The third studio album from Bristol post-punk band Idles, Ultra Mono (Partisan), is outselling the rest of the Top 5 combined on the midweek Official Albums Chart Update. 24kGoldn’s “Mood” is on course for a second week at #1 on the Official Singles Chart.
Powered heavily by physical sales, Ultra Mono would be Idles’ first chart-topping album. Their 2018 release, Joy as an Act of Resistance, peaked at #5.
Warner’s expanded edition of Prince’s 1987 album Sign O’ The Times, sits at #2; the original peaked at #4.
At #4, Machine Gun Kelly’s fifth studio album, Tickets To My Downfall (Bad Boy/Interscope), is the most streamed new release of the week. Deftones’ Ohms (Reprise) is#5.
Other new entries in the Top 10 are the Slade collection Cum On Feel The Hitz–The Best Of (BMG) at #7, Joji’s Nectar (88Rising/12Tone) at #8 and Steve Hackett’s Selling England By The Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live At Hammersmith (Insideout Music) at #9.
Winning the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize has pushed Michael Kiwanuka’s KIWANUKA (Polydor) back into the Top 10, currently #3. Vinyl releases have given two records a new life: The Weeknd’s After Hours (Island) and Guns N’ Roses’ Greatest Hits (Geffen) send those albums to #10 and #11 respectively.