Post-punk quintet Fontaines DC score an emphatic first No.1 with their third album, Skinty Fia, debuting atop the chart on consumption of 19,983 units (12,387 on vinyl, 4,262 CDs, 788 cassettes, 919 digital downloads and 1,627 sales-equivalent streams).
Skinty Fia – its title, apparently an archaic Gaelic expression – is the fourth album by an Irish act to top the chart in the 2020s, following releases from Niall Horan, Inhaler and The Script. Currently based in London, Fontaines DC’s lead singer and youngest member (26) Grian Chatten was born in Cumbria, while guitarist Carlos O’Connell was born in Madrid. Chatten moved to Ireland at a month old, while O’Connell, now 27, and of mixed Spanish and Irish heritage, didn’t move to Ireland until he was 18.
Fontaines DC’s 2019 debut, Dogrel, reached No.9 on first week sales of 7,197, while follow-up A Hero’s Death sold 19,040 copies debuting and peaking at No.2 in 2020.
Despite its lower peak, Dogrel is Fontaines DC’s biggest seller, with to-date consumption of 70,025 units, compared to A Hero’s Death’s 47,671. All of the group’s albums are on US-based indie label Partisan, whose only prior No.1 and biggest weekly sale (27,182) came in 2020 in the form of UK band Idles’ Ultra Mono.
Skinty Fia’s spirited debut condemns Ed Sheeran’s = to No.2 (7,729 sales) for the 12th time in total and second week in a row.
Space rock veterans Spiritualized secure their 11th chart hit but only third Top 10 entry in a 30-year chart career with ninth studio album, Everything Was Beautiful, debuting at No.5 (4,622 sales). Let It Come Down, achieved their best ever position (No.3) and weekly sale (26,844) on debut in 2001. Their biggest selling album overall, however, remains their third, Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, No.4 in 1997 and with to-date consumption of 209,287 units.
Although their line-up is fluid and ever-changing, Spiritualized is effectively a vehicle for their founder and only constant member, 56-year-old Jason Pierce, who single-handedly wrote and produced every track on Everything Was Beautiful, also playing 16 instruments, although the album – recorded in 11 studios – is far from a solo effort, including contributions from more than 30 other musicians.
American rapper Pusha T’s fourth studio album, It’s Almost Dry, includes collaborations with Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West – the latter on Dreamin Of The Past which borrows extensively from John Lennon’s Jealous Guy – and delivers his first Top 10 entry, debuting at No.7 (4,418 sales).
Little Mix’s Between Us compilation has been gaining ground since before their pre-hiatus Confetti tour began. Climbing for the fourth week in a row (5-3, 5,086 sales), it surpasses the previous peak of No.4 it achieved on debut 23 weeks ago, and again 16 weeks ago.
The rest of the Top 10: Sour (3-4, 4,921 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, Noughty By Nature (1-6, 4,526 sales) by Digga D, Fine Line (7-8, 4,126 sales) by Harry Styles, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (6-9, 4,065 sales) by Fleetwood Mac and The Highlights (11-10, 3,992 sales) by The Weeknd.
Exiting the Top 10 are Curtain Call: The Hits (8-11, 3,913 sales) by Eminem, Wet Leg (4-12, 3,881 sales), Divide (9-13, 3,743 sales) by Ed Sheeran and Diamonds (10-15, 3,494 sales) by Elton John.
Not to be mistaken for an octogenarian folk legend with a similar name, Bob Vylan is a self-styled DIY grime/punk duo from London running their own Ghost Theatre label out of their bedrooms. Comprising singer, Bobby Vylan and, confusingly, drummer Bobbie Vylan, the pair’s first full length album, Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life – 15 tracks with a playing time of 34 minutes – debuts at No.18 (3,362 sales).
Hard rock quartet Stone Broken from Walsall fell short of the Top 200 with 2016 debut, All In Time but second album Ain't Always Easy reached No.37 in 2018, and third album, Revelation, fares even better this week, debuting at No.27 (2,453 sales).
Fifty-six years after they were bandmates in short-lived folk/blues quartet Rising Sons, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder are finally back together for their collaborative album, Get On Board (No.55, 1,882 sales), which includes several songs from Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee’s 1952 album of the same name. It delivers Cooder’s 11th chart album, Mahal’s first. Cooder is 75-years-old and Mahal is 79 – but they aren’t quite the oldest duo to have a chart album. That would be Willie Nelson (82), and Merle Haggard (78) whose sixth collaboration Django & Jimmie reached No.66 in June 2015, when Nelson was 82 and Haggard was 78.
Also new to the chart: Toy (No.54, 1,890 sales), a five track Record Store Day EP issued on vinyl and CD to become David Bowie’s 72nd Top 75 entry (74th including Tin Machine albums).
Record Store Day also impacted many other albums, but the only one to return to the chart is The Streets’ 2002 No.10 debut Original Pirate Material, newly-released on orange vinyl and a re-entry at No.36 (2,226 sales).
Queen legend Brian May’s second solo set, Another World - which peaked at No.23 in 1998 – reaches a new peak, re-entering at No.14 (3,596 sales) after being released in a remastered, expanded edition. It is part of his ‘Gold Series’ of reissues, which also saw his 1992 No.6 solo set, Back To The Light, reach No.7 following its update last August.
Tyler The Creator’s 2021 No.4 album Call Me If You Get Lost is on vinyl for the first time. It ended a 35-week absence from the Top 200 to reach No.79 when supplies starting dribbling through last week, and now surges to No.47 (2,004 sales).
Now That’s What I Call Music! 111 spends a third week at the top of the compilation chart (4,642 sales).
Given a gentle boost by Record Store Day, which saw more than 500 releases hit the streets, overall album sales are up 4.67% week-on-week to 2,020,993 – 10.54% above same week 2021 sales of 1,828,329. Physical product accounts for 327,850 sales, 16.22% of the total. Vinyl sales climbed 123.35% week-on-week to 145,988 sales, their highest level for 18 weeks.
