Rag’N’Bone Man has landed his second No.1 album, as well as being one of several artists to register a sales boost following their BRITs performances.
The ceremony was staged on Tuesday (May 11) in front of a live audience at The O2, which left two days of chart sales for the BRITs to have an impact for the artists involved this year.
Even before the BRITs, Rag’N’Bone Man was already on course for No.1 with Life By Misadventure (Columbia). The album racked up a further 6,000 physical sales following the awards show and finished on 41,855 (including 33,031 physical and 2,830 streams), according to the Official Charts Company. The former Music Week cover star narrowly missed out on being 2021’s fastest seller to date, as fellow Columbia act Foo Fighters moved 42,486 copies earlier this year.
While it’s impossible to measure any week-on-week BRITs boost for Life By Misadventure, it’s clear that the televised ceremony worked its magic for Rag’N’Bone Man. The Pink collaboration Anywhere Away From Here – which the pair performed with the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir – climbed 22 places to No.9 with sales up 97.1% week-on-week. The single amassed 2,265,457 audio and video streams in the past week.
With 8,511 sales, Anywhere Away From Here was the week’s biggest download. Proceeds from the new version of the single, released immediately after their show-closing performance, go to NHS Charities. Further down the albums chart, Pink’s Greatest Hits – So Far (RCA) moved 100-71 with sales up 16.5% week-on-week (total sales 1,199,531). Pink’s single All I Know So Far debuted at No.45.
Rag’N’Bone Man’s debut album Human climbed 86 to 35, with 2,325 sales (up 62.5% week-on-week) to make a total of 1,272,75.
Double BRITs winner and performer Dua Lipa’s album Future Nostalgia (Warner Records) moved 9-6 with sales of 6,251 – up 14.8% week-on-week. Future Nostalgia has now shifted 370,246 copies, while her self-titled debut has sold 735,160 (it moved 33-29 with sales up 5.5% week-on-week).
Elton John’s Diamonds (UMC) returns to the Top (12-8) following his guest appearance at the BRITs with Years & Years. Sales were up 1.4% week-on-week to 4,725. The collection’s career sales are now at 743,435.
Following his pre-recorded BRITs performance of Save Your Tears, The Weeknd’s collection The Highlights (Island) climbed from No.18 to No.9 with sales of 4,466 (up 14.2% week-on-week). Total sales are now 67,938. Save Your Tears moved three places into the singles chart Top 5 with consumption up 7.9% week-on-week (32,077 sales). The track’s total sales are at 459,872.
Elsewhere on the singles chart, Parlophone-signed Coldplay – who opened the BRITs show – had the highest new entry at No.12 with Higher Power (24,011 sales). It’s the band’s highest charting single since 2017’s Chainsmokers collaboration Something Just Like This, which peaked at No.2.
BRITs Rising Star winner Griff moved 47-35 with her single Black Hole (Warner Records), which she performed at the ceremony. Weekly sales of 12,259 represented week-on-week growth of 36.9%. It’s now passed 100,000 sales (108,305.)
Fellow BRITs performer Olivia Rodrigo saw her single Drivers License (Polydor) rebound 43-40 with sales up 7.8% week-on-week. The former No.1 is now on 854,023 sales.
British Breakthrough star Arlo Parks’ album Collapsed In Sunbeams’ (Transgressive/PIAS) returned to the charts at No.62 with OCC sales – up 92.9% week-on-week. It has sales to date of 30,517.
Some non-performers also registered a BRITs boost. Little Mix made history by winning the Best Group award and their Confetti album (RCA) climbs 28-23 with sales up 2.9% week-on-week to 2,854. The album has now sold 179,530.
Little Mix’s album sold particularly well for HMV this week, according to the retailer. Arlo Parks’ album Collapsed In Sunbeams’ (sales tripled at HMV.
Phil Halliday, managing director at HMV and Fopp, said: “Little Mix’s Confetti proved to be a huge hit over Christmas and into the new year, and thanks to the BRITs the band are attracting new fans in their thousands.
“Elton John and Olly Alexander’s performance clearly struck a chord with viewers, who’ve been buying up best-of albums in their droves.
“Each year we see the BRITs introduce new music to viewers who might not have thought to try out a certain genre or artist before, and this year we’ve seen a particularly big leap in sales for the winning acts and performers.”
Click here for our review of the BRITs.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Marshall (JEM)
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