Rock Royalty Chart Resurgence

Brighton based duo Royal Blood (pictured) made headlines this month, releasing what is reportedly the biggest selling debut rock album in three years.

The Official Charts Company reports that the self-titled debut shifted almost 66,000 copies in the first week of release making it the biggest rock debut since Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in 2011- if you can count that as rock or anything other than an undercooked, glorified solo project.

The news resulted in all kinds of moral panic, with Head of Music at Radio One George Ergatoudis excitedly tweeting that rock was back and some insight editorial from Music Week Editor Tim Ingham about the return of British rock here.

Royal Blood also sold out an upcoming UK tour in two minutes.

Despite this, the album charts over the last month were in fact dominated by an altogether more ethereal offering, with no less than eight Kate Bush albums appearing in the Top 40 during the week of her long-anticipated comeback shows. The only artists to have had more records in the UK album charts at any one time are Elvis Presley in 1977 and The Beatles in 2009.

Official Charts Company Boss Martin Talbot said: “Kate Bush’s new live shows have created a huge stir, but for them to help push her catalogue to make such a significant sales impact is further evidence of the love that the British public have for her music, from generation to generation”.