Katy Perry, Metallica And Disclosure Score New Top 10 Albums In The U.K. As The Entire Top 5 Refreshes

After a very close race between five brand new releases, with all of them vying for the No. 1 spot on the U.K. albums ranking, one title has emerged as the champion, and somewhat surprisingly, it’s not from the most famous figure among the bunch.

Rapper Nines lands his first No. 1 album in the U.K. this week with Crabs in a Bucket, which claims the throne with a lead of fewer than 2,000 equivalent units. Right behind him come four just-dropped projects, with the highest five slots on the chart featuring titles that weren’t present on the tally last period.

New at No. 2 is Metallica’s S&M2, which for most of the past week seemed like it was going right to the top. The live set, which sees the hard rock band partnering with the San Francisco Symphony for the second time, narrowly misses out on becoming another leader for the group, but it does match their best placement in over a decade.

S&M2 is Metallica’s eighth top 10 album in the U.K., and it easily outpaces the No. 33 high point S&M reached back in 1999.

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R&B/soul/gospel singer-songwriter Gregory Porter sees his new album All Rise begin at No. 3, matching his previously-established peak on the list. He has now sent four consecutive releases into the top 10 in the U.K., though he has yet to land a hit single on his own (he has only sent one tune to the songs chart, and it was a collaboration with Disclosure).

Speaking of Disclosure, the dance duo returns to the ranking of the most successful albums in the U.K. every week with their third full-length Energy, which becomes their first effort to fail to reach the summit. 

While Energy might not have made it to No. 1 on the albums chart, the title has already spun off a handful of successful singles throughout 2020. So far, “Know Your Worth” with Khalid, “My High” with Aminé and Slowthai, “Douha (Mali Mali)” with Fatoumata Diawara and “Birthday” with Kehlani and Syd have all reached Nos. 27, 86, 83 and 81, respectively.

The fifth and final new entrant inside this week’s top 10 in the U.K. comes from pop superstar Katy Perry, who launches her latest full-length Smile at No. 5. The title is her fourth to enter the highest region on the tally.

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Smile has sent half a dozen tunes featured on its tracklist onto the songs chart, with two breaking into the top 40. First cut “Never Really Over” lifted all the way to No. 12 last year, while recent release “Daisies” narrowly broke into the area, peaking at No. 37.

Fellow Smile singles “Small Talk,” “Harleys in Hawaii,” “Never Worn White” and “Smile” have lifted to Nos. 43, 45, 97 and 73, respectively. 

As five new albums open in the highest spots on the chart, the rest of the titles that hold on inside the top 10 this time around all decline in stature. Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon falls from No. 2 to No. 6, and it is followed by last week’s ruler, The Killers’ Imploding the Mirage at No. 7.

The final three slots inside this week’s top 10 on the U.K. albums chart are filled by Taylor Swift’s Folklore, Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die, which settle at Nos. 8, 9 and 10, respectively.

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