Charts analysis: Jamie T earns second consecutive No.1 with Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning)

Nearly 20 years after his chart debut and more than four years since his last album, Jamie T maintains his record of making the Top 5 with every release and reaches No.1 for the second time, with sixth studio album, Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) debuting at the summit. First week consumption of 18,494 units – 9,866 CDs, 6,565 vinyl albums, 461 cassettes, 379 digital downloads and 1,223 sales-equivalent streams – is enough for the 40-year-old singer/songwriter (real name Jamie Treays) to effect the 16th change of leadership at the top of the chart in as many weeks. The album’s first week consumption is 8.95% below the 20,311 units that earned his last album, The Theory Of Whatever, a No.1 debut in 2022. In fact, only one of Jamie T’s previous albums has had a smaller first week tally. His introductory album, Panic Prevention, debuted and peaked at No.4 and did so with his highest first week sale of 42,041 in 2007. Follow-up Kings & Queens debuted at No.2 on sales of 27,807 copies in 2009; third album Carry On The Grudge, debuted and peaked at No.4 while selling 19,925 copies in 2014; and fourth album Trick managed just 10,684 units when debuting at No.3 in 2016. Panic Prevention is his most successful album with to-date consumption of 322,546 units, followed by Kings & Queens on 188,480 sales, Carry On The Grudge on 132,183, Trick on 48,725 and The Theory Of Whatever on 42,928 units. Although Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) has the lowest consumption for a No.1 for four weeks, it is just enough to see off the challenge of Generic Everything which, had it performed a little better, would have been the first No.1 for veteran drum & bass duo Chase & Status, but instead becomes the third of their seven albums to debut at No.2, on consumption of 18,010 units. Their second and third albums, No More Idols and Brand New Machine, also reached at No.2, in 2011 and 2013, though on much higher first week sales of 52,224 and 26,900 units, respectively. Opening at No.9 (6,742 sales), She’s The Best, is the fourth studio album, sixth Top 75 and fourth Top 10 entry for South African-born Australian singer/songwriter Troye Sivan. The rest of the Top 10: You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (3-3, 10,910 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Essential (4-4, 9,578 sales) by Michael Jackson, The Art Of Loving (7-5, 8,156 sales) by Olivia Dean, Visitor (6-6, 8,007 sales) by Sienna Spiro, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (9-7, 7,150 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, Time Flies: 1994-2009 (10-8, 6,751 sales) by Oasis and The Highlights (11-10, 6,690 sales) by The Weeknd. It had a higher first week sale than any of its predecessors but Blossoms’ fifth No.1 makes a bigger second week tumble too, freefalling 1-69 (2,258 sales). The Life Of A Showgirl (8-14, 5,773 sales) by Taylor Swift, Rubber Soul (2-34, 3,419 sales) by The Beatles and last week’s No.5, The Age Of Everything by Johnny Marr – now uncharted (986 sales) – also vacate the Top 10. Non-alcoholic champagne all round! The Temperance Movement’s first album in eight years, and fourth studio set in all, New Promise Land Incorporated, debuts at No.11 (6,545 sales). The blues rock band, formed in 2011, reached No.12 with their eponymous 2013 debut; No.18 with second album, White Bear in 2016; and No.6 with third album, A Deeper Cut, in 2018. They also got to No.38 with Covers & Rarities in 2021, and No.35 with Caught On Stage: Live & Acoustic the following year. Wigan indie/rock quartet The Lilacs’ first full-length album, Keeping Up With The Joneses, debuts at No.12 (6,485 sales), building on the interest attracted by their 2025 EP, The 395 (To Forever), which peaked at No.120. Far from being a regular Pet Shop Boys album, A Man From The Future is an electronic/orchestral concept album of songs and spoken word tracks exploring the work of pioneering mathematician and code breaker Alan Turing, who committed suicide at the age of 41 in 1954 after being found guilty of homosexual offences. Debuting at No.19 (4,812 sales), the album earns The Pet Shop Boys their 31st Top 75 and 28th Top 40 entry. Also new to the Top 75: Live At Carnegie Hall (No.20, 4,895 sales), the first charted solo album by Geese frontman Cameron Winter, consisting primarily of piano-based versions of songs from his only solo studio album, Heavy Metal, which reached No.154 last year and has to-date consumption of 31,819 units; Poor Advice (No.28, 3,899 sales), the debut concept album by Dublin alt-rock/indie quartet Basht, which debuts at No.7 in their native Ireland; Palace For The People (No.40, 2,953 sales), the fourth album by Michigan hard rock quartet Greta Van Fleet, who previously reached No.12 with 2018 debut Anthem Of The Peaceful Army and No.8 with both second album The Battle At Garden’s Gate in 2021 and Starcatcher in 2023; and We Are Unpeople (No.62, 2,430 sales), the debut album by London rock/metal quartet Unpeople. Racking up its 112th consecutive week in the Top 75 – it has never actually dropped below No.44 – Sabrina Carpenter’s breakthrough sixth album Short N’ Sweet surges 38-21. Increasing consumption 60.53% week-on-week it is indebted to its new Collector’s Anniversary vinyl edition, which is not cheap, at £69.99, but is effective, securing first week consumption of 1,836 units to propel the album to a 22-week high. Short N’ Sweet’s to-date consumption: 1,072,790 units. Increasing its own consumption by seven units week-on-week, and defeating the challenge of Now Yearbook Extra 1971 by just 50 units, the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack is No.1 on the compilation chart again (2,832 sales including 373 Yoto cards, 14 CDs, 10 vinyl albums, 16 digital downloads and 2,419 sales-equivalent streams). It is a landmark 60th week at No.1 for the album, which thus establishes a new record for the compilation chart, surpassing the 59 weeks that The Greatest Showman spent in 31 different runs at the summit, between 2021 and 2025. The Greatest Showman previously spent 28 weeks at No.1 on the main album chart before being relegated to the compilation chart by a rule change. Overall album sales are down 1.96% week-on-week to 2,412,445 units, 6.27% below same week 2025 sales of 2,573,931. Physical product accounts for 303,854 sales, 12.60% of the total. PHOTO: Marco Grey

Women In Music Awards 2026: International Woman Of The Year winner Colleen Theis

At this year's Women In Music Awards, we celebrated the achievements of game-changing executives and artists as the industry came together to honour their work. Music Week has spoken to the winners in all 14 categories to tell their stories. Here, Colleen Theis, winner of our International Woman Of The Year award, tells her industry story… As one of the leading names in the global music industry, Colleen Theis, hardly needs an introduction. But let's give one anyway. The current president and COO of The Orchard, spent 12 years in the UK before joining the global music distribution and artist services company in 2011 as managing director of UK and Europe. Now based in New York, the Texas native has spent the past 15 years expanding operations across 52 cities worldwide, overseeing key markets across the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Under her leadership, The Orchard currently maintains the No.1 global market share among independent distributors. A committed champion of diversity and inclusion, Theis has proudly helped the company achieve 50/50 gender parity across its global workforce, with women leading multiple territories and holding senior global roles across various divisions. She is also a lead advisor to employee-led organisations Women Of The Orchard, Women In Tech and the Council For Equity And Progressive Action. In 2025, meanwhile, she was instrumental in launching The Orchard Physical European Network (OPEN), expanding physical distribution across Europe, the UK and Asia. She continues to guide major global distribution and partnership deals, while overseeing an extraordinarily diverse roster that includes Rimas Entertainment (Bad Bunny), Mass Appeal, LVRN, Napalm Records, Cleopatra Records, Frontiers Records, Oasis/Big Brother Recordings, Jorja Smith/FAMM, and Human Re Sources (Raye). Ahead of being crowned International Woman Of The Year, Music Week talked to the highly-respected executive about her career, The Orchard, gender parity, the next generation, Raye, Bad Bunny and more... How do you feel about winning this award? “I'm incredibly honoured, surprised and grateful – all those things. To be in a room full of strong, powerful women and people who love and support women, in that atmosphere, is just electric. I'd been to the awards in the past, and it's always a really great day of celebrating the achievements of women across the industry. It's surreal, frankly, to now be one of those people.” Because of your own journey, as well as mentoring women, does this mean more to you than other awards that you might get? “Oh, yes. To be honoured in this way by a jury of peers and people within the industry who think I'm worthy of receiving it is actually immensely powerful. It’s gratifying. I was honestly very surprised and very appreciative. So, thank you very much. There were lots of people in that room who I’ve worked with for decades, as well as people who I've worked with since the beginning of their careers, too.” When did The Orchard achieve 50/50 gender parity? “Probably around 2020. I've been at the company for 15 years, and while there were certainly women in VP-level and above positions at The Orchard at that time, our company as a whole has grown significantly. Some of those women are still in key leadership positions today, like Laura Tesoriero, who runs our Latin division. But our headcount grew exponentially as well during that period. As we were going through the recruiting process, it became about looking for the best candidate, who may or may not have been in our existing networks, whereas in the past, when you have a smaller company and there's just one role open, it's like, 'Oh, I'm going to call this person because I know they know how to do the job.' So our growth actually lent itself to building a much more diversified team because we were recruiting for more positions. We were definitely going after all kinds of people. In more than 50% of those cases, we brought on a woman. Today, we have women running many of our country, global and regional divisions. Most of them were homegrown inside the company over the last decade, while others we've recruited from different industries like advertising or journalism.” Are there any countries that are more patriarchal, per se, where it's surprising that you have a woman lead? “Yeah. Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Spain, our whole Latin division – all run by women. Also, France, run by a woman, Benelux, run by a woman, South Korea, Japan, run by women. Oh, my God. Nashville, run by a woman. Our Los Angeles office, less surprising, but also run by a woman. Our global relationship strategy and our global commerce strategy, all women. The head of our sync division. Our comms person, obviously; PX [People Experience], that's what we call human resources. DE&I, all women. Interestingly, the territories where we have women in charge are the ones that you would historically think are the most patriarchal, but they've built amazing businesses, maintained great relationships with clients and our parent company, and led their teams brilliantly. Unsurprisingly, a lot of their teams are also female-leaning.” Why do you think now is the time for you personally to be in the spotlight? “Well, I think The Orchard has reached a level that is thankfully the highest it's ever been, continuing our growth year-on-year. We are in a position now where the industry is closely watching what we do. Leading by example and having strong female leadership across all countries and divisions sets the bar for others to emulate, hopefully.” So, do you think you're at the top of your game? “No, we're never at the top of our game [laughs]. I still suffer from some level of imposter syndrome, but I think that keeps me and The Orchard team hungry. We know the business just keeps moving, so we need to stay out in front, and keep evolving and learning more. Besides, how can I be at the top of my game? The industry is changing every day so rapidly.” How do you think you're perceived by the UK's music industry? “I'm not sure. I have dual citizenship and lived in the UK for 12 years, but I've been away now for 12 years – so it’s an even split. I think that people who have been in the business for a long time know me, but there is probably a whole new generation in the industry who have no clue who I am, which is fine [laughs]. As for how I'm perceived, I would hope that people view my time in the UK – and I actually was with three different companies during my tenure there – as helping transform the local industry, offering opportunities to women in particular and people generally, and building what has become such an important part of our industry, which is the distribution space. There were obviously many players before The Orchard; I was with one that was more traditional, and then moved to one that was definitely not traditional at that time.” Having been away for a dozen years, what's your perspective on the UK industry now? “It's very exciting to see some amazing new artists breaking through on their own terms. For me, UK music is always going to be among the top globally. For the variety and depth of genres that come out of a country that is relatively small in terms of population, it's had such an outsized impact on music and popular culture. “It's great to see some really amazing women leading the way – the obvious ones, Adele, Olivia Dean, and our own Raye. These are women driving the business with their own vision and their own voice, while helping others do the same. So, obviously, the BRIT School is something that those artists have in common, and it's really cool that those kinds of opportunities are afforded to help nurture and develop talent across all facets of the creative industries – the business side, the technical side and the performing side. The committee that runs the BRITs, everything around that is, for me, just incredible. The results speak for themselves. It’s an incredibly impactful way to keep nurturing British talent and exporting it.” If you could pinpoint the impact you've made on the company, one thing you’ve led the charge on, what might that be? “Everything is always a team effort with us. But if I had to think about the global exec team, I'm the one that leans into the people. There are people that are strategy; there are people that are operational; there are people that are creative; there are people that are relationships and people-people. I think I'm a decent talent spotter and, hopefully, a good nurturer of that talent – whether it's internal people, people across the industry, young labels and managers, artists themselves. I'm not saying I'm a great A&R; I'm saying I know how to recognise and nurture talent.” Leading by example and having strong female leadership across all countries and divisions sets the bar for others to emulate, hopefully Colleen Theis, The Orchard Based on the young people you’ve mentored, what's your view on the next generation? “I'm learning from them every day. Nothing is ever going to stay the same as it was, and the greatest mistake that any person in their professional or personal life could make is to assume that tomorrow is always going to be like today. So, for us to be able to learn from the younger generation, the people who are going to be stewarding the industry, is absolutely critical.” What are you seeing in them? “They have an energy. They don't carry the baggage of the past or traditional ways of doing things, so they're not afraid to lean in and try a new approach to artist development – or work with an artist who doesn't fit into a certain genre or format. They don't care about any of that stuff. And that's amazing. Sure, they're digital natives and they're living their best lives behind a screen sometimes, but that's fine because that's where the world is going. You don't have to fully lean in, but you do have to accept that’s where the conversations are taking place, where opinions are being formed, and where loyalties and fandom grows, in addition to the live aspect. Data matters, of course, but nobody starts with a great data profile, right? It starts with a feeling, discovery and sharing something special with your friends and having them all feeling like they're part of something. This newest generation has that down better perhaps than any of us ever have, and they have more tools at their disposal to understand how to turn that into a meaningful business.” Do you see ageism in the industry, where people with experience are being pushed out for younger blood? “Sure. There's always this desire to bring in young minds who can see what's next, but understanding where we’ve come from is incredibly important for knowing where we can go. We still have Richard [Gottehrer], our 86-year-old founder, coming into the office several times a week. His main job description is to help teach the younger generations about how to link the past to the future – how to always keep an open mind while providing the business context to help drive where we’re going. So, sure, the easy knee-jerk reaction is for someone to say they're ‘too old’. And it's short-sighted. There's a big difference between someone who is super stuck in their ways and not willing to adapt and someone who is willing to keep their relationships fresh, read about what's happening, go out to shows, understand technology, be open to new business models, all of these things.” In terms of artist stories The Orchard has been involved in, how do you reflect on Raye’s success in recent years? “Oh, my gosh. Well, the talent was always there. It was just her clearing the path so that she could have a voice and deliver her own vision as an artist, rather than just a featured vocalist or contributor, in the exact style she wanted to do it. She's with Bruno [Mars] in America on a stadium tour right now, and she even flew home for one weekend to headline Reading and Leeds before flying right back to jump on the tour. Of course, she feels it, but it's less taxing because she's doing it on her own terms. She has her family management company, she owns the rights to her music, and she partners with Human Re Sources and us. She's getting to do it the way that she wants to do it.” Bad Bunny has been another huge recent success story at The Orchard. Can you talk about the company’s relationship with him and how or why it works? “It's a similar construct to what we talked about with Raye. He is fully in charge of his vision – his music, his style, the assets he releases, and the manner in which he releases them. We partner with him to make sure that it all goes smoothly, but we're definitely not telling him, 'That's a terrible idea. You shouldn't do it this way.' We're not saying, 'Oh, turn up the bass on this song.' It's all on him. And so full credit to Noah [Assad], who's his partner, who's the head of Rimas [Entertainment] and Benito [Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny’s real name] and the whole team that they have. They actually have a very strong vision for what they want to represent, and their bigger ‘why’ is about Puerto Rico and their pride in their island. That has been the consistent thread throughout their music the entire time and all of the campaigns, and it's obviously paid off. He gives a lot back to the island. He has a foundation [The Good Bunny Foundation/Fundación Good Bunny] and people like him because he's genuine, extremely talented and he's a good person. I'm sure there are many other great people out there who would love to have that kind of success, too. And hopefully some will. We need some new big superstars.” What's next at The Orchard? “Listen, our job is to make creatives. We are creative, but we're creative in a business sense. And our job is to make our creative partners' lives easier and help them reach their goals and their dreams. A lot of the time, we're getting direct feedback from them or taking them in to beta test new technical products or talking about perceived gaps and how we can make our business better. So, we're always going to be rolling out new offerings and fine- tuning what we do. For us, distribution is just the baseline. And then it's about that strategic relationship with the clients and how we help them grow their business, because ultimately we're working with entrepreneurs.” Now you’ve got the floor, what's your message to women of all ages in the business? “My message is to keep lifting each other up, to keep finding ways to widen the scope of opportunities for female artists, creatives and business people, and to work together to lift all boats for everybody.” And your message for the wider industry? “That message would be: don't undervalue music and intellectual property. We must defend the rights of artists at a time where things are changing so rapidly, and make sure that we're placing the right value on the human voice and human creativity.” PHOTO: Louise Haywood-Schiefer/Panni Renner