Almost like clockwork each year, the end of January sees a tidal wave of new music wash into the top tiers of the NACC Charts. Ten of our charts this week see new #1s, including the NACC 200. We also see 40% of last week’s titles on the Top 20 swept out. Celebrated Olympia, WA-formed duo Sleater-Kinney leads the new music brigade. Their eleventh LP, Little Rope (Loma Vista/Concord), was last week’s most-added and highest-debuting record and this week they waste no time soaring to #1 on the NACC 200 for the first time. Their 9-1 jump ties them for the quickest-ever climb to #1 and is the biggest move to the top spot since March of last year. They also rise 2-1 on NACC NEXT.
Two new albums reach the NACC Top 10 this week. Last week’s biggest climber from Marika Hackman races 23-8. But it’s last week’s second-biggest climber that makes the strongest move into the Top 10, rising 22-6. Australian quartet Vacations reaches the NACC Top 10 for the first time. No Place Like Home (Nettwerk) is their third studio album since forming in Newcastle in 2015 when lead singer Campbell Burns began recording songs and posting them to his Tumblr account after leaving high school. Now based in Los Angeles, the band recently enjoyed their most high-profile exposure yet, performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week.
Los Angeles four-piece Glass Beach have returned with their sophomore album, Plastic Death (Run For Cover). Forming in 2015, the group came together when Texas native J McClendon (who recorded as Casio Dad at the time) attended school at The University Of Minnesota-Morris and two of her future bandmates heard her EP on the school’s College Radio station. Glass Beach first came onto our radar when their matter-of-factly named debut LP, The First Glass Beach Album (which they spent three years recording), enjoyed biggest-climber honors on the NACC 200 in 2020. Now they’ve done it again as Plastic Death is this week’s fastest mover on the chart, zipping 94-11. Stereogum and Treble recently both named the record their ‘Album of the Week.’
English trio The Smile scores this week’s highest debut on the NACC 200. Consisting of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and former Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner (who Greenwood met when they worked together on the soundtrack to the 2012 movie, The Master). Wall Of Eyes (XL) is the band’s second studio album, following 2022’s A Light For Attracting Attention. It leaps aboard the NACC 200 this week at #30 and is an early Top 10 best-reviewed album of 2024 according to Metacritic.
California native Ty Segall has returned and in doing so, has a chance to what only one artist has done before on the NACC 200: score four #1 albums (Jeff Tweedy has two solo #1s and two with his band Wilco). Since 2008, Segall has recorded fifteen LPs, including his latest, Three Bells (Drag City). His previous three #1 albums have accumulated 10 weeks on top, making him one of just six acts to spend 10+ weeks atop the NACC 200. His latest effort collects 77 Top 10 Adds and debuts at #68 on the NACC 200 this week.
The Black Keys have enjoyed great success on the NACC Charts and add another feather to an already quill-filled cap. “Beautiful People (Stay High)” has quickly become a Top 10 hit on both the Alternative and AAA airplay charts and this week rises 2-1 on NACC Singles. It’s one of three singles to reach the Top 20 of the NACC 200 this week too. The song comes from their upcoming 12th album, Ohio Players, due April 5. This week’s most-added single comes from French duo Justice. April 26 will see the release of their fourth album, Hyperdrama. The first two songs from that album, “One Night/All Night” feat. Tame Impala b/w “Generator” collects the most adds of any single this week. Also reaching the Top 30 Adds Chart are singles from Emily Yacina, Shannon And The Clams, Hiatus Kaiyote, and Declan McKenna.
