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Dua Lipa is the new queen of the U.K.’s albums chart, as Radical Optimism debuts at No. 1.
The runaway leader at the halfway mark, Radical Optimism (Warner Records) collects 46,300 chart units in its first cycle, the most for any British female since Adele’s November 2021 smash 30, the Official Charts Company reports.

Also, Radical Optimism becomes the biggest opening week of any British act so far this year, eclipsing the 39,400 first-week total for Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s eponymously title LP, which dropped in March. The likes of Caroline Ailin, Danny L. Harle and Tobias Jesso Jr. provided creative input on the new collection, while Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker co-wrote and produced seven tracks, including the three U.K. top 10 singles “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion.”

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Radical Optimism is Dua’s second U.K. No. 1 after 2020’s Future Nostalgia, and first to bow at No. 1; Future Nostalgia climbed to the summit in its second week, and has logged 204 weeks at the top, including four stints at the top. Her self-titled 2017 debut peaked at No. 3 but has clocked 354 weeks on the Official Albums Chart.

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With her latest leader, confirmed Friday, May 10, Lipa knocks off Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (EMI), down 1-2 after two weeks at the chart zenith.

Closing out the podium is Frank Turner’s Undefeated (Xtra Mile), new at No. 3. It’s the sixth U.K. top 10 appearance for the English singer and songwriter following 2013’s Tape Deck Heart (No. 2 peak), 2015’s Positive Songs For Negative People (No. 2), 2018’s Be More Kind (No. 3), 2019’s No Man’s Land (No. 3) and 2022 chart-topper FTHC.

Also netting a U.K. top 10 debut is Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, whose second solo studio effort Inevitable Incredible (Ignition) starts at No. 6. That’s a career solo best for the Welshman, bettering the No. 8 peak for his debut solo LP Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day from 2020. As a member of Stereophonics, Jones has eight U.K. No. 1s.

Finally, as ABBA celebrates the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision Song Contest win with “Waterloo,” the Swedish pop group’s juggernaut Gold: Greatest Hits (Polydor) rebounds into the top 10, up 11-9 in its 1,149th week. Britain can claim a small part in ABBA’s early success. The group won Eurovision in Brighton, England back in 1974, though the Swedish entry received nil points from the U.K. voting jury. Viewers of the 2024 Eurovision final, hosted in Malmo, Sweden, were treated to a surprise on Saturday night when ABBA’s digital avatars were beamed to the studio from the ABBA Voyage stage show in London. The pop megastars’ early breakthrough is retold in ABBA: Against the Odds, streaming in the U.S. on the CW Network.

Though it never produced a chart crown, The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” is a record-breaker in the U.K.
Two decades after release, the U.S. alternative rock act’s signature song is anointed as the biggest-ever single which didn’t snag a U.K. No. 1.

The Killers were originally discovered by and signed to U.K. independent Lizard King, and were embraced by Brits as one of their own. “Mr Brightside” was initially released in 2003 with a limited-edition 500 CD run, and was reissued in May 2004, peaking at No. 10.

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The track failed to set the charts on fire but has proven a slow burner, notching 408 weeks on the Official U.K. Singles Chart – almost eight full years.

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Since its release, “Mr Brightside” has accumulated 5.57 million combined units, including 1.066m sales and 530,340,000 streams, the Official Charts Company reports, good enough for third place on the all-time list of biggest songs, behind Elton John’s “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/”Candle in the Wind 1997.” That streaming tally sends it to No. 5 in the list of most-streamed songs of all time in the U.K.

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The biggest week (across all formats) for “Mr Brightside” in the U.K. was July 2019, when it amassed 17,700 chart units following the Las Vegas act’s headline set at Glastonbury Festival, while its biggest week of sales was registered in 2012, when the single was bought and downloaded 125,200 times.

On its 20th anniversary, “Mr Brightside” eclipses Oasis’ 1995 ballad “Wonderwall” for the unusual honor. “Wonderwall,” lifted from the Manchester rock band’s sophomore album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory), peaked at No. 2.

The OCC crunched the numbers and declared “Mr Brightside” is actually gathering pace. Last year saw the track generate its biggest volume of streams, with 79.97 million plays, the OCC reports, and in 2024, combined weekly sales and streams are up 23% year-on-year.

The Killers will dish out the hits for the Rebel Diamonds Tour of the U.K. and Ireland this summer, which includes 16 arena shows.

After scorching the U.K. singles chart last week, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” (via Island) remains hot. The U.S. singer and actor is dazzling at both sides of the Atlantic right now; she strutted the red carpet at the 2024 Met Gala, and she’s the current leader on the Official U.K. Singles Chart. Based on midweek sales […]

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” (via Island) is just too hot, as it starts its first stint at No. 1 in the U.K.
The U.S. singer and actor’s hit lifts 5-1 in its third week on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, for her first leader.

The best-seller at the midweek point, “Espresso” clocked up a market-leading 8.8 million streams, and completed nail-biting finish to bump Taylor Swift’s former leader “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone by fewer than 500 combined units, the Official Charts Company reports.

“Espresso” is Carpenter’s first top 10 and fourth U.K. top 40 single after “Nonsense” (No. 32 peak), “Skin” (No. 28) and “feather” (No. 19).

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Hozier’s former No. 1 “Too Sweet” (Island) dips 2-3, to complete the podium on the latest chart, published Friday, May 3.

Shaboozey bags his first U.K. 10 single with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (American Dogwood/Empire), the hip-hop-country number which rises 16-6.

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Taylor Swift bags another U.K. top 10 single — her 29th in her career — with “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” the fourth single from The Tortured Poets Department to crack the top 10 in two weeks. “Broken Heart” is new at No. 8, following “Fortnight,” “The Tortured Poets Department” (No. 3 peak) and “Down Bad” (No. 4). “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is the highest debut on the latest Official U.K. Singles Chart.

The only other debutant in the top 40 is Virginia, U.S. singer and rapper Tommy Richman, with “Million Dollar Baby” (ISO Supremacy/Pulse). The viral cut is new at No. 31, for Richman’s first entry on the Official Singles Chart.

Finally, two classic Amy Winehouse songs return to the top 40, powered by Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic, Back to Black. The late singer’s cover of the Zutons’ “Valerie” (with producer Mark Ronson, via Columbia) returns at No. 38 and “Back to Black” (lsland) reenters at No. 39.