Lewis Capaldi steamrolls his way to No. 1 with Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (EMI), his sophomore album.
The Scottish singer and songwriter had set a fearsome pace. At the midway mark in the chart cycle, Capaldi’s LP was outselling the rest of the top 20 combined. When the chart was published May 26, Broken By Desire chalked up more than 95,000 chart sales, the best opening week for any title in 2023.
According to the Official Charts Company, it’s the most streamed, downloaded and physically purchased LP of the latest cycle, and passes the 76,000 first week chart units notched by Ed Sheeran’s Subtract (Asylum).
That outguns the opening effort of Lewis’s 2019 debut Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, which accumulated 89,000 chart units in its first seven days.
The last album to bag a bigger opening week was Taylor Swift’s Midnights in October 2022, with 204,000 chart units, and the loftiest start for a male solo artist since Harry Styles’ Harry’s House reached the top in May 2022 with 114,000 chart units.
With his big feat, Capaldi halts Sheeran’s run at the top with Subtract at two weeks; it dips 1-2.
British metal band Sleep Token enjoys a career best (and first top 10 appearance) with Take Me Back to Eden (Spinefarm), which bows at No. 3, while Def Leppard’s Drastic Symphonies (Mercury) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra is close behind, for a No. 4 start.
Finally, Swedish rockers Ghost grab a third U.K. top 10 with Pantomime (Loma Vista). The followup to 2022’s Impera, which peaked at No. 2, Pantomime is new at No. 8.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
