U.K. CHARTS: ONE GIANT LEAP FOR STEPS

Steps is the first British, mixed-gender group to earn a #1 album in four consecutive decades as The Platinum Collection (Sony Music CG) secures the top slot on the Official Albums chart. And with eight consecutive weeks at #1, LF System’s “Afraid To Feel” is hitting benchmarks as well.

Steps’ The Platinum Collection is their fourth #1 album in the U.K. and their first in 11 years; it was the most physically purchased and downloaded album of the week.

Steps joins a club of just four acts who have scored #1 albums in four consecutive decades: The Rolling Stones (they’re actually at six decades now), Kylie Minogue (who took the number to five in 2020), ABBA and Stereophonics.

At #2 is the most-streamed record of the week, Close to Home (Capitol) by Mancunian rapper Aitch. Trivia alert: Close to Home is also the first album to land on the Official Albums Chart that features NFT technology.

Madonna’s greatest hits collection, Finally Enough Love (Rhino), lands at #3, giving her 23 U.K. Top 10 albums, and Panic! at the Disco’s Viva Las Vengeance (DCD2/Fueled by Ramen) opens at #5, becoming its fifth Top 10 album.

Elsewhere in the album Top 10, 25th anniversary editions of Oasis’ Be Here Now (Big Brother) have pushed the former chart-topper back to #6 and Demi Lovato’s HOLY FVCK (Island) is #7, their fifth Top 10 U.K. album.

At songs, LF System’s “Afraid To Feel” (Warner) has passed Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to claim the second-longest #1 run of 2022. With 4.6m streams in the last seven days, it’s again the most-streamed track in the U.K. as it extends its run as the longest-running #1 dance record of the decade. “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)” (Warner) by Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal holds at #2, but the margin between the two songs is growing slimmer.

Moving up in the Top 10 are OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried” (Interscope) to #5; Aitch and Ed Sheeran’s “My G” at #6; and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” (Republic) at #10.