Sparks celebrate career best with 28th album MAD!

Huge congratulations go to Californian rock-pop duo Sparks, who celebrate a career-best on the Official Albums Chart with 28th studio LP MAD! landing at Number 2; their seventh UK Top 40 album to date.

The group, brothers Ron and Russell Mael, previously peaked at Number 4 51 years ago, with 1974’s Kimono My House.

Speaking to Official Charts, Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael say:

“We’re so deeply appreciative of the way our new album MAD! has been embraced by all of you, to such an extent that it’s reached Number 2, our highest chart position ever! Hard to believe!

“We will continue - to paraphrase a certain band, Sparks - to “do things our own way,” knowing the support we’re getting from all of you. See you soon on the UK leg of our tour in June and July!”

MAD! also tops a total of five charts this week: the Official Physical Albums Chart, Official Independent Albums Chart, Official CD Albums Chart, Official Vinyl Albums Chart and Official Scottish Albums Chart.

Meanwhile Sabrina Carpenter takes her sixth studio album Short N’ Sweet to a fifth non-consecutive week atop the Official Albums Chart.

English blues outfit When Rivers Meet, also known as husband and wife duo Grace and Aaron bond, also secure a personal best with their fifth studio LP Addicted To You (4). The pair previous enjoyed Albums Chart success with 2021’s Saving Grace (84), 2023’s Aces Are High (9) and 2024 release Breakers Of Chains Tour – Live (47).

Tate McRae reaps the rewards of the UK leg of her Miss Possessive world tour, with latest collection So Close To What lifting four to Number 5. The record previous peaked at Number 2 in March.

London-formed rockers Skunk Anansie land their highest-charting album across a career spanning 30 years, as seventh studio record The Painful Truth lands at Number 7. The group – Skin, Ace, Cass and Mark Richardson – previously peaked at Number 8 with 1995 debut Paranoid & Sunburnt.

Congratulations to Louise, who nets her first Top 10 album in 24 years with Confessions (8). The album also becomes her highest-charting studio LP in 28 years, since 1997’s Woman In Me (5).

English alt-rockers Sports Team bank a third Top 40 album, with Boys These Days (11) joining 2020’s Deep Down Happy (2) and 2022’s Gulp! (3). Boys These Days also tops the Official Record Store Chart; this week’s most popular release in UK independent record shops.

An expanded reissue of Orbital’s acclaimed 1993 LP, affectionately known as ‘The Brown Album,’ sees it claim a brand-new peak on the Official Albums Chart, at Number 13 this week. The album previously boasted a Number 28 best back in ’93.

London avant-pop purveyors Stereolab add a fifth record to their Top 40 tally with Instant Holograms On Metal Film (29) and, finally, Myles Smith takes A Minute, A Moment… into the Top 40 for the first time since its release last November (32).