Charli xcx’s sixth studio album Brat has been crowned this week’s Number 1 album on the UK Official Albums Charts. The hit album was originally released back in June, creating a ‘brat girl summer’ for many. However, the iconic career-defining album with a Mercury Prize nomination, has yet claimed the Number 1 spot.
goodbye forever brat summer.
— Charli (@charli_xcx) September 2, 2024
The album battled the re-released The Tortured Poets Departments by Taylor Swift during its opening week and every week since has yet to peak beyond its Number 2 spot during its release.
As Brat became the soundtrack to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, along with the inspiration for many brands this summer, Charli declared ‘brat summer’ was over and ‘brat autumn’ had begun when she released a new version of the legendary album on October 11.
kamala IS brat
— Charli (@charli_xcx) July 22, 2024
Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat features back to back remixes of the album’s original tracks but with contributions from some of the biggest names in music. The remix album sees ‘Sympathy is a knife’ with Ariana Grande, ‘Talk talk’ with Troye Sivan, ‘Guess’ with Billie Eilish and ‘Spring breakers’ with Kesha.
As Brat has continually trended all over social media for the last few months bringing a heightened commercial enjoyment of electronic-dance pop, the release of its remix album furthers Charli’s presence in the genre – reimagining these tracks whilst cementing them further in the genre.
This creative strategy clearly appealed to fans as the album fought its way to the Number 1 spot at the weekend after facing 19 weeks in the charts.
Brat’s battle to Number 1 this week occurred alongside James Blunt’s re-release of his 2004 album Back to Bedlam. Blunt challenged his listeners with an incentive to get the album to Number 1 by promising to legally change his name if the goal was achieved.
Back to Bedlam fell short of the Number 1, meaning Blunt isn’t going to be renamed to Blunty McBluntface, as the re-release only made it to number seven on this week’s chart. This is an impressive debut, 20 years after its original release, given the album spent 10 weeks at Number 1 back in 2004.
I’m currently number 4 in the @officialcharts. Blunty McBluntface is coming for you @Charli_xcx pic.twitter.com/aQIOEG1ufx
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) October 14, 2024
The top 5 for the Official Albums Chart this week saw The Mighty Several by former The Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton at Number 2, Short N’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter at 3, Moon Magic by Coldplay at 4 and The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan at 5.
The momentum of Brat has changed the projection of Charli xcx’s career and placed her at the forefront of the mainstream with a culture-defining album, which merited the Number 1 spot during this week’s chart.
