Charts analysis: The Libertines land first No.1 album in 20 years

The Libertines’ first album in more than eight years, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, is also their first No.1 for nearly 20 years, debuting atop the chart on first week consumption of 21,706 units (10,183 CDs, 8,601 vinyl albums, 370 cassettes, 1,371 digital downloads and 1,181 sales-equivalent streams). The follow-up to Anthems For Doomed Youth – which debuted and peaked at No.3 (23,620 sales) in 2015 – it returns them to the top of the chart for the first time since their eponymous second album sold 72,189 copies to open at No.1 in 2004. Their other studio set, 2002 debut Up The Bracket, sold 7,576 copies debuting and peaking at No.35. All four members of The Libertines – Carl Barât (45), Pete Doherty (45), John Halsall (43) and Gary Powell (54) – have been with the group since pre-fame, although they have disbanded and reformed on two separate occasions. That self-titled 2004 album achieved sales of 183 units in the latest frame, enough for it to become their first album to pass the half million sales mark, with to-date consumption of 500,140 units. Nearly seven years after the release of their first single, Sarajevo, indie/rock/punk band The K’s, from Earlestown in Merseyside, have finally got round to releasing an album, specifically I Wonder if The World Knows?, which makes a strong debut at No.3 (12,546 sales). The K’s members are Ryan Breslin (30, lead guitar), James Boyle (28, vocals and guitar), Dexter Baker (28, bass) and Nathan Peers (23, drums). Californian singer/songwriter Conan Gray, 25, has his highest charting album yet, debuting at No.4 (9,505 sales) with third release, Found Heaven, having reached No.30 with 2020 debut Kid Krow and No.8 with 2022 follow-up Superache. Kid Krow has to-date consumption of 76,609 units, and Superache 70,392. Gray’s only hit single, Heather – from Kid Krow - reached No.17 in 2020, and has achieved to-date consumption of 796,840 units. Rapper J Cole scores his seventh Top 40 and fourth Top 10 album with Might Delete Later (No.7, 7,933 sales). It follows consecutive No.2 albums with 2018’s KOD and 2021’s The Off-Season, both of which topped 20k first week sales here - KOD opening with 20,749 and The Off-Season with 21,050. Feeder’s 12th studio release, Black/Red, is their 15th chart album, and 11th Top 10 entry, debuting at No.8 (7,358 sales). Originally a quartet, they are currently a duo, comprising Welshman Grant Nicholas (who also writes all the songs) and Japanese colleague Taka Hirose, who have both been members of the band for more than 29 years. The rest of the Top 10: Cowboy Carter (1-2, 14,879 sales) by Beyonce, Guts (2-5, 8,669 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Highlights (3-6, 8,665 sales) by The Weeknd, Eternal Sunshine (4-9, 7,182 sales) by Ariana Grande and Stick Season (5-10, 7,019 sales) by Noah Kahan. The bottom half of last week’s Top 10 all take their leave of the top tier. They are: 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-14, 5,445 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (10-15, 5,140 sales), Diamonds (9-17, 5,029 sales) by Elton John, We Don’t Trust You (6-23, 4,540 sales) by Future & Metro Boomin and – no longer in the Top 200 – last week’s No.8, Interplay (628 sales) by Ride. It is the busiest week of 2024 for new entries with 12 in the Top 75. Among them is space rock legends Hawkwind’s 36th studio album and 28th chart entry, Stories From Time And Space (No.51, 2,499 sales). Still fronted by 1969 founder member, Dave Brock, now 82, the quintet also includes 67-year-old Richard Chadwick and 65-year-old Tim Lewis. The ages of its two other members – Magnus Martin and Doug MacKinnon – have proved elusive. Hawkwind’s labelmates at Cherry Red Records – itself 46 in a couple of months – Cock Sparrer also nearly made the Top 75 this week. Their eighth and final album, Hand On Heart, falls short of that target but manages to make the Top 100, debuting at No.96 (1,787 sales). In so doing, it makes the East Enders the oldest group to start its Top 100 album chart career. Originally a glam rock cover band formed by four schoolboys in 1972, Cock Sparrer went on to become one of the top punk bands, despite their lack of chart success. They have gone on hiatus twice along the way but original members Colin McFaull (vocals), Mick Beaufoy (lead guitar), Steve Burgess (bass) and Steve Bruce (drums), have been ever-presents on their records. Bruce and Beaufoy are both 69, Burgess is 68 and McFaull is 67, while their fifth member – ‘new boy’ Daryl Smith (rhythm guitar) who joined a mere 32 years ago - is 51, meaning their average age is 65. Cock Sparrer also make their first ever chart appearance in Germany this week, with Hand On Heart making an impressive debut at No.13. Also new to the Top 75: Only God Was Above Us (No.11, 6,964 sales), the fifth Top 20 album (their entire output) by New York indie trio Vampire Weekend, whose last release – 2019’s Father of The Bride – was their top title, reaching No.2; Ohio Players (No.13, 5,484 sales), the 12th studio album by Ohio duo The Black Keys and their ninth chart album ending a sequence of five Top 10 entries in a row; Fireworks & Rollerblades (No.16, 5,044 sales), the first album by 21-year-old Benson Boone, and home to his recent No.1 single Beautiful Things; A La Sala (No.18, 4,999 sales), the fifth chart entry for Texan trio Khruangbin; Humble As The Sun (No.22, 4,635 sales), the second release and chart entry by self-styled DIY grime/punk duo Bob Vylan from London; and Bryson Tiller (No.34, 3,471 sales), the eponymous fourth album and fourth chart entry by the Kentucky singer/rapper. Seventeen artist albums had consumption in excess of 5,000 units – the highest tally for 16 weeks. One compilation also crossed that threshold - Now That’s What I Call Music! 117, which debuts atop the compilation chart on sales of 10,351 copies (9,141 CDs, 1,210 digital downloads). That’s 6.61% above the 9,709 units that earned its immediate predecessor, Now! 116, a No.1 debut last November but 5.44% below the 10,946 sales its 2023 equivalent, Now! 114, sold on debut last April. Overall album sales are up 2.11% week-on-week at 2,384,366, 15.28% above same week 2023 sales of 2,068,404. Physical product accounts for 330,121 sales, 13.85% of the total.

Charts analysis: Beyoncé achieves albums and singles chart double

Yee-haw! Beyoncé’s stylistic switch seems to have done her no harm at all, with country-flavoured eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, racing to a No.1 debut on consumption of 39,990 units (3,660 CDs, 6,092 vinyl albums, 3,846 digital downloads and 26,392 sales-equivalent streams). That’s the highest weekly consumption of any album since Take That’s This Life opened at the summit with 116,163 sales, some 18 weeks ago, in November 2023, and beats the previous best 2024 tally – set by Liam Gallagher & John Squire’s eponymous set – by 595. Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé’s fifth No.1 solo album, following Dangerously In Love, which sold 113,117 as it opened atop the list in 2003; 4, which sold 89,211 copies when it debuted at No.1 in 2011; Lemonade, which stormed to the summit on sales of 73,392 copies on debut in 2016; and its immediate predecessor, Renaissance, which had consumption of 31,064 units on its 2022 debut. She also reached No.1 as a member of Destiny's Child, whose third of five studio albums Survivor scorched to pole position on sales of 117,967 in 2001. Beyonce’s biggest-selling album is her third studio set, I Am…Sasha Fierce, which sold 38,010 copies debuting at No.10 in November 2008, had its highest sale of 102,536 copies four weeks later when ranking No.24 in the Christmas chart, and eventually peaked at No.2 on its 39th week in the chart. Home to four Top 10 singles, its consumption to date is 1,906,836 units. Dangerously in Love has sold 1,359,426 copies; 4 has sold 910,132; 2013’s eponymous Beyonce, which reached No.2, has sold 796,873 copies; Lemonade has sold 555,597 copies; B’day has sold 786,624 copies, split between the original No.3 2006 album (513,955 sales), and a 2007 revamp, which was different enough to be charted separately, reaching No.8 and selling 272,669 copies; and Renaissance has sold 270,342 copies. Beyonce had two million selling albums with Destiny’s Child, 2001 chart-topper Survivor – their third album - selling 1,148,717 copies, just ahead of their second album, 1999’s The Writing’s On The Wall, which only peaked at No.10 but has sold 1,140,656 copies. Among female soloists, Beyoncé now ranks alongside Celine Dion and Ariana Grande, who also have five solo No.1 albums to their name. Only Madonna (12), Taylor Swift (11), Kylie Minogue (nine), Barbra Streisand (seven) and Lana Del Rey (6) have more. With first single, Texas Hold ‘Em, returning to the singles chart summit, Beyoncé does the double of topping the singles and albums chart simultaneously, for the second time. She previously led both lists for three straight weeks in 2003 with the single Crazy In Love (feat. Jay-Z) and the album Dangerously In Love. Topping both charts simultaneously isn’t actually that rare – Noah Kahan has already done it this year, and in the whole of chart history 133 different albums have topped the chart at the same time as a single by the same act, with the double being achieved for a total of 302 weeks. It is almost always a solo thing these days – the last group to top both charts at the same time was One Direction, back in 2012. Beyoncé is the first artist to simultaneously top the singles and albums chart with country repertoire, and Cowboy Carter is the first country album by a Black artist to top the main album chart – but not the first by a Black female solo artist to top the Country Album Chart, arriving at that chart’s summit five years after UK singer/songwriter Yola’s Walk Through Fire did so. Arriving more than 33 years after their 1990 debut, Nowhere, ‘shoegaze’ legends Ride’s seventh album, Interplay, delivers their fourth Top 10 entry, debuting at No.8 (5,387 sales). The follow-up to This Is Not A Safe Place, which debuted at No.7 (5,031 sales) in 2019, it means they have had back-to-back Top 10 albums for the second time in their career, having done so previously with Going Blank Again and Carnival Of Light, consecutive No.5 albums in 1992 and 1994. Their line-up - unchanged since their 1988 formation in Oxford - is vocalist/guitarist Andy Bell (53-years-old), guitarist Mark Gardener (54), bassist Steve Quaralt (56) and drummer Loz Colbert (53). The rest of the Top 10: Guts (3-2, 9,246 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Highlights (5-3, 8,973 sales) by The Weeknd, Eternal Sunshine (4-4, 8,785 sales) by Ariana Grande, Stick Season (6-5, 6,890 sales) by Noah Kahan, We Don’t Trust You (2-6, 6,395 sales) by Future & Metro Boomin, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (9-7, 5,887 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, Diamonds (10-9, 5,281 sales) by Elton John and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (8-10, 5,144 sales). Their three previous No.1 albums never falling lower than No.12 of their second weeks on the chart, Elbow suffer their most vertiginous drop yet with Audio Vertigo tumbling 1-45 (2,523 sales). No.7 last week, Glasgow Eyes exits the Top 200 (672 sales) for The Jesus And Mary Chain. Set to disband next January at the end of their current, very extensive farewell tour, Canadian punk/pop legends Sum 41’s eighth and final studio album is Heaven :x: Hell. Comprising 19 originals, and a cover of The Rolling Stones’ 1966 No.1 Paint It Black, it maintains their record of making the Top 75 with every release, debuting at No.26 (3,611 sales). Their only Top 10 album, All Killer No Filler – No.7 in 2001 – has sold more copies than the rest combined – 612,193 copies – and is home to their only Top 20, and most-consumed, hits In Too Deep (No.13, 1,154,799 sales) and Fat Up (No.8, 859,470 sales). Heaven :x: Hell is the third chart album to feature a cover of Paint It Black so far in the 2020s, following Saxon’s 2021 No.56 album Inspirations and Duran Duran’s 2023 No.4 album, Danse Macabre. Also new to the Top 75: Hope On The Street Vol.1 (No.38, 2,590 sales), a six-song, 19 minute EP, and the second solo chart entry by BTS member J-Hope; and Self Hell (No.51, 2,415 sales), the sixth chart album – their entire output – by Sheffield metal quintet While She Sleeps. Four weeks after debuting at No.50, anonymous collective Cocomelon - who specialise in children’s songs and are YouTube sensations – scale a new peak with their belated first chart album, 2021 set Nursery Rhymes By Cocomelon 37-29 (2,830 sales). Hazbin Hotel: Season 1 is No.1 compilation for the second week in a row and eighth week in all on consumption of 3,708 units (67 digital downloads, 3,641 sales-equivalent streams). Overall album sales are down 3.52% week-on-week at 2,335,197, 4.52% above same week 2023 sales of 2,234,125. Physical product accounts for 283,481 sales, 12.14% of the total.

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