Tom Grennan, Queens of the Stone Age Duke It Out For U.K. Chart Title
Written by djfrosty on June 20, 2023
Life is full of whats, ifs, and maybes. Just ask Tom Grennan, who’s on the brink of another U.K. chart crown.
The English singer and songwriter’s third studio album What Ifs & Maybes (via Insanity) leads an all-new top 4 on the midweek chart. If it holds its place, Grennan will bag a second leader, following 2021’s Evering Road, and third consecutive top 10, dating back to his 2018 debut Lighting Matches, which peaked at No. 5.
Grennan will be closely watching the form of Queens of the Stone Age, whose eighth studio album In Times New Roman (Matador) is set to start at No. 2. QOTSA already has five U.K. top 10 LPs.
Completing the podium at the midweek stage is Pet Shop Boys’ career retrospective SMASH: The Singles 1985-2020 (Parlophone). It’s new at No. 3, and should give the synthpop duo an 18th U.K. top 10 appearance on the chart proper.
Coming in at No. 4 on the Official Chart Update is Far From Saints’ eponymously titled LP (via Ignition). It’s the first release from the group, led by Kelly Jones, frontman of Welsh rockers Stereophonics, plus Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker of U.S. band The Wind and The Wave.
Also new to the top 10 on the chart blast is K-pop group ATEEZ, with The World Ep.2: Outlaw (KQ Entertainment), new at No. 6; Texas’s hits collection The Very Best Of – 1989-2023 (PIAS Recordings) at No. 7; and English singer, songwriter and composer Ben Howard’s Is It? (Island), new at No. 8.
A 20th anniversary reissue of Girls Aloud’s Sound of the Underground (Polydor/UMR) could see the band’s debut return to the top 10. It blasts to No. 9 on the chart update. The first full-length LP from Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts, Cheryl Tweedy, Kimberley Walsh and the late Sarah Harding peaked at No. 2 following its release in 2003.
Just outside the top 10 is Dannii Minogue’s Neon Nights (London Stream Music), which also enjoys a lift due to a 20th anniversary treatment. The Australian pop singer’s fourth studio set, which peaked at No. 8 following its original release, sits at No. 11 on the midweek chart.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, June 23.