The battle for #1 on the NACC 200 this week comes from two bands who have been College & Non-Comm staples for decades. Last week, The Decemberists reached #1 with their ninth studio release. But they will have to settle for that lone week in the pole position because this week, Chicago sextet Wilco rises to #1 with their new EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud (dBpm). The album also leaps 13-1 on NACC NEXT (and jumps 11-2 at NACC Non-Comm). The 2-1 climb on the NACC 200 is historic as lead singer, Jeff Tweedy, now has more visits (five) to the top of the chart than any other artist in NACC history and Wilco now rises into a tie with The New Pornographers for the most #1s on this chart by a band.
Two albums reach the Top 10 of the NACC 200 this week. Washed Out (who we featured here two weeks ago) climbs 16-9, scoring his third Top 10 album here. But it’s NYC native Cassandra Jenkins (who grew up in a musical family and has been making music professionally since 2013) that makes the biggest climb into the top tier, and it’s not even close. She skyrockets 102-8 on the chart this week with her third studio album, My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans/Secretly Canadian). This is the biggest climb into the Top 10 in 2024 and the only album to reach the Top 10 from outside the top half of the chart. The last time anyone made such a move was in September of 2023. Quite a way to give us our first opportunity to feature her here!
Jenkins isn’t the only first timer on our weekly NACC Chart Recap either! Austin five-piece Font scores this week’s biggest climb on the NACC 200. The band organically came together after college roommates Thom Waddill and Jack Owen moved to Austin, TX and met like-minded musicians along the way. They’ve built a strong live presence and audience after touring with Yard Act but had exactly two recorded songs under their belt until now. Their debut LP, Strange Burden (Acrophase), leaps from 183-23 on the NACC 200 this week, one of the Top 5 biggest climbs of the year.
This week’s highest debut marks the return of rapper, singer, actor, director, & producer Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, to music. Known for his many acting credits, including Community, Atlanta and his younger version of the iconic Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise, Glover made a name for himself in music with his debut album, Camp, in 2011. His fifth album, Bando Stone & The New World (RCA) leaps aboard the NACC 200 at #24 this week. This will be the final recording Glover releases as Childish Gambino (something he first mentioned in 2017) and calls it his “big goodbye album.”
Taking most-added honors this week is the canine world’s most renowned physician, Dr. Dog. Actually, the Philadelphia six-piece is made up of neither doctors nor dogs. But that’s OK. The world is better off with their musicianship. Formed in 1999, the band has released 11 studio albums. Their latest is a self-titled effort on We Buy Gold and collects 66 Top 10 Adds this week. Their previous release, 2018’s Critical Equation, was also the most-added album of the week when it came out and went on to reach #1. So they’re off to a great start in the hunt for their second NACC 200 chart topper!
Proving that getting climbed over the your way up the chart doesn’t always mean you won’t get to #1 yourself is Suki Waterhouse. Last week her single “Supersad” rose 5-2 at NACC Singles while Bright Eyes jumped 11-1. This week the English actress, model, and singer-songwriter pushes past them and reaches #1 with the fifth advance-release from her upcoming sophomore LP, Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin, due September 13. Five singles reach the NACC Top 30 Adds Chart this week. The highest among them comes from Hippo Campus. The third preview track from their fourth album, Flood (out September 20), is called “Paranoid.” It bests The Linda Lindas, Japandroids, The Backfires, and Monobloc, who round out the Top 5 artists with the most-added singles of the week.
