The Last Dinner Party feasts on the U.K. chart as Prelude to Ecstasy (via Island) blasts to No. 1.
The outright leader at the midweek point, Prelude to Ecstasy clocks 32,800 chart units in its first week, the Official Charts Company reports.
That’s the biggest opening week for a debut album by a band since 2015, when electronic pop act Years & Years accumulated 55,000 with their debut, Communion.
Also, according to the OCC, the Last Dinner Party’s first-week result includes more than 14,000 vinyl copies, for the fastest-selling debut album by a group on vinyl of the century, and the highest sales week for a vinyl album since Oasis’ The Masterplan remaster dropped last November.
Based in London, the indie-rock five-piece (Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies and Aurora Nishevci) has some serious hype behind it.
The group snagged this year’s BRITs Rising Star Award and the BBC Sound Of 2024 poll, a brace that assures the Last Dinner Party status as the next big thing in music.
Prelude to Ecstasy features “Nothing Matters,” their breakthrough debut single which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
Also new to the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Friday, Feb. 9, is Jamie Webster’s 10 For The People (Modern Sky), at No. 2. With that effort, the Liverpool, England singer and songwriter boasts a new career high, outdoing 2022’s Moments, which peaked at No. 3.
Glasgow, Scotland singer and songwriter Dylan John Thomas enjoys a top 40 start with his self-titled debut album (via Ignition), new at No. 21, while Britpop-era psychedelic rock act Kula Shaker nabs a fourth U.K. top 40 with their latest LP Natural Magick (Strange Folk), new at No. 22.
Finally, Taylor Swift fever spreads on the U.K. chart following the announcement of The Tortured Poets Department, her forthcoming 11th studio album. Several of Swift’s recordings spike on the tally, including 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (up 8-5), Midnights (up 15-6), Folklore (up 18-10), Lover (up 17-13), reputation (up 20-14), and Evermore (up 51-40), all through EMI. Announced during the 2024 Grammys broadcast, The Tortured Poets Department is due out April 19.
