The Official Top 20 biggest Americana albums of 2020

Laura Marling will pick up the prize for the biggest UK Americana release of the year at the 2021 UK Americana Awards.

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The UK's biggest Americana album of 2020 was Bruce Springsteen's Letter To You, while the biggest homegrown Americana release was Song For Our Daughter by Laura Marling, the Official Charts Company can reveal.

The newly-unveiled list arrives ahead of the sixth annual UK Americana Awards, which takes place on January 28 and will see Laura Marling pick up the prize for the official biggest UK Americana release of the year, as verified by Official Charts.

This year's event will be held virtually for the first time, hosted by BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris, and will feature performances from Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Mary Gauthier, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, American Aquarium and Emily Barker, plus a special tribute performance to the late John Prine. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Bruce's critically-acclaimed 20^th studio album tops the end-of-year Americana chart; Letter To You is his first new studio album with the E Street Band since 2014's High Hopes. It was recorded live at his home studio in just four days.

MORE: Bruce Springsteen's Official UK Chart history in full

The album has enjoyed huge success since its October 2020 release, claiming seven weeks at Number 1 on the UK's Official Americana Albums Chart. Bruce's previous album, 2019's Western Stars, also features on the chart at Number 7.

Laura Marling

Meanwhile, Laura Marling's seventh album, the Grammy-nominated Song For Our Daughter, places fourth in the Top 20, making it the biggest UK Americana artist album of 2020. Discussing the album on our livestream series The Record Club last June, Laura said the album went through an "extensive" editing process to ensure it was her very best work.

Further down, The Chicks - formerly Dixie Chicks - feature in the Top 10 with their comeback album Gaslighter, just ahead of Chris Stapleton's Starting Over (11), Elvis Costello's Hey Clockface (12) and Nashville Tears for British singer Rumer (17).

The UK Americana Awards will also feature appearances from actor Colin Firth, BBC Radio 2’s Johnnie Walker, BBC Radio 6's Steve Lamacq, Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie, plus an ‘In Conversation’ with Mavis Staples and Brandi Carlile.

The Official Americana Albums Chart is published every Friday at 5.45pm here at OfficialCharts.com.

The UK's Official Top 20 biggest Americana albums of 2020

POS	TITLE	ARTIST
1	LETTER TO YOU	BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
2	ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS	BOB DYLAN
3	EVERMORE	TAYLOR SWIFT
4	SONG FOR OUR DAUGHTER	LAURA MARLING
5	PUNISHER	PHOEBE BRIDGERS
6	HOMEGROWN	NEIL YOUNG
7	WESTERN STARS	BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
8	GASLIGHTER	CHICKS
9	BLACK PUMAS	BLACK PUMAS
10	III	LUMINEERS
11	STARTING OVER	CHRIS STAPLETON
12	HEY CLOCKFACE	ELVIS COSTELLO
13	REUNIONS	JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT
14	RUN HOME SLOW	TESKEY BROTHERS
15	SAINT CLOUD	WAXAHATCHEE
16	GOOD SOULS BETTER ANGELS	LUCINDA WILLIAMS
17	NASHVILLE TEARS	RUMER
18	THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH	VAN MORRISON
19	LOCAL HONEY	BRIAN FALLON
20	TITANIC RISING	WEYES BLOOD