Chappell Roan and the rise of an Official Charts princess

"My name is Chappell Roan, and I am your favourite artist's favourite artist." 

When Chappell Roan declared this during her star-making Coachella set in April, it may have been a reference to a cheeky quote from RuPaul's Drag Race star Sasha Colby ('your favourite drag queen's favourite drag queen'), but it soon turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy for the indie-pop star.

This time last year, Chappell Roan was awaiting the release of her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. By that point, she had already cycled through one record deal she'd signed at just 17, moved back home to Missouri after being dropped from said deal, only to press on as an independent artist before signing to another major, this time through a subsidiary headed up by her main collaborator. 

There was no denying that Chappell had put in the work, building a strong grassroots community of mostly queer fans who connected to the strong sapphic message in her lyrics and her dead-beat drag queen aesthetic (in which she performs like a character in a John Waters movie come to life). But it would be fair to say that commercial success had so far evaded her.

Her early-career music - which sounds like something any 17-year-old who was inspired by Lana Del Rey and Lorde would release - bears little resemblance to the kitschy, wonky synth-pop she makes now. It's clearly indebted to the '80s, both sonically and visually, brought to life with the help of producer Dan Nigro, who helped shepherd Olivia Rodrigo and Conan Gray to pop prominence, as well as helping construct indie-pop siren Sky Ferreira's generation-defining debut album  Night Time, My Time.

When it was released on September 22 2023, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess did not debut on the Official Albums Chart (in fact, according to Official Charts Company data, in its first week on sale, the LP shifted less than 500 UK chart units) and none of its singles (as yet) had dented the Official Singles Chart.

None of this took away, of course, from how striking Chappell's material was, or how popular it was in online circles. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is an album full of conviction, with hooks as big and bright as the beat on Chappell's face under a stage spotlight. A lot has been made, critically, of the record's maximalist pop leanings (some have claimed Chappell to be the next Lady Gaga or Madonna, she's actually the next Electra Heart, but that's a conversation for another time) when some of the most popular artists working in pop, like Charli xcx or Billie Eilish, have toned down to minimalist electronic beats. Not Chappell.

If that seems against the grain of modern pop music, that's kind of the point - and no wonder, then, that Chappell found time to find and grow an audience. But once she did, there were a very specific set of circumstances that lead to her breakout moment. 

Firstly, Chappell's connection with producer Dan Nigro came in handy, because she became the support act for Olivia Rodrigo (Nigro produced both SOUR and GUTS for the ascendant superstar) across the tours for both SOUR and GUTS - with her GUTS tour support (where Olivia had, naturally, upgraded to much bigger venues than she played for her first tour) successfully exposing her to a wide audience.

Off the back of her support slots, Chappell's eye-catching NPR Tiny Desk Performance went viral as did her performance at the Governors Ball Festival. 

And since then...well, where do we even begin? Chappell's album may chart the rise and fall of a midwest princess but we have, in real time, witnessed the rise and continued rise of an Official Charts princess right before our eyes. 

As it currently stands, The Rise and Fall of Midwest Princess is leading the charge to become Chappell's first UK Number 1 album this week. It's already spent 7 of its 14 total chart weeks in the UK Top 10, all of them consecutive. Two singles from the LP - the kitschy HOT TO GO! and Red Wine Supernova - have so far peaked inside the UK Top 40, and more album cuts - from Casual to the Lana Del Rey-esque Pink Pony Club and Femininomenon - have become TikTok staples and are, at this point, surely waiting for their turn to chart in the UK?

The UK Official Chart history of Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

But perhaps the most curious factor into Chappell's real-time rise to the top of the Official Chart was facilitated by the release of a one-off track that wasn't even on the original tracklist of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. That song is, of course, Good Luck, Babe! a deliriously catchy synth-pop lament that sounds like early-career Marina and the Diamonds, Kate Bush and a medieval renaissance fair all mixed up into one yearning slice of sapphic lament. It is one of the best, and most original, pop songs of the year.

Good Luck, Babe! was a watershed moment for Chappell's career. It debuted on the Official Singles Chart on April 18 2024 at Number 64, Chappell's first ever song to chart in the UK. But curiouser still, Good Luck, Babe!'s success had an immediate effect on Chappell's debut album too; confirmation that the album's organic growth was directly linked to new listeners seeking out her prior material and becoming hooked.

On that same chart week, the chart units of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess shot up 77% week-on-week, helping the LP appear in the Official Albums Chart Top 200 for the first time. A few weeks later, on June 6 2024, the album appeared in the UK Top 40 for the first time, climbing to Number 33, and it's not left the Top 40 since.

According to Official Charts Company data, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess's total UK chart units now stand at 92,000. In 2024 alone, the record has shifted 89,000 chart units - meaning 97% of it's total UK chart units have come directly from its growth in the last eight months.

As for Good Luck, Babe! it's total UK chart unit tally now stands at 464,000, including 51 million streams. Currently at Number 2 in the UK, it's spent six consecutive weeks in the UK Top 10 (soon to be a seventh), and is one of the obvious contenders for 2024's Official Song of the Summer.

In a world where it is increasingly hard for music acts to break through into the mainstream - (thanks to the fractured nature of people's TikTok and streaming algorithms where it's harder than ever to ensure that everyone, everywhere is listening to the same music by the same artist), Chappell has achieved something rare in 2024; proven organic growth. She's one of the true breakout stars of the year, alongside pocket rocket Espresso queen Sabrina Carpenter, with both artists' vision of pop decidedly brighter, funnier and far more personality-filled than we've seen in the last half a decade. 

The previous breakout stars of their generation - Lady Gaga and Katy Perry - have already gotten on the Chappell hype, with Gaga saying she "loves" her, while Katy Perry praising the ascendant star for being "so authentically herself."

And Katy has really hit to the heart of the matter here. Authenticity is central to the Chappell Roan brand. It's what's endeared her to her growing tide of stans and precipitated her somewhat alarming meteoric rise. Log on to any social media site and you will see video clips of Chappell performing live - maybe at Coachella, maybe at the recent Lollapalooza or maybe at one of the seemingly hundreds of small-town festival gigs she no doubt booked last year, before becoming one of the biggest names in pop (and we love a small-town queen). 

One thing that will stick out to you? The size of the crowd watching Chappell perform. And the other? Every single person in said crowd will be singing along to whatever song is being performed. Word perfect. Every single time.

We don't think this Midwest princess is at any risk of that crown slipping for a long time. Do you?

Chappell Roan's debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is out now via Island.