Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia leads the way as the UK’s biggest album of 2021 so far, according to Official Charts Company data.
Future Nostalgia has been a mainstay on the Official Albums Chart since its release just over a year ago, so far logging 33 weeks in the Top 10, four of which were at Number 1. Last year the album ranked as the UK’s third biggest album of 2020.
Future Nostalgia’s total UK chart sales currently stand at 334,000, including 69,000 from this year, boosted by the release of its Moonlight Edition in February. Dua’s self-titled debut from 2017 is also still proving popular, placing at Number 38.
The star’s second album manages to snag the top spot despite a healthy turnover of Number 1s on the Official Albums Chart this year.
A brand-new record has topped the UK’s Official Albums Chart every week of 2021 so far, with all but one doing so powered by a majority of physical sales, rather than downloads or streams. The Number 1 spot has already been occupied by an eclectic mix of faces from Bee Gees’ legend Barry Gibb, to British rapper Slowthai.
Close behind in second place, and the UK’s biggest new release of the year, is Foo Fighters’ Medicine At Midnight. The band’s tenth studio album debuted at Number 1 back in February, becoming their fifth to reach the summit. At the time frontman Dave Grohl told OfficialCharts.com: “After 25 years of being a band it still kind of blows our minds that this could actually happen and we’re very grateful and very thankful.”
Meanwhile, Harry Styles continues to enjoy huge success with his second album Fine Line, placing third in the year-to-date chart, while Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon – a Number 1 last September – is fourth and the UK’s most-streamed record of 2021 so far.
Rounding out the Top 5 is Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits - the UK’s best-selling album of all time continues to perform well on streaming and vinyl formats.
Further down, soul singer Celeste claims the UK’s biggest debut album released this year – her chart-topping Not Your Muse places at Number 10, just ahead of Barry Gibb who landed his first ever solo Number 1 in January with Greenfields – Gibb Brothers Songbook 1, at 11.
Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club – a Number 1 in March – is at 12 and is the currently the top selling vinyl album of the year. The Weeknd’s new retrospective Highlights, released around his Super Bowl halftime show in February, is at 14.
Elsewhere, rising star The Kid Laroi is at 16 with F**k Love. The Australian rapper’s debut mixtape was released last summer but climbed into the Top 10 for the first time in January.
Further down, West London rapper/singer/songwriter Fredo features at 23 with his second album Money Can’t Buy Happiness; Justin Bieber’s latest record Justice places at 26; Kings of Leon’s When You See Yourself, which debuted at Number 1 in March, is at 33.
Martin Talbot, Chief Executive, Official Charts Company comments:
“While so much of life feels as it if has ground to a halt during lockdown, it really has been a great start to 2021 for music. The constant flow of new releases has ensured we have seen a new Official Number 1 album in every week of the year so far, driven by sales of CD and vinyl, and such a broad range of artists and music types too, from Lana del Rey and Barry Gibb to Foo Fighters and Slowthai. What a fantastically promising start to the year!”
