ANALYSIS


Oficial Albums Chart


The Official UK Singles & Albums Charts are compiled by the Official Charts Company, based on a sample of more than 15,000 physical and digital outlets. They count actual sales and audio streams from last Friday to Thursday, based on sales of downloads, CDs, vinyl and other physical formats and audio streams weighted using SEA2 methodology.


Short supply: Sabrina Carpenter returns to No.1 for Christmas


n BY ALAN JONES S


ixteen weeks after debuting at No.1, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet returns to pole position on consumption of 15,220 units (2,564 CDs, 3,661 vinyl albums, 10 cassettes, 62 downloads and 8,923 sales-equivalent streams). That is its highest tally for seven weeks, but the lowest on record for a No.1 artist album at Christmas, breaking the previous record of 16,460 set by The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds in 2023. In the Top 3 for its whole chart run, Short N’ Sweet has increased consumption for the past four weeks, and is the third most- consumed album of 2024, with a to-date tally of 359,258 units. It had to fight a rearguard action, however, with Michael


Bublé’s appositely and concisely-titled Christmas (3-2, 13,104 sales) running it close all week. Rotherham band The Reytons’ triumphant sell-out gig at the South Yorkshire town’s Clifton Park in July has spawned a live album of the same name. Debuting at No.5 (7,979 sales), it is The Reytons’ fifth chart album, and third Top 10 entry, arriving just 10 months after their most recent studio set, Ballad Of A Bystander, peaked at No.2. An impressive 4,758 of Clifton Park’s sales were on vinyl, in which format it is No.1.


The rest of the Top 10: The Rise And Fall Of A Midwestern Princess (6-3, 10,032 sales) by Chappell Roan, The Tortured Poets Department (1-4, 9,151 sales) by Taylor Swift, Hit Me Hard And Soft (9-6, 7,955 sales) by Billie Eilish, Brat (7-7, 7,775 sales) by Charli XCX, The Highlights (10-8, 6,823 sales) by The Weeknd, +--=÷× Tour Collection (12-9, 6,631 sales) by Ed Sheeran and Diamonds (14-10, 6,512 sales) by Elton John. More than 30 years after they first worked together, rap legends Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre’s first collaborative album, Missionary, debuts at No.24 (4,801 sales). It is 53-year-old Snoop’s 14th Top 75 album, his first since 2015, and his highest-charting since Ego Trippin’ reached No.23 in 2008. It is 59-year-old Dre’s seventh Top 75 album (including three with N.W.A.), his first and his highest-charting since Compton was No.1 in 2015. Also new to the Top 75: Rome (No.71, 2,541 sales), the ninth chart album (second live) for The National.


No fewer than 75 weeks after it debuted at No.177 and 48 weeks after it peaked at No.21, Teddy Swims’ introductory album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy Part 1, surges into the Top 20 for the first time, jumping 32-12 (6,342 sales). The Georgian doesn’t have it all his own way this week, however. He has had at least one, sometimes three, songs in the Top 40 since his first hit, Lose Control, jumped 81-14 50 weeks ago. But this week he has none, with Lose Control ebbing 55-60 (11,204 sales), while The Door (19-65, 10,233 sales) and Bad Dreams (22-74, 9,574 sales) simultaneously fall into ACR. Lose Control is certified triple platinum this week, with to-date consumption of 1,821,029 units, including 1,703,168 in 2024. It


No.1


Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet (Polydor) This week’s sales: 15,220 | Physical: 6,235 | Downloads: 62 | Streams: 8,923 | Total sales to date: 359,257 |


Sweet spot: Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet has been in the Top 3 since its release 16 weeks ago


is the fourth most-consumed track of the year so far here, and fares even better in America, where it tops the Billboard Hot 100 rankings for 2024. Oddly, it is Swims’ only Top 20 hit there, with The Door peaking at No.24 and Bad Dreams at No.72. Raye’s 2023 No.2 debut album, My 21st Century Blues, jumps 60-37 (3,834 sales), returning to the Top 40 after an absence of 37 weeks, while new vinyl editions propel Daft Punk’s 2011 No.2 album Discovery to re-enter at No.72 (2,533 sales). It is its first chart appearance since 2015. ITV screenings help Dua Lipa’s Live From The Royal Albert Hall (45-40, 3,676 sales) to reach a new peak. Destined to become the first act ever to debut at No.1 in the US with their first six chart entries when their new mixtape Hop is confirmed at America’s Christmas No.1 in a couple of days, South Korean boy band Stray Kids fall short of the Top 75 here, debuting at No.91 with 2,207 sales. The group released a multiplicity of ineligible formats which, if included, would see the album debut at No.8 (7,055 sales).


The soundtrack to the film Wicked is No.1 on the compilation chart for the fourth week in a row on 16,504 sales (3,494 CDs, 4,389 vinyl albums, 286 downloads and 8,335 sales-equivalent streams). Its tally is 1,284 greater than Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, marking the first time a compilation has been the combined album chart No.1 since Barbie: The Album, 71 weeks ago. Overall album sales are down 0.03% week-on-week at 2,813,696 units, 4.32% above same week 2023 sales of 2,697,286. Physical product accounts for 665,810 sales, their highest level of the year, and 23.66% of the total.


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