Lorde has her first UK No.1 album.
The artist from New Zealand earned a No.1 single with the huge hit Royals in 2013. Now she has a chart-topping album to her name with Virgin.
Virgin opened at the summit with consumption of 18,848 units (3,302 CDs, 8,676 vinyl albums, 433 digital downloads and 6,437 sales-equivalent streams). As revealed in Alan Jones’ charts analysis, that is her highest first week sale, beating her previous best of 18,294 for Pure Heroine.
Although this is her first No.1, Lorde’s previous albums all made the Top 5: Pure Heroine (No.4, 2013), Melodrama (No.5, 2017) and Solar Power (No.2, 2021).
The new album delivers her 12th and 13th Top 75 hits – Shapeshifter (No.44, 9,429 sales) and Hammer (92-66, 7,533 sales). What Was That, which peaked at No.11, rebounds 56-35 (12,221 sales).
“We are absolutely delighted, and proud, to see Lorde land her first UK No.1 album with Virgin, fresh off the back of her ‘secret set’ at Glastonbury, undoubtedly one of the biggest, and most talked about, highlights of the weekend,” said Steve Pitron, senior vice president, Island EMI Label Group, international. “Virgin is a truly exceptional album, which has been embraced by new and ‘day one’ fans alike. This has already been a fantastic campaign, made all the more thrilling by having Lorde in the UK twice already for an impactful run of UK promotional activity, which further amplified the excitement and anticipation for this release and we can’t wait to have her back later in the year for her Ultrasound UK tour dates.”
He added: “I have to give a huge thank you and shout out to JD and Alex at Crush Music and Chris Nelson, Sean Warner and Matt Kidd at UMANZ , as well as Island-EMI International Marketing lead Alex Sayers, who has steered the campaign brilliantly from the start, helping guide us towards the No.1 position.”
The Lorde result marks the 11th chart-topper of the year so far for Island EMI, more than any other label group.
GLASTONBURY EFFECT
Lorde’s Glastonbury performance will likely have helped her opening week consumption – and she’s not alone.
Glastonbury Legends Slot performer Rod Stewart debuted at No.5 (7,824 sales) with Ultimate Hits, his 40th Top 10 album.
Olivia Rodrigo, the Sunday night Glastonbury Festival headliner, is one of the big winners from the festival and its BBC coverage. Rodrigo has seen a 60.2% consumption boost for current album, Guts, which has moved 24-8 (6,374 units). It has consumption to date of 601,278. There was a similar gain for debut album, Sour, (up 48.1%), which climbed 25-11 (5,849 units). Sour has consumption to date of 1,155,725.
As well as topping the singles chart with Survive, Lewis Capaldi has seen an album boost for Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (110-15, 5,166 sales) and Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (No.30, 3,793 sales).
Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (15-10, 6,054 sales) is back in the Top 10 after 23 weeks.
Meanwhile Jagged Little Pill (No.39, 3,124 sales) by Alanis Morrisette returns to the Top 40 for the first time since 2015.
Following her Glastonbury performance, Raye’s My 21st Century Blues (No.65, 2,410 sales) makes its first 2025 chart appearance.
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