlotte Plank & Riko Dan, Been Like This (50-40, 10,480 sales) by Meghan Trainor & T-Pain and Never Be Lonely (48-41, 10,308 sales) by Jax Jones & Zoe Wees. No.25 last October, Jungle’s only hit single to date, Back On 74 revived when they performed it at the BRIT Awards last month. It now returns to its peak, jumping 33-25 (14,777 sales). Overall singles consumption is down 4.48% week-on-week to 27,893,116 units, 6.59% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,168,892 units. Paid-for sales are up 0.23% week-on-week at 276,310 – 4.11% below same week 2023 sales of 288,155.

Charts analysis: Benson Boone holds the top spot for a second week in a row

The chart remains in thrall to American solo artists, with the same five individuals filling the top five positions for the third week in a row, with the youngest of the pack, 21-year-old Benson Boone, No.1 for the second week in a row with Beautiful Things. Increasing consumption for the 10th week in a row to 57,067 units (2,681 digital downloads and 54,386 sales-equivalent streams), the track raises its career consumption to 413,698 units, becoming Boone’s second gold single, behind his 2022 No.21 hit In The Stars, which has to-date consumption of 569,725 units. Both tracks – and Boone’s 2021 debut hit, Ghost Town, which reached No.46 and has to-date consumption of 270,265 units – are included on his upcoming debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblades. Out next Friday, the album is trailed by another new track, Slow It Down, which debuts this week at No.42 (11,271 sales), becoming Benson’s fourth hit. Beautiful Things has reached No.1 in several other countries, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and Norway – but not in Boone’s US homeland, where it currently stands at No.2 behind Lose Control by Teddy Swims. Those positions are reversed here, with Swims’ hit, which previously reached No.2 four weeks ago, returning to its peak on consumption of 49,947 units – its highest tally yet, following the release of a Tiesto remix. In the Top 10 for the last 12 weeks, Lose Control has total consumption of 630,085 units since its release last June, becoming Swims’ first platinum single just a few days ago. The rest of that top five: Texas Hold ‘Em (3-3, 45,272 sales) by Beyoncé, Why Can’t We Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) (2-4, 45,195 sales) by Ariana Grande and End Of Beginning (5-5, 42,957 sales) by DJO. Before we move on, I should mention that when I stated last week that ‘the last three No.1s have been by American solo artists for the first time since 1959. I should actually have said ‘different American solo artists’, as we had three in a row in 2019, but two of them were by the same artist, Ariana Grande. The first of two planned collaborative albums this year between rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You, opens at No.2, and spins-off a trio of singles chart entries, namely Like That (with Kendrick Lamar, No.6, 33,037 sales), Type S**t (with Travis Scott & Playboi Carti, No.18, 18,037 sales) and Cinderella (with Travis Scott, No.20, 17,423 sales). Nine more tracks from the album are ‘starred-out’ of the Top 75 under primary artist rules. Future has now had 31 hits (three Top 10), Metro Boomin has had 17 hits (two Top 10), Kendrick Lamar 39 hits (eight Top 10), Travis Scott 46 hits and Playboi Carti six. The newly expanded version of Olivia Rodrigo’s album Guts likewise spins off three new hit songs. They are: Obsessed (No.10, 24,468 sales), So American (No.24, 14,372 sales) and Stranger (No.58, 9,084 sales). She has had 15 hits, eight of them making the Top 10. Stick Season’s slow fade continues, with the Noah Kahan track retreating 6-7 (27,168 sales). It was No.1 on the Top 200 Combined Tracks chart – where ACR and track limits don’t exist – for the 10th time last week. This week it slips to No.2 on said list with unadjusted consumption of 53,176 units – 3,891 less than Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things, which tops that list for the first time. Irish singer/songwriter Hozier dropped a new four song EP, Unheard, last week, and the lead track from it, Too Sweet, dashes to a No.8 debut (25,323 sales) to become his sixth hit single, and highest-charting since his first, 2014 release Take Me To Church, peaked at No.2. The popularity of Too Sweet has resulted in increased consumption of Hozier’s back catalogue, most notably triggering a 213.76% increase in week-on-week consumption of his latest album, 2023 No.1 Unreal Unearth, which re-enters the chart at No.42 (2,684 sales) – a 29-week high – as a result. Take Me To Church enjoyed a much lesser updraft, increasing consumption 3.37% to 10,863, raising its career tally to a mighty impressive 3,952,554. It is the 16th biggest hit of the 21st century, and the third biggest NOT to reach No.1, behind The Killers’ No.10 single Mr. Brightside (5,493,956) and John Legend’s No.2 hit All Of Me (4,046,073). Completing the Top 10, Michael Marcagi’s introductory hit, Scared To Start, continues to climb, moving 10-9 (24,487 sales). With Training Season retreating 9-11 (23,941 sales) for Dua Lipa, there is no UK act in the Top 10, probably for the first time ever. Also exiting the Top 10: Yes, And? (7-14, 21,476 sales) by Ariana Grande and Carnival (8-16, 20,791 sales) by Kanye West & Ty Dolla Sign. Two weeks ago, If U Think I’m Pretty became the viral first Top 75 entry for 24-year-old Artemas (Diamandis) - a London-based alt.pop artist originally from Oxfordshire, having taken 20 weeks to make the grade. On its first full week of availability his new song, I Like The Way You Kiss Me, is an instant hit, debuting at No.13 (21,361 sales). It overshadows If U Think I’m Pretty which retreats 59-62, despite its consumption growing 13.22% week-on-week to a best yet 8,650 units. Also new to the Top 75: Belong Together (94-54, 9,512 sales), the first hit for 26-year-old American singer/songwriter Mark Ambor, real name Mark Gregory Damboragian. Four weeks after peaking at No.7 in their homeland of Ireland, Birds In The Sky – the debut release of DJ/production duo NewEra (20-year-old Ben Williams and 16-year-old Karl Durkan) – jumps 34-23 (16,164 sales) here. There are also new peaks for: Green & Gold (43-30, 12,980 sales) by Rudimental & Skepsis feat. Charlotte Plank & Riko Dan, Happier (54-40, 11,705 sales) by The Blessed Madonna feat. Clementine Douglas, Never Be Lonely (52-48, 10,771 sales) by Jax Jones & Zoe Wees, Been Like This (60-50, 9,831 sales) by Meghan Trainor & T-Pain and We Ain’t Here For Long (55-51, 9,595 sales) by Nathan Dawe. Three weeks after debuting and peaking at No.26, Von Dutch bounces 46-27 (13,732 sales) for Charli XCX, following the release of a new remix. No.25 last year, Back On 74 sparked back into life for Jungle when they performed it at the Brit Awards earlier this month. It now returns to the Top 40, jumping 41-32 (12,740 sales). Overall singles consumption is up 1.06% week-on-week to 29,200,348 units, 11.85% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,107,503 units. That is its second highest level to date, trailing only the 29,224,368 units logged for sales week-ending 28 December 2023. Paid-for sales are down 5.08% week-on-week at 275,681 – 14.52% below same week 2023 sales of 322,498.

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