The Lathums have crashed into the charts at No.1 with their debut, How Beautiful Life Can Be (Island).
The Wigan indie band have gone from playing local pubs to hitting the charts summit in less than two years.
Despite the impact of Covid restrictions on live activity, The Lathums’ fanbase has swelled further over the past year since they signed to Island.
How Beautiful Life Can Be opened with 16,341 sales, including 14,028 physical copies and 1,187 streams.
Island president Louis Bloom saluted the young indie band’s success in reaching No.1.
“The very first time I saw The Lathums live, I was completely blown away,” he told Music Week. “There was such a genuine connection between these four lads, barely out of their teens, and the audience. It’s an emotional, spiritual connection that I have only ever seen a handful of times before. Paul Adam’s [Island A&R] total belief and passion was infectious, and Alfie [Skelly] and Dave [Pichilingi, Modern Sky Management] have worked brilliantly with the team at Island since day one. Special shout out to Grace Emmett for her creativity and tenacity.
“Alex [Moore] is an incredible song-writer who writes anthems with a timeless quality that everyone can relate to. He is completely authentic. To have a No.1 album with a band who were signed just before lockdown, for whom live is so important, is a staggering achievement. There is so much more to come from The Lathums and we couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds.”
Guitar music is back where it belongs
The Lathums
In a statement, The Lathums said: “It’s a very special day. We are at No.1 and that’s an acheivement that’s going to be there, for everyone to see, forever. It’s overwhelming, but our journey has only just begun and for us and you, our fans, it’s a journey that we’re going on together.
“This is for our families who believed in us all the way from the start, for all our friends who have supported us along the way, and most importantly everyone who bought and listened to the album, without you our lifelong dream wouldn’t be possible. Guitar music is back where it belongs.”
The band have received support from Tim Burgess and Louis Tomlinson on social media, as well as broadcasters including 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins.
The Lathums enjoyed early success with independent label Modern Sky. The limited edition Memories We Make EP, released with Townsend, peaked at No.14.
The Lathums will play the 2,300-capacity O2 Forum Kentish Town on October 7.
The BPI said that 2021 is on course to be the best year for new British groups in well over a decade
BPI analysis shows that The Lathums’ chart-topping success means that so far in 2021, British bands have held the No 1 spot for 11 out of the 39 chart weeks (28%) 1. That compares with 17% in 2020 and 15% in 2019.
Other British bands that have recently enjoyed breakthrough success include The Snuts, Easy Life, Black Country New Road, Black Honey, Dry Cleaning and Squid.
FOLLOW 
