Alex Warren has secured a 10th week at the singles summit with Ordinary (Atlantic).
That phenomenal result means that the US singer-songwriter, influencer and YouTuber joins Harry Styles’ As It Was, Miley Cyrus’ Flowers and Dave & Central Cee’s Sprinter as one of the UK’s longest-running chart-toppers of the 2020s – all three of them also managed 10 weeks at the top.
Ordinary is still going strong with consumption only down 3.6% week-on-week. It registered a further 63,651 units in the past week based largely on around 7.8 million streams, according to the Official Charts Company. The track has consumption to date of 798,553 chart units.
Warren is now chasing Atlantic label mate Ed Sheeran, whose single Bad Habits is the overall leader of the 2020s with 11 weeks at No.1.
He also has a second Top 10 single with Carry You Home. It returned to Top 10 with consumption up 1.7% week-on-week to 21,413 (648,461 sales to date).
And what's more, there's fresh Alex Warren material to make a potential chart impact in the form of new single Bloodline with Jelly Roll, which has just dropped.
Meanwhile, debut album You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) continues its Top 20 run this week at No.16. It has consumption to date of 92,241 units.
With the track included on Spotify’s Songs Of The Summer list, there’s no sign of it disappearing from the chart any time soon. Here, Atlantic co-presidents Briony Turner and Ed Howard reflect on the extraordinary streaming impact of Ordinary….
Alex Warren has now spent 10 weeks at the summit, what’s been key to that incredible performance?
Briony Turner: “This phenomenal chart result is the culmination of many hard years of graft that Alex has put into his career. From sleeping in cars to conquering TikTok, to building an incredible rapport with his super loyal fan base, to writing some deeply meaningful songs, and putting on charmingly interactive live shows. We’re delighted that he’s connected with the UK in such a massive way and that Ordinary keeps finding a bigger audience.”
As with most highly successful artists, personality plays a hugely important role, particularly in the TikTok era
Briony Turner
How important was the groundwork laid with singles success in 2024? And how are you supporting those earlier singles, particularly Carry You Home?
Ed Howard: “Alex built strongly throughout the course of 2024, with multiple track releases, all of which helped him gain momentum. As so often is the case with chart hits now, and developing artists, it’s a very long run into the top of the charts. We worked closely with Alex’s team and our partners in the US throughout that period to keep the growth going week after week, keep the fans engaged, and to try to be as creative and have as much fun with it as possible.
“Carry You Home was a breakthrough catalyst song for Alex, marking his first Top 40 track in the UK and had strong airplay success – creating a strong foundation for future singles. It had impressive, sustained growth, all the way up to becoming a Top 10 record, and has spent 43 weeks in the charts – far beyond any other single. This growth was also driven by curated creative direction via socials and telling the story of Alex’s relationship and life through a highly engaging music video.”
Has Alex Warren’s personality contributed to the success of the campaign in terms of social media/TikTok and media appearances? How did he make the transition from his previous role as a YouTuber, and did that help him as a new artist?
Briony Turner: “As with most highly successful artists, personality plays a hugely important role, particularly in the TikTok era. Alex has drawn on the turbulence of his upbringing, and experiences as a child and young man. He is a really eloquent mouthpiece for others who have experienced similar upheaval, and these shared experiences are powerful online. He talks in an unusually frank way and it’s this, combined with his infectious sense of humour, that gives him such a unique personality and has helped him connect with so many people. TikTok and YouTube were incredible platforms for Alex to garner an early fanbase and he continues to use these tools to communicate his amazing story and the emotion of his songs to his fans.
“In the modern age, there is no reason the seriousness of an artist’s proposition should require them to move away from social media. A credible singer-songwriter is not judged by their use of social media, they are judged by the consistency and quality of their creative output. Alex deserves to be considered among the very top singer-songwriters and pop artists in the world right now, and his success speaks for itself.”
The UK has broken Alex as a No.1 artist and we feel like the ignition market for his global success
Ed Howard
How important has radio airplay been in the UK?
Ed Howard: “Radio airplay has been a major factor in the success of Ordinary and the building of Alex as an artist in the UK. Damian Christian [managing director and president of promotions, Atlantic Records UK] and his promotions team have done an incredible job with him at radio and have been plugging him for well over a year now, something that has not been easy or straightforward, but we genuinely believed we had a proper artist on our hands and the backing everyone has shown has been worth it.
“Carry You Home had strong radio support from Bauer, BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, with the song even ending up in the Top 100 tracks of 2024. Burning Down was equally well supported by radio, so the framework was in place when Ordinary came out, and all the major stations helped it become his first No.1 airplay as well as his first No.1 single – and it still has huge ongoing airplay numbers. Alex currently has two songs in the Top 10 airplay chart, and is undeniably the radio success story of 2025 so far!”
The album recently cracked the Top 10, what are the ambitions for this off the back of Ordinary? How are you successfully building him as an album artist?
Briony Turner: “Ordinary and his album release has seen Alex jump up enormously in terms of scale and awareness, and we feel like we’re operating at a whole new level for this next stage. We would think of an ‘album artist’ as an artist where fans care deeply about the overall output with the body of musical releases – the album – being part of that. With that goal in mind we are focused on continued fan engagement, IRL activations, building around an explosive live plot, cultural connections in the UK, and much more to continue to drive interest in Alex’s forthcoming album. His new single, Bloodline, feels like it’s going to be amazing and the baseline for success has increased hugely. Our ambitions for the album are to keep climbing the Top 10, and to take it as far as we possibly can.”
What are the plans for Alex Warren in the UK market in terms of live and further releases?
Ed Howard: “The UK is a really important territory for Alex, and to date he has spent so much time here building his presence and fanbase. The UK has broken Alex as a No.1 artist and we feel like the ignition market for his global success. He will be back in the UK in July for more shows and promo. We are particularly excited about his upcoming show at Ally Pally in July – he will continue to scale live, and we don’t see it slowing down any time soon.”
FOLLOW 
