Dua Lipa Lands U.K. No. 1 With ‘Radical Optimism’

Lars Brandle
·3 min read
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Dua Lipa is the new queen of the U.K.’s albums chart, as Radical Optimism debuts at No. 1.

The runaway leader at the halfway mark, Radical Optimism (Warner Records) collects 46,300 chart units in its first cycle, the most for any British female since Adele’s November 2021 smash 30, the Official Charts Company reports.

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Also, Radical Optimism becomes the biggest opening week of any British act so far this year, eclipsing the 39,400 first-week total for Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s eponymously title LP, which dropped in March. The likes of Caroline Ailin, Danny L. Harle and Tobias Jesso Jr. provided creative input on the new collection, while Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker co-wrote and produced seven tracks, including the three U.K. top 10 singles “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion.”

Radical Optimism is Dua’s second U.K. No. 1 after 2020’s Future Nostalgia, and first to bow at No. 1; Future Nostalgia climbed to the summit in its second week, and has logged 204 weeks at the top, including four stints at the top. Her self-titled 2017 debut peaked at No. 3 but has clocked 354 weeks on the Official Albums Chart.

With her latest leader, confirmed Friday, May 10, Lipa knocks off Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department (EMI), down 1-2 after two weeks at the chart zenith.

Closing out the podium is Frank Turner’s Undefeated (Xtra Mile), new at No. 3. It’s the sixth U.K. top 10 appearance for the English singer and songwriter following 2013’s Tape Deck Heart (No. 2 peak), 2015’s Positive Songs For Negative People (No. 2), 2018’s Be More Kind (No. 3), 2019’s No Man’s Land (No. 3) and 2022 chart-topper FTHC.

Also netting a U.K. top 10 debut is Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, whose second solo studio effort Inevitable Incredible (Ignition) starts at No. 6. That’s a career solo best for the Welshman, bettering the No. 8 peak for his debut solo LP Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day from 2020. As a member of Stereophonics, Jones has eight U.K. No. 1s.

Finally, as ABBA celebrates the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision Song Contest win with “Waterloo,” the Swedish pop group’s juggernaut Gold: Greatest Hits (Polydor) rebounds into the top 10, up 11-9 in its 1,149th week. Britain can claim a small part in ABBA’s early success. The group won Eurovision in Brighton, England back in 1974, though the Swedish entry received nil points from the U.K. voting jury. Viewers of the 2024 Eurovision final, hosted in Malmo, Sweden, were treated to a surprise on Saturday night when ABBA’s digital avatars were beamed to the studio from the ABBA Voyage stage show in London. The pop megastars’ early breakthrough is retold in ABBA: Against the Odds, streaming in the U.S. on the CW Network.

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