Olivia Rodrigo Roars to U.K. No. 1 With ‘Guts’

September 18, 2023 E Jazz Reporter

Entertainment
Olivia Rodrigo is crowned on the U.K. albums chart as Guts (Geffen) flies to No. 1.

At the midweek point, Guts had what appeared to be an unassailable lead, capturing 33,000 combined sales. That proved to be the case when the Official U.K. Albums Chart was published late Friday, Sept. 15, with Guts cruising to the top with 60,300 chart units, the Official Charts Company reports.

Not only was Guts the best-selling and most-streamed album of the latest chart cycle, it outsold the rest of the top 10 combined for the biggest first-week tally for any LP in 2023.

Rodrigo is now a perfect two-from-two. Her debut from 2021, Sour, spent five weeks at the summit and racked up a handful of U.K. chart records.

When Sour and “Good 4 U” reached No. 1 in the same week in May 2021, Rodrigo became the youngest solo artist in history to nab the chart double, aged 18 years and 3 months.

Also, Sour set a benchmark for the most first-week streams for a debut album in the U.K. Then, in June 2021, the U.S. pop singer became the first female solo artist to claim three simultaneous U.K. top 5 singles with “Good 4 U,” “Déjà vu” and “Traitor.” With three No. 1s, she’s the female solo artist with the most U.K. No. 1 singles this decade.

As Guts completes its sprint to the top, Sour enjoys a return to the top 10. Rodrigo’s debut effort rises 18-8 in its 121st week on the tally. Guts separately reigns over the Billboard 200, and the ARIA Albums Chart.

Unchanged at No. 2 on the latest U.K. survey is Travis Scott’s former leader Utopia (RCA), while English indie rockers the Coral enter at No. 3 with Sea of Mirrors (Modern Sky/Run On), for their seventh top 10 appearance. The Wirral indie band also appears further down the list with accompanying album Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show, new at No. 36.

Former Moloko singer Roisin Murphy enjoys her first solo top 10 appearance with Hit Parade (Ninja Tune), new at No. 5; veteran electronic pair the Chemical Brothers land a tenth U.K. top 10 with For That Beautiful Feeling (EMI), new at No. 6; and M Huncho’s My Neighbours Don’t Know (MYB) starts at No. 9, for the masked U.K. rapper’s fourth top 10.

Outside the top tier are new releases from the xx vocalist Romy (Mid Air at No. 15 via Young), Public Service Broadcasting (This New Noise at No. 28 via Test Card), Fleetwood Mac (Rumours Live at No. 34 via Rhino) and Yussef Dayes (Black Classical Music at No. 37 via Brownswood Recordings).

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