Almost exactly nine years after her fifth studio album, Funhouse, became her first No.1, Pink returns to the summit with seventh studio album, Beautiful Trauma.
The eighth album to debut at No.1 in as many weeks, Beautiful Trauma's success comes hot on the heels of introductory single What About Us' eight week run in the Top 10. Beautiful Trauma's first week sales of 70,074, including 5,519 from sales equivalent streams, are the best for any album by a female solo singer since Beyonce's Lemonade opened 77 weeks ago on sales of 73,392.
It is, however, only the third best first week tally for a Pink album, trailing the 112,420 copies that the aforementioned Funhouse managed on debut in 2008, and also the 79,531 copies that her most recent studio set, The Truth About Love sold as it opened at No.2 in 2012. Funhouse has sold 1,284,026 copies to date, while The Truth About Love has sold 880,948 copies. Her biggest sellers are 2002's Missundaztood (1,945,720 sales) and 2006's I'm Not Dead (1,284,026 sales).
Robert Plant steered Led Zeppelin to eight straight No.1 albums (seven studio, one live) between 1970 and 1979. He hasn't topped the chart since, either solo or in collaborations, though he reached number two both with first solo album Pictures At Eleven in 1982 and with Raising Sand, his 2007 collaboration with Alison Krauss. However, all of his solo albums have made the Top 20, and his 11th such release, Carry Fire. is the fourth in a row to go top five. Opening at No.3 (22,626 sales), it is the second to feature his uncredited backing band, Sensational Space Shifters, and is made up entirely of new Plant compositions apart from an intense remake of the 1969 Beach Boys hit Bluebirds Over The Mountain, which he performs as a duet with Chrissie Hynde.
His 13th studio album, Colors delivers eclectic genius Beck his second consecutive Top 5 album, opening at No.5 on sales of 7,962 copies. It neither matches the sales nor position of his last album, Morning Phase, which debuted at No.4 on sales of 13,819 copies in 2014 but far surpasses the remainder of his nevertheless impressive canon. Of seven previous chart albums dating back to 1994, the 47-year-old Californian's highest charting was Modern Guilt, which debuted and peaked at number nine on sales of 11,478 copies in 2008. 1996’s Odelay, which reached number 17, is his biggest seller (406,476 sales).
The same week that Beck released Morning Phase, American indie singer/songwriter Annie Clark - aka St Vincent - made her initial solo chart foray, debuting and peaking at No.21 with an album called simply St. Vincent. She also returns to the chart this week, and earns her first Top 10 album, opening at No.6 (7,610 sales) with her latest collection of self-penned songs, Masseducation. Three earlier solo albums by Clark failed to chart but she raised her profile and made her chart debut in 2012, collaborating with Talking Heads legend David Byrne for the number 40 album, Love This Giant.
Climbing for the seventh week in a row, and reaching a new peak for the fourth week in a row, Post Malone's debut album Stoney finally breaches the Top 10, some 45 weeks after it was released, advancing 12-10 (4,982 sales).
Narrated and edited largely by George Michael himself before his untimely demise last Christmas, Channel 4's premiere of George Michael: Freedom on Monday (16th) provided an immediate boost to his catalogue, with 1998 compilation Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best Of catapulting 144-9 with a 460.07% jump in consumption to 5,091 sales. 1996 album Older (No.41, 2,244 sales) and 2006 compilation Twenty Five (No.61, 1,724 sales) also return to the Top 75.
Four albums from last week's Top 10 remain in the top tier. They are: As You Were (1-2, 26,621 sales) by Liam Gallagher, Divide (3-4, 11,949 sales) by Ed Sheeran, Concrete And Gold (5-7, 6,519 sales) by Foo Fighters and Wonderful Wonderful (4-8, 5,430 sales) by The Killers. Exiting the Top 10 are: Wamp 2 Dem (2-15, 4,166 sales) by Giggs, Raised Under Grey Skies (9-35, 2,382 sales) by JP Cooper, MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice (6-43, 2,186 sales) by A-Ha, A Different Stage (10-53, 1,915 sales) by Jason Manford, Heaven Upside Down (7-76, 1,524 sales) by Marilyn Manson and Pinewood Smile (8-143, 941 sales) by The Darkness.
His former band, The War On Drugs, reached No.3 with A Deeper Understanding just seven weeks ago, and now American Kurt Vile is in the Top 20 for the first time, debuting at No.11 (4,982 sales) with Lotta Sea Lice, his collaboration with fellow indie singer/songwriter, Courtney Barnett. Previously, Vile's highest charting album was 2015's B'lieve I'm Goin' Down... (number 25, 3,566 sales), while Australian Barnett's only full length album, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit reached No.16 (6,729 sales), also in 2015.
FR32 (No.12, 4,934 sales) delivers Wretch 32 his third straight Top 20 album, arriving a little over a year after Growing Over Life debuted and peaked at No.5 (7,464 sales) and six years after his second album, Black And White, debuted at No.4 (24,724 sales). Black And White's high debut coincided with his single Don't Go being No.1. Black And White has sold 155,870 copies to date, far surpassing Wretch 32's first album, the 2008 release Wretchrospective, which has never charted, and has sold only 5,543 copies.
While former regal rulers Royal Blood's How Did We Get So Dark dips 57-75 (1,527 sales) fifteen weeks after debuting at No.1 and Queens Of The Stone Age's Villains slides 47-93 (1,309 sales) seven weeks after taking the crown, another couple of monarchs land on the list. Opening at No.23 (3,184 sales), The Ooz is the second chart album for King Krule, aka Archy Marshall. It improves on the No.65 debut/peak of his 2013 set 6 Feet Below The Moon. Meanwhile, Scottish blues rock quartet King King breach the Top 75 for the first time, opening at No.31 (2,659 sales) with fourth album, Exile & Grace.
Ten is the magic number for Scouting For Girls. It is 10 years since the release of their eponymous debut, and to mark the occasion they have released Ten Add Ten: The Very Best Of Scouting For Girls. Comprising 10 hits and 10 new songs, it debuts at No.24 (3,082 sales). It thus opens lower than their four studio albums - all of which made the Top 15 - and their 2013 Greatest Hits set, which reached No.8. It took Scouting For Girls' eponymous debut 18 weeks to reach No.1, but it eventually yielded five Top 40 singles are remains by some distance their biggest seller, with to-date sales of 971,146.
Released two years to the week after their last studio album, Cradle To The Grave, became their highest charting studio set ever, reaching No.12, Squeeze return with The Knowledge (No.25, 2,981 sales), another collection of excellent songs from the pens of their much-vaunted songwriting team of Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook. It is their 15th studio album.
Wu-Tang Forever was the first ever No.1 hip-hop album, 20 years ago last June, debuting atop the chart on sales of 26,048 copies. Though still extant, its creators Wu-Tang Clan are something of a reduced power these days, and barely scraped into the Top 75 with last album A Better Tomorrow (No.74, 2,970 sales) in 2014. Their seventh studio album, The Saga Continues, sold fewer copies than that last week but debuts higher, opening at No.48 (2,240 sales).
The last of 12 debuts on the Top 75 is Stay Lucky, the sixth album by Nerina Pallot. Opening at No.69 (1,611 sales), it is her fifth chart entry.
New vinyl editions bring Madonna's Like A Virgin (No.60, 1,746 sales) and Ray Of Light (No.63, 1,673 sales) - chart-toppers in 1985 and 1998 - back onto the chart for the first time since 1990 and 2002, respectively.
Now That's What I Call Music! 97 returns to No.1 on the compilation chart (8,050 sales), increasing its overall reign to 12 weeks.
Overall album sales are down 0.98% week-on-week at 1,683,539, 10.87% above same week 2016 sales of 1,518,468. Streaming accounted for 820,962 sales – a record 48.76% of the total. Sales of paid-for albums are down 1.80% week-on-week at 862,577, 11.63% below same week 2016 sales of 976,055.
