Taylor Swift's Midnights already fastest-selling album of 2022 so far as she pulls ahead of Arctic Monkeys in race to Number 1
Taylor Swift starts out in front in the biggest Official Chart battle of the year so far, going up against Arctic Monkeys in the race for the UK’s Official Number 1 album.
Taylor’s latest album Midnights takes the lead ahead of Arctic Monkeys and their seventh album The Car (2). A huge week is underway with both records clearing well over 100,000 copies in just three days according to Official Charts Company data. Only one other album has broken that threshold in a full week this year – Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, which managed 113,000 units in its opening week.
The Official Charts Company can also confirm that Midnights is now already the UK’s fastest-selling album of 2022 so far, pulling in an astounding 140,000 chart sales and counting, with only three full days of tracking. Arctic Monkeys follow just behind with 105,000 chart units at the midweek mark.
The race is far from over yet, but if Taylor maintains this early momentum, it would land the pop superstar a ninth UK Number 1 album, as well as ending the Sheffield rockers’ flawless run of six chart-topping studio albums on the bounce.
Taylor Swift has previously topped the Official Albums Chart with; Red (2012), 1989 (2014), reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021) and Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021).
Arctic Monkeys have landed Number 1 with all of their studio albums to date, including 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not, 2007’s Favourite Worst Nightmare, 2009’s Humbug, 2011’s Suck It And See, 2013’s AM and 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.
MORE: Who will come out on top between Taylor Swift and Arctic Monkeys?
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Elsewhere, we could be looking at an all-new Top 5 this week, with South London-born artist Loyle Carner’s third album Hugo (3) which could become his second UK Top 10 record, Scottish rock band Simple Minds’ 19th record Direction of the Heart (4), and Kylie Minogue’s alt-pop opus Impossible Princess (5) which could re-enter thanks to a special 25th anniversary release. It originally peaked at Number 10 under the title Kylie Minogue.
Norwegian 80s pop icons a-ha also return this week with True North (6) which could become their highest-charting studio album in the UK in 13 years.
Cult pop queen Carly Rae Jepsen could secure her highest-ever charting album in the UK with The Loneliest Time (7) and alt-rockers Dry Cleaning are on track for their second Top 10 with Stumpwork (8).
Outside the Top 10, Architects’ The Classic Symptoms of a Broken Spirit (11) could become the English metalcore band’s fifth Top 20 album, and Queens of the Stone Age celebrate 25 years of their influential self-titled debut album (16) which could be the album’s first appearance inside the UK Top 40.
Oxymore, the 22nd album from French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, eyes a Number 17 debut, while Christmas comes early to the Official Charts as the Bocelli family – Andrea, Matteo and Virginia – team up for A Family Christmas, which could enter at Number 19.
Former The Stranglers vocalist and guitarist Hugh Cornwell’s new album Moments of Madness (22) is looking to become the 73-year-old musician’s first solo album to reach the Top 40. The Libertines are celebrating 20 years of their debut Up The Bracket (29), which originally peaked at Number 35 in 2002.
And finally, Swedish experimental rock band Goat’s fourth studio album Oh Death could be our final new entry of the week at Number 40.
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thierry henon
Great news on the Billboard HOT 100!! Kim Petras and Sam Smith are the new number single in the USA right now!! Cannot believe it and so happy about it!! Their first number 1 single there...
A
Alexander
amazing sales by both acts and a welcome relief for record shops who badly need more acts like these two to stay open. nothing beats browsing in a record store and picking up some good tunes. congrats taylor and hopefully the arctic monkeys also get a week at number 1. not saying this battle is over and hopefully by friday both will have sold over 200k now that woud be awesome in this day and age of poor album sales.
🧡 oliviasnoodles 🍜
where are piri and tommy? talk about an under-appreciated act 😔
anyways, go taylor! we’re all cheering you on 📣
⁉️
not all of us i fear
although she would end fad minouge so i can’t complain too much
Piran
Shame Piri & Tommy aren't mentioned anywhere though, they're so underrated. :/
Piran
Delighted to see Carly Rae Jepsen in the Top 10, 'The Loneliest Time' is a fantastic pop album! 😍
⁉️
it’s alright but emotion deserved it :(
Piran
'Emotion' was amazing too! Definitely deserved so much better. :/
Piran
The fact that both Taylor & AM are pulling six-figure sales after three days in 2022 is honestly insane, especially when both artists are 16 years into their careers! 🤯
Obviously, I'm delighted for 'Midnights' set to become Taylor's ninth #1 album in only a decade, but I honestly hope 'The Car' also gets to spend at least some time at the top further down the line. :)
A
Andy💁🏼
Crazy that she's going to total 9 number one albums in just one day short of a decade. Red 2012 releasing on 22nd October 2022 and Midnights on 21st October 2022... unprecedented.
Piran
Second most ever for a female solo artist, I believe! 😮
A
Andy💁🏼
If she plays it right her versions of 'Taylor Swift', 'Speak Now', '1989' and 'Reputation' she'll have 13 which would be the most for a female solo artist... I wouldn't underestimate her at this stage. Very impressive career trajectory.
Piran
'1989' & 'Reputation' are likely to get there, although the original versions of 'Taylor Swift' & 'Speak Now' were much less known in the UK since they had far less hits over here, but if this week proved anything, it's that we should never rule her out. :)
C
Conor
plus, fearless tv got to #1. if she picks a quiet-ish release week she'll have SN and TS taylor versions #1 secured, but at the way she is right now, she'd probably do it even on a busy release week!
Lancashire Anglo-Saxon
All it shows is the derisory sales for albums these days. 100.,000 copies in a week wouldn't have been thought worthy of any comment at all once upon a time. And in those days you had to actually leave your armchair to purchase the record which was far more expensive anyway.
And it also makes it obvious that the album as a format will not be with us for much longer. I mean when on many weeks a band who 99% of the population has and will never hear off but got played a few times on BBC 6 (a station which most people have never heard of), can get to number 1 or on another week a third rate indie group of never-beens can get to number one with some fan-base hype and leave the charts the week after, it shows the format has obviously outlived its relevance.
As we know many rap acts in the US don't even bother putting out albums anymore the sales in the American album charts being so atrocious.
It's ironic that in the second half of the 1960s the album overtook the single as the format da jure and then 55 years later the single is triumphant once again. The fact that in Britain it seems certain that 'Rumours' and Queen's 'Greatest Hits' (at respectively 46 and 41 years since their initial release) will remain high in the album charts permanently until albums are no longer a thing, says it all really.
Piran
It's disappointing that album sales are low these days, since I wish more money would go to directly supporting the artists that make the music as it's predominantly their work, but at the end of the day, I get why the sales market is dying off really fast.
We've been living in more of a virtual world for the past few yeats now & Covid only added to that, so people would rather enjoy music from home rather than head out to physically buy an album! Then there's the financial side of it, where streaming sites often allow listening to the music for free or at least at a much lower price, which yet again, has probably been fuelled a lot more in recent months due to the cost of living crisis, although this has obviously been in the case for years after downloads peaked!
That being said, even though they started out in 2006, probably the second half of both Taylor's & AM's discography is streaming era, the former wasn't even that well-known outside of one hit back when even digital sales for albums were at their peak.
Regarding your point on the US market, the pure sales in the Billboard 200 are relatively poor for rap albums, but pop, country & even Latin ones still sell a lot better, so it's obviously important for artists that work in those genres to still shift copies to stores!
At the end of the day, the public's way of consuming music (or any art) has changed so much with all the technological advances, so it's only right that the chart methodology & the way units are counted change to reflect that.
I completely understand that a 100k+ opening week is nothing special or ground-breaking for older generations, but the fact that even 'The Car' will beat 'Harry's House' previous record for the year despite not even entering at #1 shows how strong this week is relative to a large majority of charts throughout the decade!
I've seen the Scottish charts be discontinued due to the lack of current sales & I myself have predicted that the general sales chart will be gone within the next 10-15 years, but I really don't see OCC doing the same for the albums chart, since it's literally their second most popular page after the Top 100 Singles & it's been there from the very start. :)