Charts analysis: Paul Weller scores fifth No.1 album

At the age of 62, Paul Weller this week claims his fifth No.1 album as On Sunset takes him to the top of the charts for the first time since 2012. The album's weekly sale of 24,011 is impressive enough, but by its mere presence it ensures he writes himself firmly into chart history. Now boasting solo No.1 albums in the '90s, '00s, '10s and '20s he becomes only the second man and fourth act overall to top the charts in four consecutive decades. This matches a feat previously achieved by Cliff Richard ('60s through '90s), The Rolling Stones (ditto) and Kylie Minogue ('80s through '10s). But, as we all know, Paul Weller's career in music reaches beyond his long solo career. Thanks to chart-topping albums in the 1980s with both The Jam and Style Council he is the only artist to have reached No.1 with brand new music in five consecutive decades. John Lennon and Paul McCartney have both in the past appeared on No.1 albums for five decades in a row, but neither with completely new material in each case. Having been repeatedly cited as a major influence by the murdered rapper, 50 Cent took it upon himself to ensure the legacy of Pop Smoke would be properly cemented. It means the debut album proper by the late performer is a truly all-star affair, the work Smoke had managed to complete before his death augmented by a host of guest names. But that has been more than enough to make it one of the most essential releases of the week. To go with the streaming domination its tracks enjoyed (see the singles analysis for full details) the album itself charges straight into the charts at No.2. Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon clocks up a sale of 19,758 based, as you would expect, almost entirely on streams with just 474 of those copies paid downloads. As its title suggests Cinema Paradiso is Katherine Jenkins' obligatory movie album, 15 songs made famous by film soundtracks, all performed by the UK's biggest classical star of the century with her usual clinical perfection. Extraordinarily, it this week becomes her highest-charting album for a great many years, landing at No.3 (9,166 sales), her first Top 10 album since 2016 and the first to reach the Top 3 since Rejoice way back in December 2007. Her biggest seller – just – is 2005 release Living A Dream, which has posted 566,580 copies to date. First released in digital-only form seven weeks ago, Sparks' 24th studio album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip was finally granted a physical release this week and so charts for the first time, debuting at No.7 to become only their fourth Top 10 album ever, matching the peak scaled by Hippopotamus back in 2017. The album sold 5,151 copies last week, having accumulated a mere 675 digitally before now. Metalcore heroes Bury Tomorrow have been steadily edging up the charts with each successive release. Their fourth chart album Cannibal takes them into the dizzy heights of the Top 10 for the very first time as it debuts at No.10 with 3,774 sales. "We are the ONLY artist in the UK midweek top 20 chart that are not backed by a major label & the ONLY artists with an album entirely produced by a womxn" boasted Dream Wife on Twitter last Wednesday as they urged fans to help them keep up the momentum. (Indie giant BMG does have two albums in the Top 20.) Two and a half years after their eponymous debut reached No.60, the loud and proudly female post-punk revivalists from London strike a further blow for womxnhood, achieving their aim of a Top 20 finish by landing at an impressive No.20 (2,940 sales) with So When You Gonna. It is still playing catch-up with their debut album, which has accumulated 8,739 copies to its name to date. Not many live albums have enough of a shelf life to enjoy the remastered treatment, but The Final Tour – Live from The Shadows is enough of a moment in time not to ignore it. First released in 2004 when it just missed the published chart, the double album is now newly-available on red vinyl and the reissued collection this week makes up for missing out first time around, charting at No.37 with 1,968 sales to become their first 'solo' chart album since Platinum Collection reached No.30 back in 2005. Counting co-credits with Cliff Richard it is their 37th chart album overall. The total albums market is all but unchanged this week, down -0.37% to 1,783,153, physical sales making up 350,869 of that total with a 19.68% share. The most intriguing leap of the week is in the compilations sector where streamed albums contributed a record 41,359 sales, a 14.9% jump entirely attributable to a surge of interest in the Hamilton and Frozen II cast recordings following the debut of both films on Disney+ during the week. For all the latest charts click here.

Charts analysis: Haim debut at No.1 as Dylan scores big second week

The latest in a string of album releases to endure a delayed release thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Haim's third album Women In Music Pt. III makes good on the built-up demand and debuts with a splash at the very top of the charts this week. It means the three sisters maintain what is by any standards an impressive level of consistency, their third Top 3 album in succession and a second No.1 record. Women In Music Pt. III opened with sales of 17,762 (including 2,733 sales from streams). The most successful Haim album to date remains their debut, Days Are Gone, having posted 335,150 chart sales since its 2013 release. 2017 follow-up Something To Tell You is some distance behind on 76,304. Full credit to Bob Dylan, though. Sales of Rough And Rowdy Ways may have slid 60% since last week's debut, but that still means the album registers a strong enough sale to keep pace with the market. The album’s 13,625 combined sales and streams is enough to ensure it remains in second place, not always the easiest of tasks for a supposed legacy act, demand for whose work is inevitably front-loaded. Rounding off the Top 3 is singer-songwriter Jessie Ware, her fourth album What's Your Pleasure not only maintaining her 100% strike rate of Top 10 albums but becoming her highest-charting to date, No.3 (7,667 sales) enough to beat the No.5 peak of her 2012 debut Devotion. The Official Charts Company this week published the half-year tally of 2020's biggest albums to date, the presence at the top of the list of Lewis Capaldi's Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish extent provoking a few wry smiles. But fair play to the album, it continues to be hugely popular a year on from release. The Scotsman's debut remains No.4 this week in what is now its 59th consecutive week as a Top 10 album, all but three of which have been in the Top 5. Its cumulative sales to date have now reached 951,011, of which 325,923 are physical copies. Capaldi's year-to-date tally sits at 310,188, almost double the 2020 sales of Stormzy's Heavy Is The Head, which has posted 166,430 units as the year's second biggest album so far. American world music rock band Khruangbin have to date made critical waves rather than commercial ones with their eclectic blend of psychedelia and Middle-Eastern soul but, with their third album Mordechai, they emerge blinking into the commercial mainstream. The new record charges into the charts at No.7 with a sale of 4,533, far and away their biggest chart success to date after 2018's Con Todo El Mundo could only make a brief appearance at No.82. Unlucky not to make the Top 10 after contending for it all week, The Memories We Make still manages to make an impressive No.14 as the chart debut for Wigan four-piece The Lathums. The EP moved 3,244 copies last week, the band themselves having taken to social media for most of the week to urge fans to help them to the best chart position possible. Her fourth studio album, Kitchen Sink helps Mercury-nominated singer Nadine Shah to her biggest chart success to date as it lands at No.29 with 2,313 sales to its name. She has previously reached No.48 with 2015 release Fast Food and No.71 with 2017 follow-up Holiday Destination. Simultaneous with his singles chart debut, rapper Meekz is No.32 with his seven track Extended Play, Can't Stop Won't Stop. The album enjoyed 2,183 chart sales. Years before he found fame with Linkin Park, the late Chester Bennington spent time in the 1990s as the lead singer of Grey Daze, releasing two albums with the group as they gained a following in their home state of Arizona. The group's former members had been contemplating a comeback with their celebrity friend only for Bennington's death in 2017 to end those plans in their original form. Instead the group have gone back to their original tapes, reworking old vocals into new arrangements as their own tribute to their friend from teenage years. Amends is an intriguing project and charts at No.62 with 1,608 sales. A veteran from the days when spoken word comedy recordings made stars out of many of his 1970s contemporaries, Billy Connolly enjoyed three Top 10 albums at the peak of his fame (this along with a celebrated No.1 hit single with D.I.V.O.R.C.E.), although he has been absent from the charts since 2002 when a pair of live albums Classic and Two Night Stand crept to 82 and 84 respectively. He breaks that silence this week with a 'hits' compilation as The Ultimate Collection lands at No.69 with 1,545 sales - his highest charting record since The Pick Of Billy Connolly reached No.23 for Christmas 1981. The albums market sags a little this week to 1,789,711 units, down 3.78% on the week. Physical sales are down a smaller amount, off 2.62% to 361,994 meaning they command a 20.23% share of the market, topping 20% for the first time in 16 weeks. Click here for this week’s full charts.

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