Charts analysis: Charli XCX becomes the first UK female artist to chart two No.1 albums in same year

The Brat is back…again! A mere 23 weeks after her Wuthering Heights soundtrack debuted at No.1, Charli XCX returns to pole position, with her latest regular studio album, Music, Fashion, Film, becoming the first British woman ever to have two No.1 albums in the same calendar year. Securing first week consumption of 22,322 units (6,704 CD, 7,932 vinyl, 414 cassettes, 1,762 digital downloads and 5,510 sales-equivalent streams), her ninth charted album consists of 11 new songs (14 on The B-Sides Edition), all of which she co-wrote with producer Finn Keane, and most of which were also co-written by Keane’s co-producer A.G. Cook. Arriving at the summit two days before XCX’s XXXIVth (34th) birthday, it is her fourth No.1 album, following the aforementioned Wuthering Heights which opened atop the chart on consumption of 21,071 units in February; Crash, which debuted at No.1 in 2022 on consumption of 16,117 units; and Brat, which was No.2 on debut in 2024 on consumption of 27,234 units, and reached No.1 18 weeks later on consumption of 35,949 units, following the release of an expanded Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat edition. XCX’s only albums to reach the Top 10 before this year, Crash and Brat are also her most-consumed titles by some distance, with Crash on 80,600 units and Brat, more than seven times as popular, on 608,992 units – the latter tally doesn’t include the standalone double vinyl editions of Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat, which peaked at No.40, and have sold a combined 7,289 copies. Brat spent 103 consecutive weeks in the Top 75 from its debut until slipping below the mark in May, and spends its 112th consecutive week in the Top 100 this week, rallying 100-85 (2,110 sales) The time that elapsed between Wuthering Heights and Music, Fashion, Film debuting at No.1 is the shortest for consecutive No.1s by an artist since Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuted at No.1 in 2023, 16 weeks after Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). With 10 No.1 albums in the 2020s, Swift is one of only three artists to have had more No.1 albums than XCX this decade, the others being Ed Sheeran and Drake (five apiece). Liam Gallagher, Yungblud and Kylie Minogue have also had four. Ahead of Snow Patrol performing their signature album, Eyes Open, in its entirety for the first time ever at three sell-out concerts at The Royal Albert Hall in September, the album has been expanded from 11 to 36 tracks, in a 20th anniversary edition which, naturally, provides much of the thrust for the set to re-enter at No.4 (10,710 sales). The first of Snow Patrol’s two No.1 albums – they had to wait 18 years for their second, The Forest Is The Path in 2024 – Eyes Open was the fourth of the band’s eight studio albums, and is home to the hits Chasing Cars, You’re All I Have, Hands Open and Set The Fire To The Third Bar. Building on first week sales of 126,809 copies, it is the band’s most successful album with to-date consumption of 2,587,671 units, followed by Final Straw (1,849,296 units) and 2009 No.3 album compilation Up To Now (1,326,325 units). Before today, Eyes Open had spent 111 weeks in the Top 75, the last of which was in September 2009, 883 weeks ago. It is the 40th most-consumed album of the 21st century, although its sales-equivalent streams amount to just 175,634 units. Ranked on pure sales (physical formats and digital downloads), its tally of 2,412,037 units places it 29th. On physical sales only (2,257,730), it is higher still (No.27). Shania Twain lands the ninth Top 75 album and seventh Top 10 album of her career with eighth studio set, Little Miss Twain. Debuting at No.7 (7,933 sales), the album follows back-to-back No.1 studio albums by the 60-year-old Canadian country star - Now (2017) and Queen Of Me (2023). Their line-up unchanged since their 1998 formation, New York rock quintet The Strokes score their seventh consecutive Top 10 studio album – their entire output – with Reality Awaits (No.8, 7,621 sales). It is the follow-up to 2020 set, The New Abnormal, which debuted and peaked at No.3 on consumption of 7,983 units. The band’s only No.1 album, third studio set First Impressions Of Earth, is their third most-popular title (270,801 units) behind their 2001 debut Is This It (899,221 units) and 2003 follow-up, Room On Fire (474,593 units), both of which peaked at No.2. The rest of the Top 10: The Essential (2-2, 14,469 sales) by Michael Jackson, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (3-3, 14,125 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Art Of Loving (4-5, 8,538 sales) by Olivia Dean, Visitor (6-6, 8,208 sales) by Sienna Spiro, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-9, 7,315 sales) by Fleetwood Mac and The Highlights (10-10, 6,762 sales) by The Weeknd. After debuting at No.1 last week, Daughter From Hell slides to No.18 (4,926 sales) for Gracie Abrams. Also exiting the Top 10: The Ones That Got The Plays (9-11, 6,625 sales) by Katy Perry, The Great Divide (8-12, 6,489 sales) by Noah Kahan and Foreign Tongues (5-19, 4,755 sales) by The Rolling Stones. London rapper Nines made the top five with each of the six full-length studio albums he released between 2017 and 2024, when he signalled his retirement with Quit While You’re Ahead. He now returns to the chart with Lost Tapes – a collection of 18 previously unreleased tracks from across his career – which debuts at No.14 (5,842 sales). Also new to the Top 75: A*Pop (No.43, 3,270 sales), the second album by South African pop/R&B singer Tyla, whose eponymous 2024 debut peaked at No.24; and What If I Say No? (No.66, 2,425 sales), the sixth studio album and second chart entry by Berkshire rapper Songer, who previously reached No.30 with fourth album, Skala, in 2023. Country star Luke Combs performs the first of three concerts at Wembley Stadium tonight (July 31), ahead of which his latest (sixth) album The Way I Am and 2017 debut This One’s For You, jump 44-31 (4,011 sales) and 86-47 (2,961 sales), respectively. This One’s For You is 36-year-old Combs’ most-consumed album, with a to-date tally of 341,374 units, and eclipses its previous peak of No.83, set in 2023. The Way I Am reached No.4 on debut in March, and has to-date consumption of 57,986 units. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack set is No.1 for the ninth week in a row and 52nd time in total on the compilation chart, on consumption of 3,788 units (281 Yoto cards, 47 digital downloads and 3,460 sales-equivalent streams). Overall album sales are up 1.27% week-on-week to 2,427,838 units, 0.56% below same week 2025 sales of 2,441,542. Physical product accounts for 280,617 sales, 11.56% of the total.

Charts analysis: Rein Me In by Sam Fender & Olivia Dean makes history on the singles chart

Eighteen down, one to go…It’s an historic week in the singles chart, as Sam Fender & Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In racks up its 18th (non-consecutive) week at No.1 on consumption of 43,450 units (3 7-inch vinyl, 608 digital downloads and 42,839 sales-equivalent streams). In so doing, it equals the all-time record, set way back in 1953 by American singer Frankie Laine’s recording, I Believe. On the fifth week of its fourth run at No.1, its 30th consecutive week in the Top 10, and 57th straight week in the Top 40, Rein Me In’s stamina is admirable – although its consumption dips 11.15% week-on-week, that is primarily because of the exhaustion of supplies of its latest 7-inch variant, and it has exceeded 40,000 units for 23 weeks in a row. Whether it can remain at No.1 next week to relegate I Believe to second place, and become the first single to spend 20 weeks at No.1 a week later remains to be seen. Its nearest challenger this week, defying expectations that it would fade after the World Cup ended, the tournament’s official theme, Dai Dai vaults 5-2 for Shakira & Burna Boy, with consumption increasing 37.01% week-on-week to 38,192 units. It is Shakira’s biggest hit since she partnered Beyoncé to No.1 with Beautiful Liar in 2007, and Burna Boy’s biggest hit since 2019, when he joined Stormzy and Ed Sheeran to top the chart with Own It. Of the tracks already in the chart, it is undoubtedly the biggest threat to Rein Me In’s ambitions. It is unlikely that anything from Charli XCX’s new album, Music Fashion Film, will pose a threat next week, but more likely that something from Ariana Grande’s Petal will mount a challenge the following week. Dance hits reaching new peaks on their 20th and 17th consecutive appearance in the Top 75, albeit with respective dips of 9.63% and 7.51% in consumption week-on-week, Talk To You advances 4-3 (27,279 sales) for ANOTR feat. 54 Ultra, while Free Your Mind climbs 7-6 (24,202 sales) for Prospa & Cloonee. The rest of the Top 10: Stupid Song (6-4, 26,579 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, Choosin’ Texas (8-5, 26,016 sales) by Ella Langley, Hate That I Made You Love Me (9-7, 24,052 sales) by Ariana Grande, Wonderwall (2-8, 23,869 sales) by Oasis, The Cure (11-9, 21,454 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo and I Knew It, I Knew You (10-10, 21,077 sales) by Taylor Swift. While Dai Dai and Wonderwall extend the World Cup legacy inside the Top 10, Three Lions – which reached No.3 last week for David Baddiel, Frank Skinner & The Lightning Seeds, its highest position for eight years – is brutally exorcised from the Top 100, with consumption in the week slumping 85.39% to 4,779 units. Gracie Abrams has the highest new entry on both the albums and singles charts this week – but while that is achieved by Daughter From Hell being No.1 on the former, it requires a lesser No.55 debut (8,535 sales) for Good Reason on the latter. Abrams’ 10th hit single, Good Reason joins the re-energised Hit The Wall (76-32, 10,731 sales) and Look At My Life (74-41, 9,773 sales) – which peaked at No.18 and No.39 respectively - to complete her triumvirate of chart-eligible songs. Uncharted 1982 dancehall track Bam Bam by Sister Nancy has found a whole new audience more recently, attracting consumption of 417,238 units since making its digital debut in 2008. It has also caught the attention of French producers Hugel (Florent Hugel) & Solto (Antoine Duthey), whose Afro-house remake, Jamaican (Bam Bam), released last October is the second and final new entry to the Top 75 this week, moving 77-67 (7.849 sales) this week. It is the first hit for Solto but the third for Hugel, whose second - Imael Angel & Ultra Naté collaboration, Movin’ To The Sun - has been scaling the Top 75 for the last month, and comes to rest just outside the Top 10 this week (16-11, 20,693 sales). It is now the third highest charting of 58-year-old American singer Ultra Naté’s 11 hits, and her biggest since Found A Cure reached No.6 in 1998. Sixteen weeks after its only previous Top 75 appearance – at No.74 – Normal is officially a single from Arirang for BTS. Simultaneously released in a new ‘Korean version’ – which is mostly in English – as a 59p download, and a video, the track’s consumption rockets 425.95% week-on-week to 10,138 units as it re-enters at a new peak of No.36. It is the South Korean septet’s 13th Top 40 hit. Although only 22, Californian singer/songwriter Alyssa Grace, has been a TikTok star for the best part of a decade, and her fan base helped Bloodstream to a No.25 debut last month. It slipped 40 places the following week but has since gone wider virally, and climbs for the fourth straight week, climbing 36-23 (11,588 sales) to reach a new peak. There are also new peaks for: Boston (18-15, 16,847 sales) by Stella Lefty, Great Expectation (22-19, 14,391 sales) by Sienna Spiro, Orbiter (47-40, 9,784 sales) by Noah Kahan, Freaked Out (65-42, 9,670 sales) by Fat Papi & Prodshushy, Sue Me (54-49, 8,997 sales) by Audrey Hobert, Kingdom of Fear (64-57, 8,502 sales) by Cameron Whitcomb and Misery (68-61, 8,316 sales) by Pupsies. Bruno Mars is set to perform the fourth of six concerts at Wembley Arena tonight (July 24) in support of his latest album, The Romantic. It has already had a galvanising effect on his back catalogue, which increases consumption week-on-week across the board, the most obvious indicators of which are singles chart climbs for 2024 No.2 Lady Gaga duet Die With A Smile (53-31, 10,739 sales) and 2026 No.5 hit I Just Might (71-59, 8,496 sales), and album chart ascents for 2026 No.3 album The Romantic (121-25, 4,371 sales) and chart-topping 2010 debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (50-33, 3,481 sales). That’s a 22-week high for Die With A Smile, an eight-week high for I Just Might, an 18-week high for The Romantic and a 22-week high for Doo-Wops & Hooligans. The Killers’ signature song Mr. Brightside (42-37, 10,116 sales) returns to the Top 40, 133 weeks after it was last there, and 1,156 weeks after it debuted and peaked at No.10. Were it not on ACR, it would be No.12 this week (20,101 sales). It has been in the Top 200 Combined Tracks chart – where ACR and primary artists rules don’t apply – for 990 weeks, the longest of any current entry on that list, ahead of Wonderwall (853 weeks), Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol (662 weeks), Riptide by Vance Joy (619 weeks) and Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey (617 weeks). Overall singles consumption is up 0.28% week-on-week to 30,813,209 units, 1.16% above same week 2025 sales of 30,460,978 units. Paid-for sales are up 1.04% week-on-week at 251,597, 12.95% below same week 2025 sales of 289,014. \

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