Shed Seven have cemented one of the biggest chart comebacks in British rock, scoring their second UK No 1 album of the year – over two decades on from their Britpop heyday.
The band, who formed in York in 1990 and released their debut album in 1994, remain best known for hits such as Going For Gold and Chasing Rainbows, which channelled the increasingly symphonic style of Britpop in the wake of Oasis, Blur and Pulp’s mid-90s success.
After four albums they split in 2003, then reformed to play shows in 2007. In 2017, their comeback album Instant Pleasures took them back to the Top 10. Fans continued to flock back, sending A Matter of Time to No 1 in the opening week of 2024 – admittedly a low-competition period for new releases – and now again with new album Liquid Gold.
They may only have a fraction of the streaming audience of the artist at No 3 in the chart – 294,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, compared to Sabrina Carpenter’s 82 million – but a smart sales campaign, including the vinyl copies that are all-important for chart positions, meant their fanbase could lift them to the top spot.
The band called the achievement “absolutely mindblowing … We’d like to dedicate this to our departed loved ones: our four dads and Max’s mum.”
Shed Seven become the 20th act to score two UK No 1 albums in a calendar year, joining the likes of Abba, Queen, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
They held off another Yorkshire band, Sheffield’s Bring Me the Horizon, who are at No 2 with Post Human: Nex Gen. The album originally charted at No 5 in June when it was first released, but the release of physical editions has sent them back up the rankings.
UK rapper Nines and Mercury prize-winning jazz group Ezra Collective also reach the Top 10 with their new albums, as does Ed Sheeran with a best-of.
Sabrina Carpenter meanwhile continues to dominate the singles chart this year: Taste spends its sixth week at the top, adding to seven weeks for previous hit Espresso and five for Please Please Please.
