You Me At Six’ latest record SUCKAPUNCH went straight into the top spot at the Official UK Album Charts. The album premiered last Friday, 15 January after an extensive and well-planned promotional campaign that started all the way back in the Summer of 2020 and saw the band share 4 singles, 3 music videos, 1 lyric visualisation, a mini-documentary and an exclusive launch-party live stream prior to the official release day. A huge success for the Surrey quintet, it is their second ever album to land a #1 following Cavalier Youth from 2014, and their sixth consecutive top 10 entry. In addition, their first four records have already been certified gold in the UK.
The official update by the OCC confirmed 85% of the sales in the first week came from physical copies, half of which bought at independent stores, and showed frontman Josh Franscechi thank both their fans and haters, and say: “A truly incredible moment for our band. Our love for our fan base, and their support, is endless. They have been the light at the end of a tunnel of a pretty rough time. The support of our loved ones, family, partners, friends. Everyone who worked on this record. Dan Austin and the rest of our studio family who worked relentlessly to make this with us. Our second number one almost seven years later is just madness. Sixers for life.”
Congratulations to @youmeatsix on their second Number 1 album SUCKAPUNCH! https://t.co/WaOiviD8xd pic.twitter.com/Bc6pB5e1Fu
— Official Charts (@officialcharts) January 22, 2021
In its strong debut week SUCKAPUNCH beat Barry Gibb’s third solo release Greenfields for the top spot, with Eminem’s acclaimed eleventh album Music To Be Murdered By left at third place with 35 consecutive weeks in the charts. At number 4 this week is Sleaford Mods’ Space Ribs that also premiered last week and is their first ever top 5 record, followed by The Good Times And The Bad Ones by Why Don’t We. The rest of the Top 10 album include Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, Harry Styles’ Fine Line, Shame’s Drunk Tank Pink, Taylor Swift’s Evermore and Little Mix’s Confetti.
SUCKAPUNCH came out last Friday via Underdog Records and AWAL, and includes a total of 11 tracks, composed and performed entirely by the band and produced by Dan Austin (Twin Atlantic, Pulled Apart By Horses, Maximo Park). The record features the previously released ‘What’s It Like‘ from 2019, their three 2020 singles ‘MAKEMEFEELALIVE‘, ‘Beautiful Way‘, ‘SUCKAPUNCH‘ all accompanied by official videos, as well as their latest New Year’s Day track ‘Adrenaline‘.
Straight upon its release, SUCKAPUNCH received predominantly positive reviews from all rock outlets, and huge praise from their loyal fan base. Clash points out that the passion and experimentation behind the record “could be what allows them to continue to brave the storm of the music industry for another fifteen years, should they still want to“. Giving it a solid 4/5, Kerrang! states that it “jabs with style, and demonstrates that, far from running out of ideas, this band remain intent on staying at the cutting edge of modern British rock“. Similarly, NME states that “it’s rare for a rock record to feel this exciting, especially coming from a band seven albums deep and, y’know, from Surrey, but every track ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ feels inspired in some way […] and you’d be hard-pressed not to keep the faith too“.
In addition to their admirable physical sales performance, the record also passed 10 million streams on Spotify, with similar achievement across all other major digital platforms. If government guidelines allow live events to go through later in the year, You Me At Six will embark on a busy Summer tour across the UK and Europe, with more information and tickets available at their website.
SUCKAPUNCH: Our new album has been streamed 10,000,000 on @Spotify thank you for the love. https://t.co/BNkVodNIvr
— You Me At Six (@youmeatsix) January 22, 2021
