Kylie Minogue’s ‘Tension’ Powers to No. 1 In U.K.

October 2, 2023 E Jazz Reporter

Artistes

“Tension” outsells the rest of the top 5 combined.

Kylie Minogue

Erik Melvin

Kylie Minogue can’t be stopped in the U.K. chart race, as Tension (via BMG) blasts to No. 1.

Australia’s “princess of pop” bags a ninth leader with Tension, which earns 53,000 chart sales in its first week (including market-leading vinyl sales), to outsell the rest of the top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports.

The runaway leader at the halfway stage, Tension features the U.K. top 10 single “Padam Padam” and is Kylie’s 16th studio album.

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Tension joins Minogue’s previous U.K. leaders, which include 1988 debut Kylie, 1989’s Enjoy Yourself, 1992’s Greatest Hits, 2001’s Fever, 2010’s Aphrodite, 2018’s Golden, 2019’s Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection and 2020’s Disco.

With that feat, Kylie levels-up with Bob Dylan and Coldplay on the list of acts with the most No. 1s albums on the Official Chart, with nine apiece.

The only female solo artists ahead of Kylie on the all-time list are Taylor Swift (with 10) and Madonna (12).

Meanwhile, Olivia Rodrigo’s former leader Guts (Geffen) holds at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Sept. 29, and the Weeknd’s career-retrospective Highlights (Republic Records/XO) is unchanged at No. 3, in its 138th week on the survey.

Homegrown hip-hop stars Headie One and K-Trap bow at No. 4 with their first collaborative album, Strength to Strength (via One Thousand8). It’s Headie One’s (real name: Irving Ampofo Adjei) third top 5 appearance following 2019’s Music x Road (No. 5 peak) and 2020 chart-topper EDNA; while K-Trap (real name Devonte Kasi Martin Perkins) scores a career peak, beating 2022’s The Last Whip II, which topped out at No. 12.

Doja Cat’s nabs her third top 40 appearance with Scarlet (Ministry of Sound), new at No. 5. Doja’s previous appearances on the national albums chart included 2021’s Planet Her (No. 3) and 2019’s Hot Pink (No. 38).

Finally, North London-born experimental artist Bakar (real name: Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr) earns a career best with Nobody’s Home (Black Butter), new at No. 15, while Scottish alternative rock legends Teenage Fanclub bag a 10th U.K. top 40 album with Nothing Lasts Forever (Pema), new at No. 30.

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