Polydor Label Group president Ben Mortimer has hailed both his team and star acts in helping the company pull off a “rare achievement" in the charts.
Fresh from their recent big result with The Cure’s triumphant return, PLG are back on top this week with three No.1s – spanning the albums, singles and UK airplay charts – with three different artists. This is in addition to a host of other heavy hitters delivering notable positions this week.
"Securing the treble No.1s of airplay, singles and albums, while also having the No.2 and 3 in the albums chart makes it a phenomenal result for the PLG team"
Ben Mortimer, Polydor Label Group
So, what does that look like broken down?
In the albums chart this week, PLG acts have the Top 3 albums – with Kendrick Lamar’s GNX debuting at No.1 on consumption of 25,771 units, while domestic signing Michael Kiwanuka’s Small Changes also opens its account at No.2 (18,985 sales). Rounding out the Top 3 is Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet (13,557 sales).
Elsewhere, in the singles charts, Gracie Abrams remained comfortable with a fourth week at No.1, That’s So True racking up consumption of a further 49,848 units. Also in the Top 10 singles are three new tracks – Squabble Up (No.4, 29,712 sales), Luther (feat. SZA. No.5, 28,938 sales) and TV Off (feat. Lefty Gunplay, No.6, 28,535 sales). And there could have been more were it not, as pointed out by Music Week charts correspondent Alan Jones in his analysis, that all of the other nine tracks on GNX are ‘starred-out’ between No.7 and No.34 due to ACR.
Last but not least, returning Polydor star Sam Fender is holding firm onto the No.1 spot with People Watching in the UK Radio Airplay Top 50, on 2,815 plays across 202 stations.
“Securing the treble No.1s of airplay, singles and albums is a rare achievement,” praised Ben Mortimer. “And to do it while having No.1, 2 and 3 in the albums chart makes it even more of a phenomenal result for the PLG team. Plus it’s with a spread of domestic and international acts.”
The newly formed Polydor Label Group, led by Ben Mortimer and which now incorporates a “reimagined” Capitol and 0207 Def Jam, was revealed back in July as part of a wider restructure at Universal Music Group UK.
“There’s a palpable fizz around the place right now,” added Mortimer. “We have great artists returning and some spicy breaking acts across Polydor, 0207 Def Jam and Capitol. As we enter 2025 there’s a real energy to the way we’re moving."
Earlier this month, Sam Fender confirmed his third album, People Watching, will be released on February 21, 2025 via Polydor Records.
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