USA
Billboard Report (Excerpt)
Carrie Underwood's 'Blown Away' nabs second week at no.1
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. & Silvio Pietroluongo, N.Y.

Carrie Underwood holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart a second week with "Blown Away," selling another 120,000 copies (down 55% according to Nielsen SoundScan). It's Underwood's 3rd

No. 1 album, but first to spend more than a week at the top. With the Mother's Day holiday falling on the final day of the tracking week (May 13) reflected in the new chart, it's not surprising to see Adele's mom-friendly "21" see a big gain in sales. The album rises 4-2 this week on the Billboard 200 with 101,000 sold -- up 31%. Lionel Richie's "Tuskegee" also sees a mother-fueled jump, climbing 6-3 with 71,000 (up 11%). The "Now 42" compilation falls 3-4 (65,000; down 31%) while Norah Jones' "Little Broken Hearts" slips 2-5 (60,000; down 46%). The chart's highest debut comes from rock band Silversun Pickups, which sees its "Neck of the Woods" drive in at No. 6 with 41,000. It's the highest charting set for the act, but not its best sales week: 2009's "Swoon" bowed at No. 7 with a career-high 43,000. One Direction's "Up All Night" spends its ninth straight week in the top 10, as it rises one slot to No. 7 with 40,000 (down 11%). Right behind the U.K. boy band is Jack White's "Blunderbuss," moving 7-8 with 34,000 (down 38%). Rounding out the top 10 are Tank's new "This Is How I Feel," debuting at No. 9 (33,000), and Luke Bryan's "Tailgates & Tanlines" stepping 13-10 (26,000; down 1%). Tank's latest gives him his fifth top 40 set and third to reach the top 10. His last release, 2010's "Now Or Never," debuted and peaked at No. 35 with 44,000 that December. Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 13) totaled 5.56 million units, down 3% compared to the sum last week (5.77 million) and down 2% compared to the comparable sales week of 2011 (5.68 million). Year to date album sales stand at 112.32 million, down 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (113.79 million).
Over on the Digital Songs chart, the top three are non-movers this week, led by Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" at No. 1 with 321,000 (down 8%). The song, which features Kimbra, crosses the 4 million sales mark this week -- rising to 4.04 million downloads sold in the U.S. At No. 2, Maroon 5's "Payphone" (featuring Wiz Khalifa) sells 293,000 (up 2%) while Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" is at No. 3 with 234,000 (up 12%). Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" rises 5-4 (165,000; down 4%), fun's "We Are Young" (featuring Janelle Monae) is down one to No. 5 (164,000; down 12%) and Nicki Minaj's "Starships" sails 7-6 (151,000; up 3%). Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" (featuring Sia) is up two rungs to No. 7 (150,000; up 8%), One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" drops 6-8 (146,000; down 3%) and Jennifer Lopez's "Dance Again" (featuring Pitbull) zips 15-9 (104,000; up 39%). The latter benefits from J.Lo's performance of the track on "American Idol's" May 10 episode. The Wanted's "Glad You Came" closes out the top 10 on the Digital Songs chart, holding at No. 10 with 95,000 (down 21%). Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.96 million downloads, down 2% compared to last week (25.41 million) and up 1% stacked next to the comparable week of 2011 (24.79 million). Year to date track sales are at 520.35 million, up 7% compared to the same total at this point last year (487.16 million).  COMPLETE CHARTS

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (Excerpt)
Keane's 'Strangeland' lands at no.1
Monday, May 14, 2012
by Alan Jones, London

12 weeks after storming to number one as featured vocalist on DJ Fresh's Hot Right Now, 21 year old Rita Ora - originally from Kosovo but now based in London - races back to the summit with R.I.P.

Sounding the death knell for Tulisa's Young, which dips to number two (63,649 sales) after just a week at the top, R.I.P. sold 104,592 copies on its debut. It is the sixth biggest weekly sale of the year in a list topped by Hot Right Now's introductory week's sales of 127,998. R.I.P boasts a multi-national writing team including an Afghan, a Canadian (rapper Drake), A Nigerian, an American, two Norwegians and two Brits (Chase & Status), and features a rap by Tinie Tempah, for whom it is the third number one hit. Its sales increasing for the eighth week in a row, Alex Clare's debut smash Too Close climbs 5-4, shifting 58,284 copies. Originally released in March 2011 and belatedly blasted into the chart after featuring in the TV advertising campaign for Microsoft Internet Explorer, it has sold 175,664 copies in total. Clare's debut album, The Lateness Of The Hour, which came out last July, increases its sales for the seventh week in a row, despite falling 17-22. It sold 6,357 copies last week to increase its cumulative tally to 27,060. Train's three biggest hits were released in 2001, 2010 and 2012 - and all three are in the Top 75 together for the fourth week in a row. Their latest single Drive By is their highest charting hit to date, with a 14-10-7-6 trajectory thus far, and sold 37,939 copies last week. Most rock singles are in decline from week one, but Drive By has bucked the trend, and has helped parent album California 37 to achieve a smart turnaround too. The album debuted at number 10 three weeks ago, and immediately slipped to number 29 but it recovered to number 25 last week, and now jumps to number 15 (7,954 sales). Meanwhile, Train's 2010 number 18 hit Hey Soul Sister jumps 38-25 (12,859 sales), while 2001 number 10 hit Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me) falls 68-71 (3,964 sales). American hip-hop group Far East Movement had their first Top 20 hit in 2010, their second in 2011, and their third this week, with Justin Bieber collaboration Live My Life, which debuts at number seven (33,287 sales). It is Bieber's ninth Top 40 hit - and he also registers his 10th, with Turn To You (Mother's Day Dedication) debuting at number 39 (7,857 sales), having only been released on Friday. Mother's Day, of course, fell here on 18 March - but the track was released to mark Mother's Day in Bieber's native Canada and The USA, where it fell on 13 May. She may have passed on R.I.P., which co-writer Drake offered to her before Rita Ora, but Rihanna scores her 21st Top 10 hit, as Where Have You Been sprints 21-8 (30,149 sales). Other singles in the Top 10 this week not mentioned elsewhere: Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe falls 2-3 (59,183 sales); Fun's We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monae) dips 3-5 (52,719 sales) and Somebody That I Used To Know recovers 10-9 (29,241 sales) for Gotye feat. Kimra. Overall singles sales are down 3.49% week-on-week at 3,382,333 - 6.27% above same week 2011 sales of 3,182,665.
Two years to the week after securing their fourth number one album, Keane make it five in a row, with Strangeland racking up first week sales of 47,839. In 2004, the Sussex band's debut album Hopes And Fears entered the chart at number one on sales of 155,373; in 2006, Under The Iron Sea debuted in pole position with sales of 222,297 copies; in 2008, Perfect Symmetry accessed the apex with a 79,106 start; and in 2010, Night Train - which has eight tracks and a playing time of less than 32 minutes and is generally regarded as a mini album or an EP - took the title on sales of 28,063. Strangeland's success comes despite a fairly lukewarm reception for introductory single, Silenced By The Night. Although the track has been given plenty of exposure, climbing as high as number 21 on the radio airplay chart -it recovers 27-25 this week, its sixth in the Top 50 - it has struggled in the sales chart. It finally breaches the Top 75 this week, having moved 78-152-162-46. The only acts to have had more number one albums than Keane in the 21st century are Eminem, Robbie Williams and Westlife (seven apiece) and Madonna (six). Coldplay, Oasis and Bruce Springsteen have also had five. Eminem also topped the chart with D12, while Oasis' Noel Gallagher also reached top perch with his High Flying Birds album. Although some might suggest that 2005 import Live Recordings 2004 broke Keane's string of number ones by reaching number 131, on a less strict interpretation of their career limited to the Top 75 - which would also exclude digital releases of Live From London (2004), Live Recordings: European Tour (2008) and iTunes Live: London Festival (2010) - they have had five number one albums in a row, something only Abba (eight), Led Zeppelin (eight), The Beatles (seven) and Eminem (six) have exceeded in chart history. Of these acts, however, only The Beatles' run starts - like Keane's - with their first album. Helped by an appearance on Later...With Jools Holland, enigmatic Sheffield singer/songwriter Richard Hawley's seventh studio album, Standing At The Sky's Edge delivers his second and highest charting Top 10 entry, debuting at number three (16,070 sales). Hawley's fifth album, Lady's Bridge, debuted and peaked at number six on sales of 17,396 a week after Tonight The Streets Are Ours became his only Top 40 single in 2007. Despite a lower (number 37) chart peak, Hawley's 2005 album, Coles Corner, is his biggest seller, with sales to date of 144,722. Yorkshire indie band The Cribs’ fifth album, In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull, delivers their third Top 75 entry, debuting at number nine (8,952 sales). It thus fails to match first week sales of 2009 predecessor Ignore The Ignorant, which debuted and peaked at number eight (14,824 sales) and breakthrough album Men's Needs Women's Needs Whatever, which got to number 13 on sales of 11,272 in 2007. A week after debuting at number one, Marina & The Diamonds' second album, Electra Heart plunges to number 13 (8,416 sales). 21 climbs 5-4 for Adele but its sales are down again, to 14,644 - the lowest tally of its 68 week chart tenure. Overall album sales are down 4.05% week-on-week at 1,457,792 - 8.16% below same week 2011 sales of 1,587,342. COMPLETE CHARTS