Charts analysis: Wolf Alice land first No.1 album with Blue Weekend

Twice before they have been midweek leaders only to be denied the chart crown at the death, so the sight of Wolf Alice not only leading the chart race but doing so with what would turn out to be an insurmountable lead is a very welcome one. The third album of haunting beauty from the British group, Blue Weekend lands them their first No.1 record with a huge sale of 36,182, driven mostly by a large physical sale of 29,587, in the biggest opening week for a British group so far this year. Wolf Alice are bucking the trend and growing bigger with each release: Visions Of A Life opened with 19,333 sales in 2017, their debut Love Is Cool posting 13,891 first time out in 2015. Against this whirlwind even Olivia Rodrigo could not compete but she still more than holds her own, Sour dipping to No.2 but posting another strong sale of 25,846 - 23,370 of these coming via streams as its tracks continue to be consumed in large quantities. That leaves third place to James as the veteran Manchester band return with their third studio album in three years. All The Colours Of You is their 18th chart album, the tenth to reach the Top 10 and their seventh to make the Top 3. It's No.3 placing is thanks to 13,112 sales. It's predecessor Living In Extraordinary Times sold 12,268 copies to debut at No.6 back in 2018. This all means that the Top 3 albums each top five figures and post sales in excess of 10,000 for what is now the fourth week in a row. Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is in there, just as it always is, this week’s No.4 with 5,548 sales. Next in the queue is The Voice Of The Heroes, a well-received collaborative album from Lil Baby & Lil Durk, which almost needless to say has been streamed rather than purchased but still accumulates enough sales (5,518 to be exact) to chart at No.5. That means it becomes Lil Baby's second Top 10 record, arriving 15 months after his solo work My Turn charted at No.6. Lil Durk has, however, never been this high, having landed three Top 40 albums in the last two years, most recently with The Voice, which reached No.26 back in January. Two cuts from the album make the singles chart, the title track at No.62 (7,704 sales) and Hats Off a place behind (7,514 sales). It has been a long wait for a new Crowded House album, their last studio offering Intriguer released way back in 2010. The legendary New Zealand group are a true family affair once more with Neil Finn's sons Liam and Elroy both now considered full time members and with producer Mitchell Froom back on board for the first time since 1991's Woodface there is a genuine aura of renewal about the project. Dreamers Are Waiting is the group's seventh studio album and takes them into the Top 10 for the first time since 2007, charting at No.6 with 5,385 sales. He played on 10 chart albums as a member of ZZ Top but the only solo work from Billy F Gibbons to chart until today was 2015's Perfectamundo, which had a brief shot of bourbon at No.62 in November that year. A better fate turns out to be in store for his third album Hardware which rockets to No.18 (3,080 sales) Nowhere Generation is the ninth studio album from Chicago punks Rise Against and becomes their highest charting in seven years as it debuts at No.19 (3,003 sales). The group's chart best was 2014's The Black Market which peaked at No.13 although their biggest seller on these shores is 2006's The Sufferer & The Witness which has accumulated 69,637 sales to date despite never coming close to featuring on the published album chart. After two well-received (but alas, non-charting) Extended Play releases, rising neo-soul star Greentea Peng finally has a chart record to call her own following the release of her full-length debut Man Made. She is this week's No.49 with 1,848 sales. Also making a long overdue chart debut are American lo-fi indie rockers Japanese Breakfast. Led by Korean-born Michelle Zauner, the group missed out with Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds From Another Planet (2017) but finally make the grade with Jubilee. Their frontwoman notes their past work was inspired by grief making the joyful theme of the new record something of a refreshing departure. It has sold refreshingly well too, arriving at No.53 (1,708 sales). After weeks edging towards the 2 million mark albums sales dip 6.2% to 1,875,653. All market sectors are down this week, physical sales dropping the most in a 10.7% fall to 340,894. Subscribers can click here for all the latest charts.

Charts analysis: Olivia Rodrigo tops 100,000 sales again as singles market hits new high

Olivia Rodrigo mania shows no sign of waning as for the second week running she dominates proceedings on the singles chart. Good 4 U remains comfortably No.1 with another huge chart sale, notching up a further 108,219 units, following 2,204 downloads and 12.6m streams. Those numbers alone tell an extraordinary story. Good 4 U is the first single to register a 100,000-plus sale for two consecutive weeks since Despacito by Luis Fonsi in the summer of 2017 – and notably it is the first to do so since freemium audio streams had their conversion ratio slashed to 600:1. This is now the fifth week in a row that the No.1 single has been streamed more than 10 million times. Good 4 U is now only the fourth track to exceed 12 million streams two weeks running. For a second time, the American teenager also has three singles in the Top 10. Deja Vu slides a place to No.5 (40,115 sales) but it is joined this week by former No.1 Drivers License, which earns a reset back to SCR ratios and re-enters the chart at No.6 (30,620 sales) to return to the Top 10 for the first time since March. This is all at the expense of Traitor, which is hit by the rule of three and vanishes from sight despite accumulating enough sales of its own (28,675) to notionally be No.7 for a second week. Sandwiched between are other smash hits which are no less deserving of attention. Body by Tion Wayne & Russ Millions holds firm once more at No.2 with a 59,996 sale, which would be chart-topping form on most other occasions. Doja Cat and SZA's Kiss Me More rebounds to No.3 (44,360 sales) while Save Your Tears from The Weeknd reaches another new peak in its 21st week on the chart, accelerating four places to No.4 (42,820 sales). Little Mix enjoy two concurrent Top 10 hits for only the second time in their career as the Galantis/Guetta track Heartbreak Anthem on which they feature eases up a place to No.8 (24,378 sales), and is joined by their own Confetti which floats up to a new peak of No.9 (24,164 sales) as their 18th Top 10 hit single. Down in the Top 20 there are new peaks for Majestic & Boney M with the remixed Rasputin (No.11, 22,796 sales), Astronaut In The Ocean by Masked Wolf (No.12, 21,721 sales in what is now its 10th week as a Top 20 single), and Didn't Know by Tom Zanetti (No.16, 19,989 sales). Due mention must also go to Noizu's Summer 91 (Looking Back), which dropped out of the Top 40 last time out but now accelerates to a new peak of No.29 (14,209 sales). After a near two-year absence, Dion “Sincere” Hamilton's Stay Flee Get Lizzy project lands its third chart hit, one which becomes the mogul's biggest credited success to date. With vocals credited to Fredo and Central Cee, Meant To Be is the week's highest brand new entry at No.17, posting 18,912 sales. We briefly pivot to rock as Maneskin land their second chart hit in as many weeks with I Wanna Be Your Slave accelerating to No.24 with 15,868 sales – one place ahead of their Eurovision winning song Zitti E Buoni, which slides to No.25 with 15,662 sales. They are the first contest winners to enjoy two chart hits since Denmark's Emmelie De Forest crept into the charts with Rainmaker in 2014, a year after her 2013 triumph with Only Teardrops. Credited as a solo artist for the very first time, D-Block Europe's Young Adz becomes the fourth artist to chart with his contribution to GRM Daily's Daily Duppy freestyle series. His take on the concept lands at No.44 (10,344 sales) to join Daily Duppy hits from J Hus (No.44 in 2019), Fredo (No.46 in 2020) and Digga D (No.59 later that same year). After a brace of No.47 hits last year, Morrisson goes one better with his third hit House & Garage which lays foundations at No.46 (9,882 sales). This hit gives a co-credit to Aitch for his first credited chart entry of 2021 and his 16th chart hit in total. After a wait of almost a year Meekz finally has a second chart single to call his own, Respect The Come Up landing at No.58 (8,390 sales). Also brand new are summer anthem in waiting Hear Me Say from Jonas Blue & Leon (No.65, 7,539 sales), Ride Out from Bugzy Malone (No.68, 6,786 sales) and Mirror by a returning Sigrid who lands her first chart hit in almost two years with Mirror at No.74 (6,240 sales). Singles surge to a new record high of 24,522,482 in a huge 6.93% leap. Paid-for sales however endure a 10.5% slump, crashing back to 372,357 at their lowest level for five weeks. Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

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Chart analysis: Olivia Rodrigo racks up 50,000 album sales

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