Charts analysis: Taylor Swift's The Life Of A Showgirl pips Keo to reclaim No.1 with Encore edition

Ending a run of 13 consecutive weeks when a new album debuted at No.1, The Life Of A Showgirl returns to pole position for Taylor Swift after a 46-week gap. Surging 84-1 after the release of its new The Encore edition – which adds Patient Zero, Cleveland!, Babylon and Pink Clouding – the album increased consumption 1297.12% week-on-week to 29,591 units (14,640 CDs, 66 vinyl albums, two cassettes, 735 digital downloads and 14,148 sales-equivalent streams) and racks up its fifth week at No.1 in total, exactly a year after its initial release. Absent from the Top 75 for the last nine weeks, The Life Of A Showgirl racked up the highest first week sales of Swift’s career (423,444 units) but has yet to sell that many in the entire period since, with a to-date tally of 815,618 units placing it eighth in her canon. Swift has spent a grand total of 37 weeks at No.1, a total exceeded by The Beatles (176), Elvis Presley (66), ABBA (58), The Rolling Stones (49), Ed Sheeran (49), Adele (42), Simon & Garfunkel (40) and Robbie Williams (38). 33 of those weeks have come in the 2020s, in which decade her nearest rival is Ed Sheeran, with 10 weeks at the top. Swift’s surge is tough on Keo, a London-based alt-rock/post-grunge quartet whose popularity is founded on word of mouth, incendiary live performances and their 2025 EP Siren. Keo hit the ground running, and were set for a No.1 debut with their introductory album, Put A Smile On For Me until a tranche of CDs of the new version of Swift’s album were unleashed on Wednesday. Achieving first week consumption of 23,527 units, Put A Smile On For Me would have been the first debut album by an act without as much as a low-charting single to open at No.1 since The Lathums’ first LP, How Beautiful Life Can Be did so five years ago this very week. Keo’s lead vocalist and guitarist Finn Keogh wrote all 11 songs on the album (one with Gulliver Ellis), and has just turned 23. His bandmates are 25-year-old brother Conor Keogh (bass), 22-year-old Jimmy Lanwern (guitar) and 27-year-old drummer Oli Spackman. Keo’s robust debut was always going to deny Essex band Nothing But Thieves the chance to secure their second No.1 with Stray Dogs, which opens at No.3 on consumption of 16,199 units, 18.92% more than the 13,622 units its immediate predecessor, Dead Club City, sold when it debuted at No.1 in 2023. All of Nothing But Thieves’ five albums have made the Top 10, and their biggest-seller is their eponymous 2015 debut, which peaked at No.7 and has to-date consumption of 142,164 units. The rest of the Top 10: You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (3-4, 11,928 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Essential (2-5, 9,513 sales) by Michael Jackson, Time Flies 1994-2009 (8-6, 9,204 sales) by Oasis, The Art Of Loving (5-7, 8,710 sales) by Olivia Dean, Visitor (4-8, 8,493 sales) by Sienna Spiro, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (14-9, 7,453 sales) by Oasis and 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-10, 7,153 sales) by Fleetwood Mac. Surpassing the 1-45 slump experienced by her last album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, Beabadoobee’s second No.1 album, Pylon, dives to No.75 (2,180 sales) on its second frame. Also exiting the Top 10: The Highlights (9-11, 6,608 sales) by The Weeknd, The Great Divide (10-12, 6,364 sales) by Noah Kahan and the now uncharted Violence Insane In A Beautiful World (487 sales) by Roger Taylor, which was No.6 last week. Arriving almost 45 years after their debut set, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, reached No.5, Soft Cell’s sixth and final studio album Danceteria – finished two days before the death of David Ball, who partnered Marc Almond in the duo, last October – debuts at No.26 (3,550 sales). It is their 12th charted album, including remix and hits sets. Come This Madness (No.30, 3,155 sales) is the 12th studio album and eighth chart entry by Swedish band Europe, earning the 50-somethings quintet their highest chart position since 1988. Also new to the Top 75; Popstar (No.35, 2,948 sales), the eclectic eighth studio album and first chart entry for 33-year-old American singer Tinashe; Glastonbury 1994 (No.57, 2,499 sales), a fully restored and remastered version of fraternal electronic duo Orbital’s seminal set at Worthy Farm, and their 15th charted album; Nobody’s Coming To Save You (No.64, 2,322 sales), the second album and first chart entry for Dublin quintet Gurriers; and Unshatter Film Soundtrack (Live in São Paulo) (No.65, 2,311 sales), a 2024 Brazilian concert recording that serves as the soundtrack to the Linkin Park documentary of the same name, and delivers the band’s 17th chart entry. No.1 on initial release in 1996 but uncharted ever since, Suede’s third album, Coming Up, is newly remastered and expanded in CD, Blu-ray and digital editions, released alongside three new vinyl editions, and re-enters at No.45 (2,673 Sales), while another album marking its 30th anniversary is Alice In Chains’ MTV Unplugged, which reached No.20 at the time and now re-enters at No.49 (2,608 sales), following the release of two new vinyl editions. No.1 on the compilation chart for 58 of the 66 previous weeks that have elapsed since its release, the K-pop Demon Hunters soundtrack is swept aside this week, falling 1-2 (2,772 sales), to be replaced by Northern Exposure Redux: Sasha & John Digweed (3,306 sales, including 2,356 CDs, 633 vinyl albums and 317 digital downloads). It is a 30th anniversary makeover of the seminal progressive house/dub/trance/breaks set Northern Exposure - which reached No.7 on the compilation chart, and sold 43,383 copies – with expanded, remastered and reworked content. It is simultaneously released in limited double vinyl editions of repertoire tagged North and South on the original releases, with South debuting at No.5 (1,643 sales) and North debuting at No.6 (1,496 sales). Overall album sales are up 2.68% week-on-week to 2,455,009 units, 3.75% below same week 2025 sales of 2,550,564. Physical product accounts for 338,028 sales, 13.77% of the total. PHOTO: TAS Rights Management

Charts analysis: Sienna Spiro leads singles rankings as Stella Lefty climbs into Top 3

Women have a vice-like grip on the chart, with Sienna Spiro continuing at the summit, in a top six comprising entirely of tracks by female solo artists for only the third time in chart history. Spiro’s Great Expectation racks up a third consecutive week at No.1, albeit with consumption off 1.16% week-on-week at 26,900 units (337 digital downloads and 26,563 sales-equivalent streams). That is the lowest level for a No.1 single since Viva La Vida topped the list for Coldplay on consumption of 23,212 copies in June 2008, some 953 weeks ago. Its nearest challenger is still former incumbent Choosin’ Texas, No.2 for the third time (24,534 sales) for Ella Langley, while Stella Lefty’s debut hit, Boston, No.4 for the last four weeks, climbs to a new peak at No.3 (24,228 sales). The highest of three new entries to the Top 10, Nicole Kidman is in a hurry for Slovakian singer Adéla, surging 15-4 (19,188 sales) a fortnight after debuting at No.50. It is her first Top 10 single, and overshadows her debut hit, Ain’t In LA, which returns to its peak (13-12, 16,595 sales). With Dua Lipa’s viral revival Training Season holding at No.5 (19,148 sales) and Olivia Rodrigo’s The Cure repeating at No.6 (18,672 sales), our solo sororal sextet is complete. The first time the top six comprised only of tracks by female solo artists was on August 18, 2023, when Billie Eilish led the way with Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Peggy Gou and two songs from Olivia Rodrigo completing the sextet. A week later, we had the only instance before this week of different female solo artists in each of the top six positions, with Lipa on top followed by Eilish, Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Swift and Gou. It is very unlikely this week’s top six will fill the top six positions a week hence – there are female reinforcements in the form of Patient Zero, Pink Clouding, Cleveland and Babylon – the new additions to Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl – but also male contenders in the form of Jamie Miller, whose first hit Babydoll has catapulted 67-46-24-8, increasing consumption 72.22% week-on-week to 18,072 units as it makes its Top 10 debut, and which will undoubtedly make further gains next week; and Sombr, whose My Body Isn’t Ready surges 16-10 (16,755 sales) to become his fifth Top 10 hit. Completing the Top 10: Rein Me In (7-7, 18,492 sales) by Sam Fender & Olivia Dean and Stop The Wedding! (9-9, 17,344 sales) by Ashe. Handicapped by ACR on the main chart, Rein Me In is the most-consumed track for the 14th week in a row, and 23rd week in total, with unadjusted consumption of 36,763 units. New ACR casualty Movin’ To The Sun by Hugel, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté tumbles 3-16 (13,539 sales), while there are more organic Top 10 departures for Die On This Hill (10-11, 16,738 sales) by Sienna Spiro and Man I Need (8-13, 16,571 sales) by Olivia Dean. There was only one new entry to the Top 75 last week, and they are still at a premium with four making the grade this time around. Bad Taste (No.73, 5,824 sales), is the introductory hit single for Freya Skye, whose EP, Stardust, reached No.35 on the album chart in May. A 16-year-old singer/songwriter from Buckinghamshire, Skye achieved the rare feat – for a new British artist – of making her US singles chart debut before her UK debut, reaching No.88 on the Hot 100 there with Silent Treatment earlier this year. Bad Taste’s tally includes 1,844 sales on coloured 7-inch vinyl, enough for it to top the physical formats chart. The rest: Obsessica (80-70, 6,070 sales), the second hit for Malcom Todd; Joseph (No.71, 6,029 sales) the first hit for veteran Las Vegas metalcore band Falling In Reverse, featuring Corey Taylor from Slipknot and Serj Tankian of System Of A Down; and Last Thing You Need (No.74, 5,774 sales), the 12th hit for country singer Morgan Wallen, from the upcoming video game soundtrack, Grand Theft Auto VI. Another week with new peaks for Noah Kahan, whose Orbiter (22-18, 13,176 sales) and Willing And Able (35-21, 11,376 sales) continue to climb. Both tracks are from his current album, The Great Divide. Orbiter was helped by the release of a 12-inch picture disc, which contributed 1,472 units to its tally. There are also new peaks for: Pure (39-28, 9,592 sales) by Sienna Spiro, Good Girl (42-29, 9,487 sales) by Cloonee & Prospa feat. Tristan Henry and Hey Everybody (Back In The Dance) (56-49, 7,576 sales) by Kolter. Overall singles consumption is up 0.64% week-on-week to 29,635,664 units, 2.89% below same week 2025 sales of 30,517,213 units. Paid-for sales are up 0.70% week-on-week at 247,533, 16.79% below same week 2025 sales of 297,472.

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