Royal Blood reign supreme with fourth consecutive Number 1 album Back to the Water Below

Royal Blood reign atop this week’s Official Albums Chart with their fourth consecutive Number 1 LP Back to the Water Below. 

The Worthing-formed rock duo, comprising Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher, extend their flawless run of chart-toppers with their fourth studio album, following the success of eponymous debut Royal Blood (2014), How Did We Get So Dark (2017) and Typhoons (2021). 

Back to the Water Below also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, and the Official Record Store Chart as the most-purchased LP of the last seven days in the UK’s independent record shops; physical sales account for over 85% of the album’s opening week total. 

Image: MAD

MORE: See where every Royal Blood song and album has charted in the UK

Speaking exclusively to Official Charts, Royal Blood say, "To everyone that’s gone out and bought this record, streamed this record – whatever you’ve done to go and listen to it – thank you so much. This is f***ing incredible. We love you, thank you!”

WATCH Royal Blood accept their Official Number 1 Album Award for Back to the Water Below:

MORE: The Official Top 40 albums of 2023 so far revealed

Travis Scott’s former Number 1 LP UTOPIA rebounds three spots in its sixth week on chart (2), while The 1975’s eponymous debut returns to the Top 5 for the first time since 2013 (3). Matty Healy, George Daniel, Ross MacDonald and Adam Hann celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the record with a multi-format reissue, which also enters the Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 5 for the first time (2). Learn more about the impact and influence of The 1975 here.

Elsewhere, Burna Boy’s record-breaking album I Told Them…, which debuted at Number 1 last week, stays strong in the Top 5 for a second week at Number 4. The Nigerian star, born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, made history as he became the first international Afrobeats artist to secure a chart-topping LP in the UK.

Finally, Icelandic auteurs Sigur Rós – comprising Jónsi, Georg Hólm and Kjartan Sveinsson – earn a sixth Top 40 LP with ÁTTA, landing at Number 30 following its release on CD and vinyl. The group’s eighth studio album, and first for 10 years, also debuts inside the Official Record Store Chart Top 5 (2).

See the Official Albums Chart Top 100 in full here from 5.45pm.