How UK returning artists at No.1 boosted consumption for week one results on the albums chart

How UK returning artists at No.1 boosted consumption for week one results on the albums chart

The narrative around British music has been negative in recent months with domestic acts crowded out of the top of the singles charts by US stars.

It’s happening again in 2025 with chart-topping results for Gracie Abrams and now Bruno Mars in contention with Apt, his collaboration with Rosé, a member of South Korean group Blackpink.

Last year the one UK-only single released in 2024 to hit No.1 was Backbone by Chase & Status and Stormzy. Charli XCX also reached the summit with Guess (feat. US artist Billie Eilish), while Wham! also had a spell at No.1 with catalogue hit Last Christmas.

There was a different story in the albums chart, though. While the year-end Top 10 was dominated by LPs from US artists including Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Sabrina Carpenter, Noah Kahan, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo, the weekly results were more encouraging.

There were 23 weeks at the albums summit for UK acts in 2024, each of them for a single week. Furthermore, so far in 2025 the No.1 spot has been occupied by Ed Sheeran and Elton John.

Returning UK artists put in a strong performance in 2024. with the majority of chart-toppers making gains in week one compared to their previous entry. Music Week reported the results in our charts trends story in the latest print edition.

Artists teams’ targeting of fans has been paying off in week one. For the whole market, overall physical sales registered their first year-on-year increase in two decades, while vinyl sales were up again (9.1% increase in units).

Based on Music Week analysis, UK returning artists at No.1 who saw a boost in week one sales for a new album this year include Shed Seven (twice), D-Block Europe, James Arthur, Idles, Rod Stewart, James, Beabadoobee, Dua Lipa, Blossoms, Coldplay, Charli XCX, The Cure and Michael Ball & Alfie Boe.

Overall, 14 chart-topping LPs by British acts saw an increase in week one sales compared to their previous album. Six UK artists who made No.1 experienced a decline on their previous result. 

Of the other UK No.1s, The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude To Ecstasy was a debut release, while Oasis was a catalogue reissue of a former No.1 and Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent had already reached the summit in the prior year.

British music can continue to grow and remain a global headline act

Jo Twist

Some of the week one results were dramatic, such as Coldplay’s Moon Music (237,338 units, +134%), Charli XCX’s Brat (27,234 units, +69%) and Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism (46,298, +35%) all via Warner Music labels

“Everything starts with the artist proposition and grasping all the opportunities that comes with it, looking at the confluence of product, audience and artist,” said Natasha Billing, SVP, commercial and data insight at Warner Music UK.

“With returning artists, there is also a valuable audience engagement strategy that needs to be defined – it isn’t just the existing audiences that need to be reignited and energised but also the opportunity to build new ones on the channels and platforms where they spend most of their time,” she added. “The commercial team at Warner Music work closely with our label partners to unlock the full suite of activation and promotional opportunities across DSPs and channels.”

Billing said opportunities to drive discovery and consumption for returning artists include Spotify Countdown and Discovery mode, Amazon Originals, Apple Music Zane Lowe interviews and YouTube afterparties, as well as leveraging initiatives from creators on Meta platforms and TikTok.

“We work to assess all opportunities through the fan funnel to drive discovery as well as consumption,” she added. “All of this is underpinned by data to ensure that we are informing plans with robust insight.”

Coldplay’s Moon Music was the biggest album of Q4 and made No.9 on the year-end chart (287,167 units). 

Thanks to consistent streaming and a special edition which took it to No.1, Charli XCX’s Brat finished the year at No.8 over (288,989 units). It has since gone platinum with sales to date of 302,274 (68,888 physical units, 2,364 downloads and 231,122 sales-equivalent streams). 

Shed Seven had two No.1s with label Cooking Vinyl, both of which improved upon their previous result.

“Labels, distributors and artists have woken up and are now all adopting proactive pre-order campaigns that are targeted across a band’s entire audience,” said Cooking Vinyl MD Rob Collins. “This allows for multiple formats, limited editions, signed copies, in-stores, out-stores and exclusive ticket access. If you know the audience and you have a proactive band on socials who are willing to put the graft in, then you can build a strategy over four to six months that drives a large pre-order.”

BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE noted the success of albums by Raye, The Last Dinner Party and Charli XCX, as well as the first Top 10 LPs for English Teacher, Crawlers, Caity Baser, Wunderhorse and The K's and singles success for Myles Smith, Lola Young, Jordan Adetunji and Artemas.

“UK talent isn’t going anywhere, and there have been a host of British breakthroughs this year from new and diverse acts,” said Twist. “But in the hyper-competitive global music economy, label businesses are needed more than ever to help nurture, invest in and promote that talent.”

She added; “We all know there are challenges ahead – not least with intensifying global competition and the risks to human creativity that come with generative AI if its potential is not realised in the right way – but we firmly believe that with the right support, and with our industry working effectively together, British music can continue to grow and remain a global headline act.”

 

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