Fontaines DC have landed their second No.1 with huge sales and streams for Dopamine Chamber (XL Recordings).
The Irish band’s fifth album opened at No.1 on consumption of 70,105 units (14,235 CDs, 37,501 vinyl albums, 1,796 cassettes, 1,479 digital downloads and 15,094 sales-equivalent streams), according to the Official Charts Company. It outsold the next eight albums in the Top 10.
Dopamine Chamber has achieved the third biggest opening of the year, behind Harry Styles and Olivia Rodrigo. As revealed in Alan Jones’ charts analysis, it is the highest weekly sale of an album by an act from the Republic of Ireland since 2010, when The Script’s Science & Faith opened with 70,816 units.
As well as moving more than 50,000 physical copies, the 15,094 sales equivalent streams total for Dopamine Chamber is the third biggest ever for a rock act, ahead of Sam Fender’s 13,377 for People Watching which opened with bigger total sales of 91,133 last year.
The streaming result helps to deliver Fontaines DC their highest-charting single with Marianne. Having already become their first Top 20 hit, it rebounded 41-12 with a further 18,600 units and consumption up 137.6% week-on-week. Consumption to date stands at 98,837 units.
Fontaines DC also have new entries at No.14 with Japan and No.18 with Demolition. Chart rules limit primary artists to three entries, otherwise Fontaines DC would have had 10 Top 40 singles this week.
The only albums by rock acts with bigger weekly streaming totals in the UK are Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino by Arctic Monkeys (18,016 sales-equivalent streams) and Everyday Life by Coldplay (15,944 sales-equivalent streams)
Dopamine Chamber secured the highest weekly so far for Fontaines DC, surpassing the 43,034 units for previous album Romance, when it debuted and peaked at No.2 in 2024. Romance is Fontaines DC’s most-consumed album with 350,882 units to date.
The band’s catalogue has received a chart boost with Romance moving 58-46 and Skinty Fia (Partisan) returning to the Top 100 at No.87.
Music Week delves into the Fontaines DC campaign in the new edition with XL Recordings, Wildlife Entertainment and Roam Artists.
“This groundswell of a broader, younger, mixed gender audience gravitating towards the band and their music, began before we even started releasing tracks from the Romance album,” said XL Recordings MD Ben Beardsworth. “We are lucky that it’s happened on our watch, but it’s also been a perfect match of artist and label – our global system, and the way we operate it, is built for delivering this type of growth in every single territory of the world.”
It has been a joy and a privilege to witness the band scaling the peaks of their powers in this way
Ben Beardsworth
With around one million monthly listeners on Spotify when they signed to XL Recordings in 2023, Fontaines DC have grown that to 12.3 million monthly listeners on the platform.
“Fontaines have benefited from the fact that we have our own staff promoting our digital releases at the local offices of the big international DSPs in all significant record markets in the world, focused only on our relatively tiny Beggars release schedule,” said Beardsworth. “This same approach has also been applied to generate good numbers from local DSPs where they exist too.
“Vinyl has also been an important part of building the band's fanbase. Our people globally are in close contact with hundreds of great record stores worldwide, and worked tirelessly to make sure Romance was, and is, always in stock everywhere.”
XL organised 374 Dopamine Chamber listening parties in record stores in 38 countries across the world.
The success for the album campaign follows the tragic loss of longtime manager Trevor Dietz, who was just 47.
“Wildlife Management have been awesomely effective – genuinely inspirational to work with – despite the heartbreaking loss of Trevor Dietz, whose importance to Fontaines DC, and specialness as a human being, cannot be overstated,” said Beardsworth.
The band head out on a European arena tour this month including UK dates culminating at The O2 on November 27. Fontaines DC then play their biggest ever shows next year with stadium and open-air gigs.
“There is a long way to go yet for the Dopamine Chamber campaign and Fontaines DC generally, but thus far it has been a joy and a privilege to witness the band scaling the peaks of their powers in this way,” added Beardsworth.
PHOTO: Charlie Barclay Harris
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