Wolf Alice have scored their first UK Number One album with ‘Blue Weekend’ and have claimed the biggest opening week for a British group in 2021.
The London band’s new album, which arrived last week (June 4), debuted at the top spot with over 36,000 chart sales – 14,700 of which were vinyl copies.
In addition, the four-piece – who knocked Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ down to Number Two – overtook Royal Blood to claim the biggest opening week for a British group in 2021 so far.
‘Blue Weekend’ was one of three new releases to land inside the Top Five, alongside James‘ ‘All The Colours Of You’ (Number Three) and Lil Baby & Lil Durk‘s ‘The Voice Of The Heroes’ (Number Five). Dua Lipa‘s ‘Future Nostalgia’ re-entered the Top Five landing at Number Four.
YES Wolf Alice! ? @wolfalicemusic celebrate their new album Blue Weekend debuting at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart ? Full story: https://t.co/LWPFZfuKjl pic.twitter.com/aKRBFbkTlH
— Official Charts (@officialcharts) June 11, 2021
The band, whose first two albums (2015’s ‘My Love Is Cool’ and 2017’s ‘Visions Of A Life’) both previously peaked at Number Two on the UK Album Chart, said of their new album’s achievement: “Roses are red, violets are blue, we always thought we’d be Number 2 – but we’re not! YES!”
Elsewhere on the chart, Crowded House claimed their highest-charting LP in 14 years with ‘Dreamers Are Waiting’ at Number Six, while further down the Top 20, ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons landed at 18 with ‘Hardware’, and Rise Against opened at 19 with ‘Nowhere Generation’.
In a five-star review of the album, NME‘s Rhian Daly called ‘Blue Weekend’ “another stone-cold masterpiece that further cements [Wolf Alice’s] place at the very peak of British music.”
Wolf Alice will take the record on the road in the UK next January, when they’ll perform in Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, London and other cities over the course of the month. You can purchase any remaining tickets here.
“I can’t wait to play these new songs live they are gonna sound so gooooood,” the band said in a statement. “Joff’s pedal board literally sounds like an orchestra at the moment and you have no idea how sweet Theo’s falsetto is rn.”