NACC 200 NOTABLES:
1] Three albums were storming toward #1 last week when Aldous Harding rose to the top with her first NACC 200 chart-topping album. Kurt Vile climbed 32-5, Feeble Little Horse jumped 38-3, and Death Cab For Cutie debuted at #13. This week, each of those albums finds itself in the Top 3 of the NACC 200. Tops among that trio is longtime Bellingham, WA quintet Death Cab For Cutie. Turns out third time’s the charm for the band. Their 2018 album, Thank You For Today, and 2022 release Asphalt Meadows, both came up just short of #1. Their 11th LP, I Built You A Tower, makes quick work of their race to the top as they soar 13-1. It’s the biggest climb to #1 since January and ties them with several other albums for the fastest climb ever to #1 on the NACC 200.
2] In addition to Death Cab For Cutie, two other bands reach the top tier. Making the biggest climb into the Top 10 this week is Providence, RI quartet Deer Tick. Begun in 2004 by John McCauley (then a duo called My Other Face), the band has evolved and released 10 albums since its inception. Their latest, Coin-O-Matic, becomes their third straight Top 10-peaking album as it jumps 25-10.
3] Also reaching the Top 10 is Los Angeles trio MUNA. The band, led by Katie Gavin, was formed in 2013 when she and her friends Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson were attending the University of Southern California. They have released four studio albums, including their latest, Dancing On The Wall. The album climbs 12-9 on the NACC 200 this week to score their first NACC 200 Top 10 and gives us our first opportunity to feature the band here on our Weekly NACC Chart Recap. They also rise 7-5 on NACC Electronic.
4] Scoring the biggest climb on the NACC 200 is always a great achievement. Though this week’s winner of that prize does so by tying for the smallest biggest-climb-ever on the NACC 200. In 2024, Shannon And The Clams set the lower end bar, so to speak, by climbing 70 spots on the chart. This week, NYC duo Widowspeak matches that record, climbing from 88-18 with their seventh LP, Roses. That is still a great achievement, but it reflects a week where it was more challenging to break into the upper reaches of the chart.
5] Taking ‘Most-Added Honors’ this week is North Carolina-born and Brooklyn-raised Kelsey McJunkins, who records as Kelsey Lu. Her second LP, So Help Me God, collects 37 Top 10 Adds this week. This frame matches six other weeks when the most-added album of the week collected fewer than 40 Top 10 Adds, with the record low of 30 Top 10 Adds. This isn’t a new thing, as the first act to hit #1 with fewer than 40 Top 10 Adds occurred the first week of 2020. Scoring the #1 NACC Add of the week is always something to be celebrated and an accomplishment worth noting. But these sorts of weeks often reflect a more competitive add week where adds are more evenly spread out among the records going for adds that week.
GENRE CHART HIGHLIGHTS:
1] After a six-week journey to #1 that culminated in a 5-1 climb last week, Lucy Dacus enjoys a second week atop NACC Singles with her latest track, “Planting Tomatoes.” A lead of just nine points last week grows to over 40 points this week over her closest competitor, Beck, who climbs 5-2 with his latest single, “Ride Lonesome.”
2] Arlo Parks returns to #1 on NACC R&B/Soul this week with her third album, Ambiguous Desire, and in doing so, ties Mavis Staples for the most weeks any artist has spent atop that chart so far this year. This is her sixth non-consecutive week at #1.
3] The NACC Non-Comm Chart this week matches the full year total of #1s that 2025 produced on that chart. And this happens when we aren’t quite halfway through this chart year! The aforementioned Death Cab For Cutie, who tops our NACC 200 chart, also rises 8-1 to become the 14th chart-topper there this year. They also spend a second week atop NACC NEXT.