Charts analysis: The Snuts edge out Demi Lovato for No.1

After a nervous end to the week, during which time they briefly surrendered the lead to Demi Lovato and after outright war threatened to break out between competing online fandoms, the relentless cheerleading of The Snuts paid off in the nick of time. By the small matter of just 272 sales the debut, WL, from the Scottish rockers is this week's No.1 album as they become the first act from north of the border to top the charts with their debut release since 2007. In common with almost every chart-topping album so far this year, sales of WL are overwhelmingly on disc, 15,962 physical sales helping them to a first week total of 20,455. Some commiserations them to Demi Lovato, whose army of fans were also highly invested in her chart fate. Dancing With The Devil ... The Art Of Starting Over is the American singer's rawest and most emotional work to date, its songs dealing with her journey of recovery from the well-documented personal and health issues which continue to affect her life. Lovato's seventh studio album is her fifth to chart in this country and now becomes far and away her biggest chart success, hitting No.2 with an equally impressive first week sale of 20,183 copies. Her biggest British seller to date is 2013's Demi, which has accumulated 188,831 sales to date. Just behind Justin Bieber's Justice at No.3 (9,408 sales), are post-punks Dry Cleaning. The four-piece have captured attention thanks to their gimmick of having lead singer Florence Shaw narrate rather than sing their songs and that attention has proved to be more than sufficient to propel their debut album New Long Leg to No.4 with 7,203 sales to its name. The Top 5 is rounded off by the apparently evergreen Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, announced this week by Official Charts as the biggest album of 2021 to date, as it adds a further 6,379 sales to take its cumulative total to 340,347 Home to chart smash Calling My Phone, Lil Tjay's second album proper Destined 2 Win becomes easily his biggest chart success to date as the fourth new entry inside the Top 10 at No.7 with 4,741 sales. Effectively a mini hits collection such is the enduring popularity of its tracks, Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours has been more or less a chart constant in the six years since streams began to be counted for the album chart. Its evergreen popularity has been further boosted by both the surge in "grey streaming" during lockdowns and the continuing virality of the track Dreams and that popularity this week hits a new high as Rumours charges to a streaming-era peak of No.8 (4,545 sales). It is the album’s first visit to the Top 10 since a deluxe reissue in February 2013 propelled it back into the Top 3. Rumours spends a 45th week as a Top 10 album in what is now its 689th week on the Top 75. In tandem Fleetwood Mac’s actual hits collection 50 Years - Don't Stop returns to the Top 10 for the first time since October last year as it bounces to No.6 (4,769 sales). Fully 11 months later than originally scheduled, The Fratellis' sixth studio album Half Drunk Under A Full Moon finally emerges. Its 4,082 sales take it to No.12 meaning all but one of their releases to date has made the Top 20. A brace of live albums also enter this week, the way lead by Bryan Ferry's Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2020 at No.18 (2,944 sales). It is Ferry's first ever live release as a solo artist although he has made several in his capacity as the lead singer of Roxy Music, the first of those as long ago as 1976 when Viva! reached the Top 10. Just below at No.20 is the 11th posthumous live album from David Bowie, At The Kit Kat Club (Live New York 99) which notches up 2,825 sales. The final new entry of the week is the cheekily self-censored G_d's Pee At States End!, the seventh studio release from Canadian art-rockers Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Their fifth album in all to reach the British charts it hands them their highest position to date, its No.29 (2,382 sales) eclipsing the No.34 scaled by Luciferian Towers in 2017. A 3.47% week on week decline takes album sales to 1,809,130. The holiday weekend is perhaps the reason that physical sales take a larger hit, falling fully 11.5% to 295,475 down once more to a mere 16.33% of the market. The impact of high street shops and record stores in particular reopening in England this Monday will be fascinating to observe. Subscribers can click here for all the latest charts.

Charts analysis: Wellerman maintains consumption on singles chart

Sea shanty mania continues to grip the British charts as Nathan Evans, 220 Kid & Billen Ted enjoy a second week at No.1 with Wellerman continuing its sales domination. The track's popularity is so consistent it tops the charts with an almost identical chart sale to last week, its total of 50,454 (including 44,422 from 5.6m streams) is just 437 fewer than seven days ago - a variance of a mere 0.9%. Wellerman is the 21st single by a Scottish artist to top the charts in the 20th century, although with fully 10 of those accounted for by Calvin Harris hits Nathan Evans is only the 10th distinct act to do so. Of the remaining eight Darius, David Sneddon, Michelle McManus and Leon Jackson all emerged via TV talent shows. Sandi Thom, The Proclaimers, Emeli Sande and Lewis Capaldi all achieved chart celebrity under their own steam. The gap between first and second widens although 40,312 sales is more than enough to ensure A1 & J1 enjoy a second week at No.2 with Latest Trends. As has become routine, the release of a new Justin Bieber album means large numbers of streams and a corresponding singles chart impact. The most popular cut from Justice is Peaches which becomes this week's highest new entry at No.3 (35,323 sales), handing the Canadian superstar his 15th Top 3 hit. It is the second Top 10 entry for co-credited Giveon (who starred on Drake's Chicago Freestyle a year ago) and marks the chart debut of fellow Canadian Daniel Caesar. The album's final teaser single Hold On explodes into life too, charging 31-10 (25,577 sales) a fortnight after it first charted at No.25. Bieber's tally of Top 10 singles now stands at 26. The third most popular cut from the album is technically former Top 10 hit Anyone, but being subject to ACR rules it ranks some way down the table. Instead, Bieber's final permitted chart hit this week is As I Am which lands at No.24 (16,219 sales) becoming the 25th chart single for guest star Khalid, his first in more than a year. But for rules restricting artists to three concurrent chart hits Bieber would have dominated the rest of the table. 11 further tracks from Justice command enough streams to qualify for chart positions under normal circumstances, eight of them in the Top 40 alone. To complete the Top 5, Friday by Riton/Nightcrawlers/Mufasa & Hypeman finally climbs to a new peak of No.4 (33,327 sales), now just one place behind the 1995 peak of Push The Feeling On by Nightcrawlers on which it is based. It swaps places with Tiesto's The Business which slides to No.5 (32,667 sales). Just below Bed from Joel Corry, Raye and David Guetta eases to a new peak of No.6 (29,642 sales). There are new peaks inside the Top 20 for My Head & My Heart by Ava Max (No.18, 18,485 sales) and Let's Go Home Together by Tom Grennan and Ella Henderson (No.19, exactly 18,000 sales) The most notable non-Bieber new entry of the week is a welcome second chart single for the newly-crowned BRIT Awards Rising Star, singer-songwriter Sarah "Griff" Griffiths. After her debut hit Love Is A Compass crept to No.42 in early January she now reaches the Top 40 for the first time with Black Hole (No.39, 9,584 sales). Just below, Headshot is new for Lil Tay, Polo G and a debuting Fivio Foreign, the second hit of the year for Tjay following Calling My Phone which remains in the Top for the sixth week running. Lana Del Rey's Chemtrails Over The Country Club album debuts at No.1 this week with a predominantly physical sale but she also commanded enough streams to see two of its cuts land on the singles chart. Lead track White Dress is No.51 (7,247 sales) while the album’s title track returns to the chart at No.62 (6,577 sales) having originally peaked at No.58 as a standalone single in January. Decorated with awards for his production work for the likes of J Hus and Burna Boy, JAE5 takes a step into the performing limelight with his first solo material Dimensions. Featuring additional vocal contributions from Rema and Skepta is this week's No.58 single with 6,817 sales, now the 32nd chart entry for the latter. Three more hits sneak into the Bieber-filtered listing. Know You is the chart debut for Leicester's Wewantwraiths (No.59, 6,740 sales) and Trackstar similarly the debut for former US Marine Mooski (No.68, 6,199 sales). In between Maroon 5 and Megan Thee Stallion's collaboration Beautiful Mistakes is No.66 with 6,230 sales as the 26th chart hit for Adam Levine and co, but only the fifth for their rapping companion. The singles market continues its springtime surge, up 1.2% week on week to another new post-Christmas high of 22,521,026. But paid sales march down once more sitting at 403,821, a drop of 1.64%. Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

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