As some of the biggest names in music duke it out for chart supremacy, Kanye West’s tenth studio album Donda has landed at No.1 on the Official UK Albums Chart.
Following the album’s digital-only release on August 29, Donda takes the top spot with 20,000 chart sales. 91 percent of its week, one total is streaming equivalent sales, with the remaining 9 percent being downloads. In total, Donda secured 33.4 million streams across its 27 tracks.
Donda – named after Kanye’s late mother –is now his third UK No.1 record, following 2007’s Graduation and 2013’s Yeezus.
The record also topped Australia’s ARIA charts at No.1 and more than half the album’s 27 tracks have landed on the ARIA Singles Chart.
Donda arrived amidst a headline-grabbing album rollout, that included many high-profile (and some controversial) guests.
“West is still one of the most influential pop stars of the century, but multidisciplinary spectacle is more his goal than music now, and he isn’t the star of his own 10th album,” writes the New York Times.
Now with the arrival of Drake’s highly anticipated album, Certified Lover Boy, the battle for No.1 is bound to heat up.
Meanwhile on the UK charts, rising singer-songwriter Maisie Peters is at No.2 with her debut album You Signed Up For This, while last week’s chart-topper, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, drops to No.3.
Scottish synth-pop outfit Chvrches hold steady at No.4 with their fourth album Screen Violence, and Halsey rounds out the Top 5 with her fourth record, If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power, which was also the UK’s best-selling album on vinyl this week.
Elsewhere, ABBA’s Gold – Greatest Hits edges closes in on a Top 10 position – up two spots to No.12 – following the big news of their new album Voyage and virtual concert.
Further down the chart, the Beach Boys boxset Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 enters at No.19.