Madonna and Kylie Minogue enter at No. 8 in the United Kingdom with “Love Sensation,” the week’s top new entry on the Official Singles Chart. The track records 19,717 units, of which 10,993 are CDs and 4,718 downloads.
CDs were made available in pre-sale on August 3 and were dispatched yesterday, Thursday the 13th, just before the chart week closed. Thus, the nearly 11,000 physical units appear concentrated in this week’s results. All signs point to a substantial “chart push” by Warner, leveraging the orders accumulated during the pre-sale.
The difference is striking. Without those 10,993 CDs, “Love Sensation” would sit at roughly 8,724 units, which would have placed it around No. 48 this week. With them, it climbs to No. 8. CDs thus account for 55.8% of all the track’s units this week.
The move enables a song with fairly modest digital performance to reach a UK Top 10, and represents a jump of about 40 places compared with the scenario without physical sales.
No. 8 is also Madonna’s best UK position in 17 years, since No. 3 with “Celebration” in 2009, and her 65th UK Top 10. Only Elvis Presley (76) and Cliff Richard (68) have more.
