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Women have dominated the UK music scene for 2023 as female artists spent the most weeks at number one in the official singles chart since its inception in 1952.

A few familiar names and some new entrants featured in the UK Top 40 as women claimed a record-breaking 31 weeks at number one, according to British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the record industry’s trade association.

Miley Cyrus led the way with her post-breakup song Flowers which stayed 10 weeks at the top of the charts, calculated by a combination of streaming and retail sales.

Dave and Central Cee’s track Sprinter took second place but it was followed by a string of female artists, with seven out of the top 10 featuring female acts.

EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY JANUARY 3 File photo dated 30/06/19 of Miley Cyrus performing on the fifth day of the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Female artists led the charge in 2023, spending the most weeks at number one in the singles chart since records began in 1952. Issue date: Wednesday January 3, 2024.
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Miley Cyrus’s Flowers was at the top of the charts for 10 weeks

London-born RAYE’s collaboration with US rapper 070 Shake on Escapism secured third spot.

Taylor Swift, whose 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was the best-selling vinyl album, made it onto the list with Anti-Hero, from her tenth studio album Midnights.

Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
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It was a successful year for Taylor Swift. Pic: AP

Singer Ellie Goulding’s track Miracle with Calvin Harris came in fifth, while US female rapper-singer SZA’s song Kill Bill took seventh.

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Bath-born singer PinkPantheress came in eighth with Boy’s A Liar and Cameroonian American singer Libianca rounded off the top 10 with People.

The other male artists making up the rest of the top ten were Rema (Calm Down) and Harry Styles (As It Was).

Thirteen of the year’s top 20 tracks were by women, including UK artists Ella Henderson (React), and Venbee (Messy In Heaven) and global stars Olivia Rodrigo (Vampire) and Bebe Rexha (I’m Good [Blue] with David Guetta).

PinkPantheress arrives for the European premiere of Barbie at Cineworld Leicester Square in London. Picture date: Wednesday July 12, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story SHOWBIZ Barbie. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire
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PinkPantheress featured in the top 20 tracks of the year

BPI chief executive Dr Jo Twist said 2023 had been a “brilliant year for women” which should be “celebrated but without complacency”.

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Streaming continues to dominate the music industry, with it making up 87.7% of the market for 2023.

There were over 179 billion streams across the past year, up by 12.8% in 2022.

BPI introduced the Brit Billion award which recognises artists who have achieved more than one billion streams in the UK including Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, and Coldplay.

Cyrus’s Flowers was the year’s biggest hit with 198 million audio and video streams in the UK.

However, physical album sales continue to prove popular with 86% of the 44 albums that debuted at number one having more than half their chart sales made up of physical units.

Canadian singer The Weeknd hit the heights once more as his best-of album, The Highlights, was the year’s top record.

The Barbie album soundtrack became the year’s top compilation and included hits by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.

The biggest albums of the year were:

  1. The Weeknd – The Highlights
  2. Taylor Swift – Midnights
  3. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
  4. Elton John – Diamonds
  5. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
  6. Fleetwood Mac – 50 Years – Don’t Stop
  7. Eminem – Curtain Call – The Hits
  8. SZA – SOS
  9. Arctic Monkeys – AM
  10. ABBA – Gold – Greatest Hits

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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’

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Joy star James Norton on the 'postcode lottery' of IVF - and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first 'test-tube baby'

Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.

In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.

The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.

James Norton stars in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
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In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade

Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.

“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.

“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”

Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. Pic: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
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Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown

Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.

But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.

Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.

The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.

James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie star in Joy. Pic: Kerry Brown/ Netflix
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Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy

While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.

“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.

“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”

In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.

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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough

“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”

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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.

“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”

Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November

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Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

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Cillian Murphy and wife Yvonne McGuinness buy cinema Oscar winner visited as a child

Cillian Murphy and his wife Yvonne McGuinness have bought a cinema the Oscar-winning actor used to visit as a child.

The couple will refurbish The Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, County Kerry, south-west Ireland, next year.

The venue, which had previously been used as a dance hall, had been in operation for more than 100 years, and on the market for three before Murphy and McGuinness bought the building.

Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders star Murphy, from Cork, said: “I’ve been going to see films at The Phoenix since I was a young boy on summer holidays.

“My dad saw movies there when he was a young man before me, and we’ve watched many films at The Phoenix with our own kids. We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle.”

McGuinness added: “We want to open the doors again, expand the creative potential of the site, re-establishing its place in the cultural fabric of this unique town.”

FILE - Cillian Murphy poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for "Oppenheimer" at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Murphy won big this awards season. Pic: AP

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The Phoenix is the only cinema in the tourist area of the Dingle Peninsula, and without it, the closest other movie theatre for residents of the town is in Tralee, almost 30 miles away.

It opened in 1919 and was reconstructed twice in the decades that followed, after fires damaged the building.

Its previous owners struggled to keep The Phoenix going amid the COVID-19 pandemic and shut the cinema’s doors in November 2021, citing rising costs, falling attendance and challenging exhibition terms.

Murphy took awards season by storm this year, winning a Golden Globe, a Bafta and an Oscar for his performance as the titular character in Oppenheimer.

Next year, he will reprise one of his most well-known roles by playing Tommy Shelby in a movie version of Peaky Blinders.

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Ed Sheeran ‘helped Ipswich sign player’ before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

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Ed Sheeran 'helped Ipswich sign player' before appearing on stage with Taylor Swift

Ed Sheeran helped Ipswich Town to sign a player over the summer just before getting on stage with Taylor Swift, according to the club’s chief executive.

Mark Ashton claims the pop star got on a video call to encourage a prospective new signing to seal his move to the East Anglia outfit.

He did not reveal the player’s name, but said he is “certainly scoring a few goals” and is a fan of Sheeran, who is a minor shareholder at his hometown club.

“Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift,” Ashton told a Soccerex industry event in Miami.

“Hopefully that was a key part in getting the player across the line.”

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran perform onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Wembley Stadium on August 15, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )
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Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium. Pic: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images

Sheeran and pop icon Swift were on stage together on 15 August at Wembley Stadium, one day before Sammie Szmodics signed from Blackburn.

After scoring an overhead kick in Ipswich’s 2-1 win over Tottenham this month, he shared a picture of himself with Sheeran on Instagram.

“Overhead kick, Win & a smudge with big ed. GET IN THERE,” Szmodics wrote alongside the post.

Ashton joked Sheeran is now “officially a part of our recruitment team”, adding he is a “local man” and “global superstar”.

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Sheeran has been the club’s shirt sponsor since 2021 and is regularly seen at matches at the club’s Portman Road stadium.

Ipswich host giants Manchester United on Sunday, a match that’s particularly notable for being Ruben Amorim‘s first game in charge of the Red Devils.

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