Busted Blasts to No. 1 on Midweek U.K. Chart
Written by djfrosty on September 18, 2023
Move over Olivia Rodrigo, Busted wants its chart crown.
The British pop punk act leads the midweek U.K. chart with Greatest Hits 2.0, a 20th anniversary collection of the trio’s works, which includes a “Guest Features Edition” with cuts reworked by the likes of Jonas Brothers, All Time Low, Simple Plan, Dashboard Confessional, Hanson and You Me At Six.
With Greatest Hits 2.0, Busted, comprising Charlie Simpson, Matt Willis and James Bourne, should nab a fourth U.K. top 10 appearance, a list that includes three No. 2 peaks (Busted from 2002, A Present for Everyone from 2003 and Half Way There from 2019). The band has landed four U.K. No. 1 singles, but, until now, never topped the albums survey.
Rodrigo’s Guts powered to No. 1 last Friday, Sept. 15 with the year’s healthiest first-week numbers, for her second leader. Guts dips to No. 2 on the chart blast.
Mitski is on track for a career-best chart spot with The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, the American singer and songwriter’s seventh studio album. It’s set to drop in at No. 3, for what would be Mitski’s second top 10 appearance, after 2022’s Laurel Hell peaked at No. 6.
Meanwhile, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor could bag his first solo U.K. top 10 with CMF2, new at No. 4 on the chart blast. It’s the followup to 2020’s CMFT, which reached No. 11. As a member of Slipknot, Taylor has three No. 1 albums: 2001’s Iowa, 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind and 2022’s The End So Far.
Jared Leto’s Thirty Seconds to Mars is flying to a third top 10 with It’s the End of the World, the U.S. alternative rock band’s sixth studio release. It’s new at No. 5 on the Official Chart Update, and could equal or better 2013’s Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (No. 5 peak) and 2018’s America (No. 4).
Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group the Pretenders should scoop a seventh U.K. top 10 album with Relentless, new at No. 7 on the chart blast. If it stays on target, it’ll give Chrissie Hynde and Co. their highest-charting album since 1994’s Last of the Independents, which peaked at No. 8.
Also eyeing a top 10 berth is Ash, the Northern Irish independent band whose eighth studio album Race the Night is set to start at No. 8. Race The Night could become the rockers’ sixth U.K. top 10 collection and highest-charting LP since 2004’s Meltdown went to No. 5.
Steve Hackett’s Foxtrot at Fifty + Hackett Highlights: Live in Brighton could become the guitar hero’s best U.K. chart appearance in more than 40 years. It’s on course for a top 10 debut, at No. 10, for what would be Hackett’s first top tier solo effort since 1980’s Defector peaked at No. 9.
Also impacting the midweek top 40 are LPs by Madison Beer (Silence Between Songs at No. 12), Demi Lovato (Revamped at No. 20), Sleepy Hallow (Boy Meets World at No. 29), The Bites (Squeeze at No. 30) and Sugababes (The Lost Tapes at No. 39).
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, Sept. 22.