Charts analysis: Charli XCX's Brat races to No.1 thanks to remix edition

Eighteen weeks after debuting at No.2, Brat rallies 13-1 for Charli XCX, following the release of a new expanded Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat edition. The 12th different album to lead the chart in as many weeks, and the ninth new No.1 album by a female solo artist this year, Brat racked up a 458.82% increase in consumption to 35,949 units (10,962 CDs, 6,905 vinyl albums, 125 cassettes, 435 digital downloads and 17,522 sales-equivalent streams) to become 32-year-old Charli’s second chart-topper, following Crash, which topped the list in March 2022 on consumption of 16,117 units. In the Top 15 continuously since release, Brat has already achieved consumption of 205,487 units – more than her four previous Top 40 albums combined, these being Crash (62,913 units), Sucker (No.15, 2015, 56,151 units), Charli (No.14, 2019, 40,556 units) and How I’m Feeling Now (No.33, 2020, 26,073 units). Brat had to overcome a deficit of more than 14,000 in the first of the week’s sales flashes, and its coronation denied that runaway leader – Paul Heaton – from claiming his first No.1 solo album with The Mighty Several. 62-year-old Heaton first emerged as a member of The Housemartins in 1986, subsequently racked up three No.1 albums with The Beautiful South and two more with former The Beautiful South colleague Jacqui Abbott. Debuting at No.2 (30,859 sales, of which 29,445 were physical), The Mighty Several is his first solo album since 2012- although Rianne Downey, Danny Muldoon and Yvonne Shelton make contributions to various tracks – and consists of a dozen self-penned tracks, seven of them co-written by Heaton’s long-term writing partner Jonny Lexus. It is the highest charting of four Heaton solo albums (including one as Biscuit Boy), far surpassing his previous best placing of No.43 for 2008 release, The Cross-Eyed Rambler. A 2018 No.10 album, The Last King Of Pop, credits Heaton alone but is a ‘best of’ from his entire career, and includes only one solo cut among its 23 tracks. The eighth biggest album of the 21st century, James Blunt’s debut release Back To Bedlam got off to a very quiet start 20 years ago this very week, selling just 482 copies, but topped the chart for the first of 10 times 37 weeks later, with his breakthrough single You’re Beautiful simultaneously topping the singles chart for five of those weeks. Boosted by a remastered 20th anniversary edition, which adds demos and B-sides, Back To Bedlam returns to the Top 75 for the first time since 2008, and the Top 10 for the first time since 2006, at No.7 on consumption of 7,982 units (2,923 CDs, 3,807 vinyl albums, 424 digital downloads and 828 sales-equivalent streams). It is the first time the album has been released on vinyl, and boosts its cumulative consumption to 3,465,312 units, of which CDs account for 3,248,483 units, more than all 21st century albums apart from Adele’s 21 (3,922,244) and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black (3,415,306). It is the most-consumed debut album of the 21st century, ahead of Lady Gaga’s The Fame (3,430,600 units) and Leona Lewis’ Spirit (3,257,281 sales). The rest of the Top 10: Short n’ Sweet (2-3, 16,090 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, Moon Music (1-4, 9,693 sales) by Coldplay, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (5-5, 8,865 sales) by Chappell Roan, +--=÷× Tour Collection (6-6, 8,358 sales) by Ed Sheeran, The Highlights (9-8, 7,464 sales) by The Weeknd , Hit Me Hard And Soft (11-9, 6,478 sales) by Billie Eilish and The Tortured Poets Department (10-10, 6,423 sales) by Taylor Swift. Dipping out of the Top 10: Cutouts (7-108, 1,681 sales) by The Smile, The Last Flight (3-152, 1,324 sales) by Public Service Broadcasting and – now absent from the Top 200 - last week’s No.4, Changes All The Time (580 sales) by James Bay, and last week’s No.8, Key (590 sales) by Alison Moyet. Previously signed to RCA and Polydor, and with a succession of EPs and two live albums to their credit hitherto, Yorkshire indie trio Skinny Living’s own label release and first studio album, Day By Day, debuts at No.24 (3,979 sales). Also new to the Top 75: Beautifully Broken (No.41, 3,038 sales), the 10th studio album by 39-year-old Tennessee country/hip-hop artist Jelly Roll, but the first to breach the Top 200; Supercharged (No.44, 2,879 sales), the 11th studio album and 10th chart entry for veteran punk quintet, The Offspring; and Last Lap (No.63, 2,429 sales), the sixth studio album and third chart entry for 26-year-old Floridian R&B/hip-hop artist, Rod Wave. The Jelly Roll and Rod Wave releases are destined to debut at No.1 and No.2 in America this week, with the order yet to be determined. On vinyl and CD for the first time, Lady Gaga’s new album, Harlequin – largely comprising jazz standards – peaked at No.59 on debut a fortnight ago, and now re-enters at No.11 (6,071 sales). No.1 on debut in February, Prelude To Ecstasy, the introductory album by London indie rock quintet The Last Dinner Party has now been released in a deluxe edition and re-enters at No.14 (5,606 sales); while Ben Howard’s second album, I Forget Where We Were - which debuted at No.1 10 years ago next week – celebrates its anniversary with the release of a new edition featuring previously unheard tracks from the same era, and re-enters at No.65 (2,409 sales). Seven weeks after its only previous appearance – at No.62 – on the compilation chart, the original soundtrack to Amazon’s streaming hit, psychological thriller Saltburn, is a re-entry at No.1 with consumption rising 24,687.50% week-on-week from 16 to 3,966, thanks almost entirely to the release of a plot-relevant ‘bath water’ liquid picture disc edition (3,944 sales), with other vinyl editions (18 sales) and CD (four sales) completing its tally. The film gave new chart life to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor and Mason vs. Princess Superstar’s Perfect (Exceeder) – which reached No.2 and No.26, respectively, earlier this year. Both are on the soundtrack which closes with Have A Cheeky Christmas by The Cheeky Girls whose We Go Together was on Grease tribute album Greasemania, which was No.1 compilation exactly 21 years ago. Overall album sales are down 7.66% week-on-week at 2,457,665 units, 9.43% above same week 2023 sales of 2,245,786. Physical product accounts for 318,445 sales, 12.96% of the total.

Charts analysis: Sabrina Carpenter's Taste spends seventh week at summit

Its consumption slipping 2.20% week-on-week to its lowest level yet, Taste nevertheless racks up a seventh straight week at No.1 for Sabrina Carpenter on consumption of 51,717 units (490 digital downloads and 51,227 sales-equivalent streams). Thus equalling the amount of time her first chart-topper (Espresso) spent at the summit in two runs and – when Please Please Please’s five weeks at the apex are added in – raising Carpenter’s occupation of the No.1 spot to 19 weeks out of the last 24. That’s the second most by a solo artist in a single calendar year, surpassing the 18 weeks that Elvis Presley spent at No.1 in 1961, and Ed Sheeran spent at No.1 in 2017 but falling short of the 27 weeks that Frankie Laine spent at No.1 in 1953. With the aforementioned Espresso dipping 3-4 (36,528 sales) and Please Please Please holding at No.5 (32,388 sales), Carpenter extends her record run of having three titles in the top five to an unprecedented seven weeks. Good Luck, Babe! is No.2 for the sixth week in total and fourth week in a row for Chappell Roan on consumption of 38,549 units, and the top five is completed by Die With A Smile, which rises 4-3 (36,660 sales), reaching a new peak for Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars. Sailor Song by Gigi Perez has been becalmed three times so far on its 12-week chart voyage, with two week turns at No.35, No.13 and No.11 but it has never gone down, and moves off the latter mark to make the Top 10 for the first time this week, breezing to No.6 (29,228 sales). Somedays returns to growth, climbing 10-8 (28,120 sales) to surpass its previous peak of No.9 for Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. The rest of the Top 10: Backbone (6-7, 28,799 sales) by Chase & Status and Stormzy; Kisses (8-9, 27,209 sales) by Bl3ss, CamrinWatsin and Bbyclose; and Hot To Go! (9-10, 26,353 sales) by Chappell Roan. Timeless plunges 7-17 (19,048 sales) for The Weeknd & Playboi Carti, departing the Top 10 after just one week. It is the only track to lose Top 10 status this week, but a bloodbath is coming with half of this week’s top tier heading for ACR next week, these being Good Luck, Babe!, Espresso, Please Please Please, Backbone and Kisses – and any thoughts that Guess (12-12, 22,202 sales) might take advantage of the void to start its fourth Top 10 run for Charli XCX and Billie Eilish can be dashed by the news that it too will hit ACR. It's a quiet week for new entries with the highest ranking of just four Top 75 debutants being Thick Of It (No.14, 20,244 sales), the 25th hit for rapper, boxer and influencer KSI and the fourth for American rapper Trippie Redd. The two previously teamed for 2020 No.11 hit, Wake Up Call, which has to-date consumption of 227,654 units. Moon Music is runaway leader of the album chart for Coldplay, and spawns the band’s 37th hit, All My Love (No.43, 10,900 sales), while raising the profiles of its previous singles Feels Like I’m In Love (27-18, 18,388 sales) and We Pray (32-20, 17,954 sales), with the latter reaching a new peak. Currently on hiatus, Little Mix have had 33 Top 40 hits but for the second week in a row, one of their members fails to secure a second solo Top 40 entry. Last week, Jade reached No.93 with Midnight Cowboy, and this week it is the turn of Perrie to fall short, as her latest solo effort, You Go Your Way, disappoints at No.52 (8,637 sales), despite her appearance on The Graham Norton Show to sing it and chat, and the simultaneous release of CD, vinyl and cassette versions which contribute 587, 442 and 114 sales, respectively. Canadian singer PartyNextDoor’s 10th Top 75 hit in total and first since 2020 is No Chill, a track off his April No.26 album, PartyNextDoor 4, which climbs 96-74 (6,351 sales). Twenty-four last Sunday, American singer/songwriter Addison Rae continues to make rapid progress with her first hit Diet Pepsi, which improves its chart position for the sixth straight week since its No.73 debut in September, fizzing 22-15 (19,438 sales). There are also new peaks for: I Love You I’m Sorry (19-11, 23,252 sales) by Gracie Abrams; Pink Pony Club (17-13, 20,799 sales) by Chappell Roan; Too Cool To Be Careless (60-59, 7,923 sales) by Pawsa; and I Only Smoke When I Drink (74-61, 7,603 sales) by Nimino. A 2015 track which peaked at No.29 the following year, American heavy metal band Disturbed’s surprisingly restrained take on Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound Of Silence has been enjoying renewed chart action this year after being released in a dance remix by Australian DJ Cyril Riley. Originally in the Top 75 for seven weeks, it has spent the last 26 wandering between No.39 and No.53. It has therefore spent an overall total of 33 weeks in the Top 75. The track - which eases to No.49 (9,008 sales) this week after three in a row at No.48 - has therefore established a new record for most weeks in the Top 75, without reaching the Top 28, if there is such a thing. The remix has also been very good for the track’s consumption, which now stands at 1,526,063 units. Absent from the chart for more than 34 years, notorious late 1980s act Milli Vanilli return with two of their hits this week, 1989’s Blame It On The Rain (No.47, 9,545 sales) surpassing its original No.52 peak, and the same year’s follow-up Girl I’m Gonna Miss You, which peaked at No.2, back at No.40 (11,546 sales). The tracks are featured in the new Netflix biographical crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, as is Crowded House’s 1987 No.27 debut hit Don’t Dream It’s Over, which fared even better on re-release in 1995, reaching No.25, and now makes the Top 40 for the third time, re-entering at No.37 (11,885 sales). Meanwhile, a resurgence on TikTok helps 2023 No.2 hit Prada to return to the Top 40 at No.34 (12,302 sales) after a gap of 23 weeks for Cassö, Raye & D-Block Europe. Overall singles consumption is up 2.06% week-on-week to 29,672,017 units, 10.52% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,848,732 units. Paid-for sales are down 2.04% week-on-week at 282,878, 11.53% above same week 2023 sales of 253,628.

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