Charts analysis: Michael Ball & Alfie Boe score fourth No.1 as a duo

Already popular solo artists in their own right, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe first collaborated 10 years ago, since when they have recorded six albums together. Together At Home, their latest album, debuts at No.1 on consumption of 13,522 units (11,350 CDs, 662 vinyl albums, 1,335 digital downloads and 175 sales-equivalent streams), becoming the 16th different chart-topper in as many weeks. All six Ball/Boe albums have reached the top three, with Together At Home being the fourth to reach No.1 (Ball also has two No.1 solo albums). Their previous pairings, with first week positions and sales: Together (2016, No.2, 44,860), Together Again (2017, No.1, 43,795), Back Together (2019, No.2 24,951), Together At Christmas (2020, No.1, 32,882) and Together In Vegas (No.3, 12,366). Debut positions were peaks in all cases except for the initial Together, which reached No.1 on its sixth week in the chart, and achieved the highest weekly sale for any album by the pair the following week (109,708), when it remained at No.1. It is the pair’s biggest-selling album with a to-date tally of 678,407 units. Ball & Boe were the oldest duo ever to have a No.1 album when they topped the chart with Together in 2016 (usurping, surprisingly, The Chemical Brothers), and again the following year when Together Again reached No.1. Ball is now 62 and Boe is 51, but their combined age of 113, trails some distance behind the current record holders Rod Stewart and Jools Holland, who were 79 and 66 respectively when their collaboration, Swing Fever, was No.1 in March. Among vocal duos however, they take the title back from Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, whose N.K-Pop was No.1 in 2022, when Heaton was 60 and Abbott 48. Lancashire hard rock quintet Massive Wagons’ seventh album, fourth chart entry and third Top 10 release, Earth To Grace, is their highest-charting set to date on their highest ever first week sales, debuting at No.4 (8,638 sales). It attracted 2,994 digital downloads, debuting atop that format’s chart. Their three previously charted albums have very similar to-date tallies, with Full Nelson, (No.16, 2018) on 11,405 units, House Of Noise (No.9, 2020) on 11,217 units and Triggered! (No.6, 2022) on 11,162 units. The band’s line-up is unchanged since before they first charted and all are credited with co-writing their songs. They are: 45-year-old vocalist Barry ‘Baz’ Mills; 36-year-old guitarist Adam Thistlethwaite; his brother, 32-year-old drummer Alex Thistlethwaite; 28-year-old guitarist Stephen Holl and 36-year-old bassist Adam ‘Bowz’ Bouskill. The rest of the Top 10: Short N’ Sweet (2-2, 13,289 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, Songs Of A Lost World (1-3, 8,755 sales) by The Cure, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (6-5, 8,004 sales) by Chappell Roan, +--=÷× Tour Collection (5-6, 7,692 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Chromakopia (3-7, 7,614 sales) by Tyler, The Creator, Diamonds (12-8, 7,146 sales) by Elton John, The Highlights (7-9, 7,019 sales) by The Weeknd and The Secret Of Us (8-10, 7,012 sales) by Gracie Abrams. It is Diamonds’ first appearance in the Top 10 for 32 weeks, and its highest placing of the year, ahead of the release today of his new documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late. Exiting the Top 10: Brat (4-11, 6,953 sales) by Charli XCX, Hit Me Hard And Soft (9-12, 6,390 sales) by Billie Eilish and 50 Years: Don’t Stop (10-13, 5,870 sales) by Fleetwood Mac. Debuting at No.23 (4,211 sales), Conglomerate is the collaborative first chart album for British hip-hoppers Fimiguerrero, Len and Lancey Foux, all of whom have made uncharted solo albums. Veteran Scots band Primal Scream’s first studio album in more than eight years and 12th in all, Come Ahead debuts at No.24 (4,167 sales), making it their lowest-charting set since their uncharted eponymous 1989 album. It is the 13th Primal Scream album to chart, including compilations, and the 11th to make the Top 20. Glaswegian founder member Bobby Gillespie, now 63, remains the band’s vocalist and wrote or co-wrote every song on Come Ahead. Also new to the Top 75: 1994 (No.26, 4,072 sales), the second album by Scottish singer/songwriter Nathan Evans, named for the year of his (December 19) birth and, surprisingly, his first chart entry, as 2022 debut, Wellerman: The Album failed to chart despite housing the No.1 single Wellerman (with 220Kid & Billen Ted), which has to-date consumption of 1,461,409 units; and A Minute… (No.63, 2,332 sales), the second EP and first album chart entry for 26-year-old singer/songwriter Myles Smith, thus far available only digitally. Fifteen years to the week since it debuted at No.1 on sales of 239,643 copies, JLS’ eponymous debut album has been released in newly expanded CD and vinyl editions and duly returns to the chart for the first time since 2011, at No.52 (2,606 sales). Runners-up to Alexandra Burke in the fifth (2008) season of The X Factor, JLS subsequently had five top five studio albums but the first was the only one to reach No.1, and is now just shy of quintuple platinum, with this week’s re-entry helping to raise its to-date consumption to 1,497,236 units. On the compilation chart, The Greatest Showman soundtrack bounces 3-1 on consumption of 2,658 units (92 CDs, 44 vinyl albums, 24 digital downloads and 2,498 sales-equivalent streams), topping the list for the 14th time this year, and 54th time in total. Overall album sales are up 2.85% week-on-week at 2,488,666 units, 3.10% above same week 2023 sales of 2,413,812. Physical product accounts for 308,904 sales, 12.41% of the total.

Charts analysis: Gracie Abrams lands first ever No.1 single

Exactly six months after she made her singles chart debut with Risk, Gracie Abrams is No.1 for the first time, with fifth hit That’s So True jumping 3-1 on consumption of 40,798 units (411 digital downloads and 40,387 sales-equivalent streams). Trailing behind former incumbent Gigi Perez’s Sailor Song on sales flashes all week – but by just 30 units yesterday (November 7) – That’s So True moved to the summit with a majority of 1,179 as Sailor Song’s one week reign ends with it falling to No.2, despite increasing consumption for the 13th week in a row, up 1.58% at 39,619 units. Taken from the deluxe edition of Abrams’ second album, The Secret Of Us, That’s So True’s accession to the singles summit means that female solo artists have reigned for 28 weeks (out of 45 that have elapsed) so far this year – a record. They have also taken the album chart by storm, with a record 11 albums by female soloists No.1 so far this year. Abrams’ previous biggest hit, I Love You, I’m Sorry will hit ACR next week but continues at its peak position of No.4 (26,927 sales), while her second hit, Close To You – No.35 in June – revives 56-41 (9,788 sales) to reach its highest position for 21 weeks. I Love You, I’m Sorry is Abrams’ second most-consumed track, with its cume since release 20 weeks ago climbing to 322,167 units. Ahead of it is a track that earned Abrams her very first gold single – for consumption in excess of 400,000 units – a week ago, the 2020 recording I Miss You, I’m Sorry (409,882 units). That’s not a mistake – her top two songs have only one word different in their titles. Confusing, I know, but not as confusing as the time in the 1960s when The Dave Clark Five had a No.37 hit with a song called Everybody Knows and, less than three years later, reached No.2 with an entirely different songs with the same title. In America’ as if with foresight, the first song was always titled Everybody Knows (I Still Love You), and that parenthetical distinction has subsequently been used to distinguish between the two tracks here in the digital era. Another slight twist on this, but equally confusing, is that B.J. Thomas, who had many hits in America but only one here, released songs entitled Don’t You Love Me Anymore and the subtly different You Don’t Love Me Anymore in his heyday. In the Top 10 on sales flashes for three weeks in a row only to fall back in the published chart, The Door finally makes the grade for Teddy Swims, advancing from previous peak of No.12 to No.8 (20,035 sales) to become his second Top 10 hit, after Lose Control. It makes its Top 10 debut 59 weeks after it was released and on its 27th consecutive appearance in the Top 75 – no other song has remained in the Top 75 for so many weeks in a row before making the Top 10. Ahead of his one-off appearance at The Hammersmith (Eventim) Apollo next Monday (November 11), Swims’ repertoire is enjoying an uplift, with Bad Dreams (25-15, 16,300 sales) also reaching a new peak and first hit Lose Control reviving 33-26 (12,026 sales), while his debut album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy Part 1, bounces 58-44 (2,695 sales). Lose Control, incidentally, was also not an immediate smash, taking 22 weeks to make the Top 75, 29 weeks to make the Top 10, and 36 weeks to peak at No.2. There are new peaks for Hot To Go! (6-5, 23,194 sales) by Chappell Roan, Thick Of It (8-6, 20,971 sales) by KSI feat. Trippie Redd and Bed Chem (9-7, 20,486 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter. Roan’s introductory smash, Good Luck, Babe! revives 19-17 (15,351 sales) lower down the chart, while her recent No.13 hit Pink Pony Club hits ACR and is replaced by Casual (No.47, 8,438 sales) which becomes her fifth hit in a little over six months. Completing the Top 10 are Apt (2-3, 29,506 sales) by Rosé & Bruno Mars, and re-entries Taste (11-9, 19,406 sales) by Sabrina Carpenter, and Move (13-10, 18,067 sales) by Adam Port, Stryv, Keinemusik, Orso, & Malachiii. With only the top two singles posting increases in consumption, the bar for entry to the Top 10 drops below 20,000 units for the first time in 43 weeks, while sales of I Love You, I’m Sorry are the lowest for a No.4 for 148 weeks. ACR ends a nine-week run in the Top 10 for Somedays, which consequently slumps from its peak position of No.5 to No.30 (11,797 sales) for Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & DOD. Also exiting the top tier: Disease (7-12, 17,102 sales) by Lady Gaga and Diet Pepsi (10-13, 17,067 sales) by Addison Rae. The highest of four debuts in the Top 75 this week is São Paulo (No.22, 13,781 sales), the 55th Top 75 single For The Weeknd, and the first for featured guest, 31-year-old Brazilian singer Anitta. After jumping 50-16 last week when it was the second most-consumed track from Tyler, The Creator’s new Chromakopia album, Noid is now the fourth most-consumed and cedes its chart position to Like Him, which debuts at No.33 (11,294 sales), becoming the rapper’s 15th hit. His other current hits St. Chroma (15-16, 15,879 sales) and Darling I (24-27, 11,871 sales) slip back. One of the first big new albums of 2025 will be Can’t Rush Greatness by Central Cee. From the album comes the London rapper’s 37th hit, One By One (No.69, 6,174 sales). Its consumption is down 21 units week-on-week, but Billie Eilish’s Wildflower blossoms afresh, improving 18-11 (17,498 sales) to surpass the previous No.17 peak it scaled a fortnight ago. There are also new peaks for: Too Cool To Be Careless (63-51, 7,758 sales) by Pawsa, I Only Smoke When I Drink (65-52, 7,605 sales) by Nimino, The Days (60-55, 7,388 sales) by Chrystal and New Drop (79-64, 6,594 sales) by Don Toliver, which previously peaked at No.69. Last week I pondered the effect of day and date combinations on the underachievements of Halloween and, by implication, Christmas records so far this year pointing out that Christmas tracks were lagging behind the same week last year. They still are but the first of the seasonal perennials - Last Christmas by Wham! and All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey (re-entries at No.37 and No.39 this week last year) – nevertheless resume at No.61 (6,688 sales) and No.58 (6,817 sales) respectively, this week. Overall singles consumption is down 2.89% week-on-week to 29,152,282 units, 8.67% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,825,302 units. Paid-for sales are down 11.50% week-on-week at 255,200, 21.73% above same week 2023 sales of 326,055, bringing a sudden and savage end to a run of 13 consecutive weeks in which 2024 purchases surpassed 2023 purchases.

Charts analysis: The Cure score first No.1 album in more than three decades with huge sales

More than 32 years after their only previous No.1 album, The Cure return emphatically to the top of the chart with their 14th studio release and first for ...

Analysis

subscribers only

Charts analysis: Gigi Perez climbs to No.1 with debut hit

Hit ahoy! The tide is in for Gigi Perez, whose debut hit Sailor Song surfs all the way to No.1, as its consumption increases for the 12th ...

Analysis

subscribers only

Charts analysis: Tyler, The Creator lands first No.1 album despite late start

In a week when – with varying degrees of likelihood - ABBA and Queen could have secured their 11th No.1 albums, Bryan Ferry his sixth (including Roxy Music ...

Analysis

subscribers only