According to Official Charts, Taylor Swift takes the crown for the biggest album of 2024 with her album ‘The Tortured Poets Department'; it is one of various albums by the American pop star that made it to the UK’s final 40. The album is followed at number two by The Weeknd’s ‘The Highlights’, Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short n Sweet‘ at number three, Noah Kahan with ‘Stick Season‘ at number four and finally, at number five, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft‘ by Billie Eilish.
Taylor Swift‘s ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘ was first released in late April, with a surprise extended edition containing fifteen extra tracks dropping on the same day. The album peaked at number one in its debut week, maintaining the position for ten non-consecutive weeks throughout the year; since its release, ‘The Tortured Poets Department‘ has earned 783,800 chart units and has become the most streamed and best-selling album of the year. With her latest album, Swift made history as the fastest accumulation of number 1 albums ever; while this is Taylor’s biggest album of the year, it is not the only one that made Official Chart’s top 40 list: ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’, ‘reputation’, ‘folklore’, ‘midnights’ and ‘Lover‘ also made the list.
The second biggest album of 2024 was The Weekend‘s ‘The Highlights‘. Despite the record never reached the number one position, it charted almost every week of the past year in the UK’s top ten. Originally released in 2021, the album has spent 143 weeks in the UK top ten since its release. The collection of Greatest Hits by the Canadian artist was crowned the biggest album of 2023 by Official Charts, and its legacy this year is really a testament to The Weeknd’s talent.
At number three, Sabrina Carpenter is on the podium with ‘Short n Sweet‘, released in the summer. The album spent two non-consecutive weeks at the number one position, charting for a total of 18 weeks since its release in the UK’s top five. With three number one songs and a few broken records in 2024, Carpenter finally achieves well-deserved worldwide fame after her previous album ‘Emails I can’t Send‘ peaked at number 41 in 2022. ‘Short n Sweet‘ is now headed for a sold-out arena tour which will take Carpenter to London’s O2 Arena in March, as well as a sold-out headliner spot at Hyde Park’s BST.
Talking about BST Headliners, Noah Kahan will also be taking the London stage in the upcoming summer while his 2021 album ‘Stick Season‘ is the fourth biggest album of the year. The title track off the album was crowned the UK’s biggest song of the year, and this year ‘Stick Season‘ spent one week as number one and 53 charting in the top 100. Earlier this year, the Vermont-born singer sold out Wembley Arena and, over the summer, he played various sold-out shows across the UK and Europe. In February, the final edition of ‘Stick Season‘ titled ‘Forever‘ was released, and it included every special edition or duet off the album and all its versions, as well as a new exclusive song.
At Number five, Billie Eilish earns her third UK number one album with ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft‘, which marked the biggest debut of Eilish’s career back when first released. The album contains ten tracks, five of which have charted in the UK’s top 100, and debuted at number one, spending one week at the top spot of charts and another 24 in the top ten, charting for an overall of 32 weeks in the top 100.
