Man’s Best Friend’s dogged resistance earns Sabrina Carpenter the accolade of consecutive weeks at No.1 for the first time in her career.
Despite its consumption falling 61.79% week-on-week to 32,591 units (3,156 CDs, 2,197 vinyl albums, 421 cassettes, 178 digital downloads and 26,639 sales-equivalent streams), the album mounted a steadfast defence of pole position, leaving previous chart-toppers Suede, Tom Odell and Faithless’ new albums trailing in its wake.
Its repeat performance ends a run of 38 consecutive weeks in which leadership of the chart has changed – the second longest run in chart history, behind the 41-week run assembled in 2020/2021. Although Carpenter’s 2024 blockbuster Short N’ Sweet has accumulated five weeks at No.1, it has done so only one week at a time. Carpenter’s overall tally of seven weeks at the summit puts her equal with Lewis Capaldi and behind only Taylor Swift (28 weeks) and Ed Sheeran (nine weeks) for most time spent at No.1 in the 2020s.
Partly because Spotify data was unavailable for the first four of the week’s sales flashes, Suede – whose sales are largely physical – held a handsome lead in early snapshots, and might have fancied their chances of achieving their fourth No.1 album in all and their first since 1999 with their 10th studio album, Antidepressants.
In the final rankings, it ends up well beaten – but its No.2 debut on consumption of 16,091 units is 14.62% greater than the opening frame of 14,038 that earned their last album, Autofiction, the same position in 2022, and secures the 10th Top 10 and 14th Top 75 entry for the veteran alt-rock quintet fronted, as always, by Brett Anderson.
Antidepressants is, however, by far the biggest album physically this week, with 7,978 CD, 5,965 vinyl album and 265 cassette sales together contributing 88.29% of its tally. It is also the biggest seller digitally (1,113 sales), with only streaming (770 units) letting it down. It provides Suede’s best tally since 1999, when their fourth album, Head Music, debuted at No.1 on sales of 32,884.
Eclectic indie sextet Red Rum Club have had a busy few months, headlining at Aintree Racecourse, touring as support for fellow scousers The Wombats, and gigging at multiple festivals, including Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. It seems to have paid off as they maintain their record of charting higher with each successive release.
Introductory album Matador reached No.158 in 2019, with follow-up The Hollow Of Humdrum peaking exactly 100 places higher the following year, while How To Steal The World reached No.34 in 2021 and Western Approaches reaching No.8 last year. The fifth album and second Top 10 entry for the Liverpool lads – vocalist Fran Doran (32), guitarists Tom Williams (30) and Michael McDermott (32), bassist Simon Hepworth (32), trumpeter Joe Corby (33) and drummer Neil Lawson (33) – Buck gallops to a No.7 debut (7,229 sales).
Thirty-four years to the week since they released first album Foxbase Alpha, veteran chart campaigners Saint Etienne’s 12th and final studio album, International, debuts at No.8 (7,100 sales). Far surpassing their 11th studio set, The Night, which peaked at a lowly No.191 last December, International is an excellent swansong from the trio – Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs – with guest vocalists and guest co-writers making it a perfect pop celebration, which duly earns them their 14th Top 75 entry, their third Top 10 album and their highest chart placing since 1994.
No.4 on debut eight weeks ago, Justin Bieber’s latest studio album, Swag, rockets 87-10 (6,781 sales), after the original 21 track-set was expanded to 44 tracks as Swag II, which is subsumed into the original for chart purposes, hence its revival.
The rest of the Top 10: Time Flies 1994-2009 (4-3, 8,315 sales) by Oasis, +-=÷× Tour Collection (9-4, 7,613 sales) by Ed Sheeran, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-5, 7,574 sales) by Fleetwood Mac, The Highlights (12-6, 7,308 sales) by The Weeknd and You’ll Be Alright, Kid (6-9, 7,052 sales) by Alex Warren. The Weeknd’s best chart placing for 14 weeks and The Highlights’ highest consumption for 30 weeks follow the announcement of his 2026 UK tour.
While Man’s Best Friend continues at No.1, Sabrina Carpenter’s last album, Short N’ Sweet dips 8-11 (6,415 sales). Also exiting the Top 10: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (10-13, 6,084 sales) by Oasis, Euro-Country (2-40, 3,020 sales) by CMAT, Roll With The Punches (3-143, 1,501 sales) by Bryan Adams and The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives, which debuted at No.5 last week for The Hives but now departs the Top 200 (423 sales).
All of his six previous studio albums made the Top 10, but Tom Odell falls short with seventh set, A Wonderful Life, which debuts at No.12 (6,261 sales).
Thirty years since their breakthrough, dance legends Faithless’ eight studio album delivers their 12th chart entry, debuting at No.15 (5,808 sales).
Also new to the Top 75: Double Infinity (No.21, 4,238 sales), the sixth album and fourth chart entry for New York indie/folk band Big Thief; Who Is The Sky (No.34, 3,198 sales), the eighth solo studio album and fourth solo chart entry for 73-year-old David Byrne, who was famously the lead singer of Talking Heads; Different Times (No.42, 3,002 sales), the second chart entry for 28-year-old Liverpool drill rapper Mazza_L20 (Malcolm Graham), who reached No.63 last year with Against All Odds.
Lewis Capaldi’s ongoing tour provides a lift for his Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (59-37, 3,047 sales) and Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (113-73, 2,281 sales) albums.
The soundtrack to Netflix animated fantasy film Kpop Demon Hunters is No.1 on the compilation chart for the 12th consecutive week, but has a notional decrease in consumption for the first time ever, ebbing 3.69% to 21,867 units (28 CDs, 524 digital downloads, 21,315 sales-equivalent streams). Those CDs seem to be a no-frills import; the album was released in two CD formats a week ago domestically, each of which comes with one of nine photo cards, which help to generate multiple purchases from collectors but contravenes chart regulations, resulting in all of their 7,573 sales being excluded.
Overall album sales are down 1.79% week-on-week to 2,432,779 units, 1.34% above same week 2024 sales of 2,400,521. Physical product accounts for 265,194 sales, 10.90% of the total.
