Ex-Beautiful South Singers Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott Score U.K. No. 1 With ‘N.K-Pop’

British singers Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, formerly with the Beautiful South, earn their second U.K. chart crown as a duo as N.K-Pop debuts at No. 1.

N.K-Pop led at the midweek point and does enough to cross the finish line first.

As members of the Beautiful South, the English artists earned three leaders, with Carry On Up The Charts – The Best Of (from 1994), Blue Is The Colour (1996) and Quench (1998).

Heaton and Abbott also reached No. 1 as a pairing with their last album, 2021’s Manchester Calling.

Coming in at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart is alt-pop outfit Easy Life, with Maybe In Another Life…, an effort that equals the Leicester band’s best chart placing, set with 2021’s Life’s a Beach.

Maybe In Another Life… is the week’s best-seller on vinyl.

Beyoncé’s Renaissance rebounds, partly due to the viral success of album track “Cuff It,” which lifts 10-5 on the singles survey, for a new high. Renaissance improves 20-7 on the Official Albums Chart, published Oct. 14.

U.S. pop singer Charlie Puth bags a third U.K. top 10 album with Charlie, new at No. 9.

Further down the tally, veteran rockers the Cult enjoy their first top 20 appearance since 2016, as Under The Midnight Sun shines at No. 15. Midnight Sun is the Ian Asbury led-band’s 11th full length album.

Ahead of the Mercury Prize ceremony, for which it’s shortlisted, a vinyl reissue of Sam Fender’s 2021 LP Seventeen Going Under, blasts 37 places to No. 16. Seventeen Going Under is Fender’s second chart leader, following his 2019 debut Hypersonic Missiles. The Mercury Prize will be announced Oct. 18 at Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London. Fender has good form at industry awards. He won the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2019 BRIT Awards.

Another classic record on the up thanks to a re-issue is Pink Floyd’s Animals (2018 Remix), which vaults 90-21 following the release of a deluxe gatefold edition.

Canadian indie pop outfit Alvvays earn a second top 40 album with Blue Rev, new at No. 27, a career best.

Finally, as Swifties gear-up for the release of Midnights, her 10th studio album this Friday (Oct. 21), several Taylor Swift albums enjoy spikes on the latest frame. 1989 improves 41-31, and Lover lifts 45-35.

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