U.K. CHARTS: SMOKE RISES

The posthumous debut album from Pop Smoke made a last-minute rise to top this week’s Official Albums Chart. On the singles chart, 24kGoldn earns his first #1.

Despite Ava Max leading midweek, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon (Polydor) lifted one slot to #1, 12 weeks after making its debut at #2. It has shown itself to be a streaming powerhouse: 97% of its chart sales this week came from streams. He becomes the first solo artist to land a posthumous #1 debut album in the U.K.; it is also the first debut album to reach #1 in the U.K. this year.

“This #1 cements Pop Smoke’s legacy in the UK and the promise he had to be one of the greats,” said Jade Bradshaw, Head Of Marketing at Polydor Records. “The team at Polydor and I were incredibly fond of Pop and the U.K. was so important to him, which makes this achievement all the more meaningful. This is a bittersweet moment but it is an honor to be part of this project with Steven, Shiv & our colleagues at Republic.”

The rest of this week’s Top 5 is made up of new entries. Ava Max’s Heaven & Hell (Atlantic) is #2, and U.K. rapper Potter Payper earns his first Top 40 with Training Day 3 at #3.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ rerecording of his 1970 classic, Tea For The Tillerman 2 (UMe), is#4, his highest charting studio album since 1974’s Buddah And The Chocolate Box hit #3. Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets’ Live At The Roundhouse (Sony Legacy) is #5.

Run The Jewels’ RTJ4 (BMG) re-enters at #9 following its release on physical formats—it’s the best-selling vinyl album of the week. RCA’s Alicia Keys scores her eighth Top 40 record with ALICIA at #12.

On the singles chart, 24kGoldn f/Iann Dior’s “Mood” (Black Butter) overtakes “WAP” by Atlantic’s Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion, finishing the week more than 7,000 ahead with 61,000 chart sales, including 7.8 million streams.

Meanwhile, there are new peaks for Paul Woolford & Diplo f/Kareen Lomax’s “Looking For Me” (Ministry of Sound) at #4 and Jason Derulo’s “Take You Dancing” #7 (Atlantic). “Lemonade” (Ten Thousand Projects), which rises eight places to #8, is the first Top 10 single for all the acts involved: Internet Money, Gunna, Don Toliver and Nav.

Justin Bieber f/Chance The Rapper’s “Holy” (Def Jam) is the highest new entry of the week, entering at #10 to become Justin’s 21st Top 10 single, and Chance’s fifth.