Arctic Monkeys have already secured the fastest-selling album so far this year with their comeback, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.
According to the Official Charts Company’s Midweek sales update, the band’s sixth album has sold 66,412 copies in its first three days. George Ezra’s Staying At Tamara’s previously had the biggest opening sale of 2018 with 62,564 copies racked up over seven days in March.
While Arctic Monkeys' sales are in line with retail predictions, they are likely to fall well short of AM’s first week tally of 157,329 in September 2013. AM has OCC sales to date of 1,092,564.
All of the band’s albums have debuted at No.1, though AM’s opening sales were double that of previous record Suck It And See, which moved 82,424 in its opening week in 2011. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is chasing both Suck It And See and Humbug, which had an opening tally of 96,313 in 2009. However, the band's first two albums scored huge week one sales that are clearly out of reach: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) sold 363,735 copies, while Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) moved 227,922 copies.
Alex Turner’s move into piano-led arrangements and a sci-fi concept on Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino has prompted mixed reviews. But the LP is still outselling the rest of the Top 20 combined this week. Physical sales on CD and vinyl account for 67% of sales to date.
Three tracks from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino are in the Top 20, including Four Out Of Five, the belated first single which is currently on the Radio 1 A list. Every album track would be in the Top 40 based on the Midweek Sales Flash but for the three-track limit under OCC rules.
Three other Arctic Monkeys albums are set to make the Top this week, with AM moving up 29 places to No.11. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, is currently at No.20, while Favourite Worst Nightmare is at No.40.
Arctic Monkeys' sales will likely benefit further from an autumn arena tour, while the international appetite for the album is already promising.
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