We’re getting the impression we may run out of unique superlatives to express just how dominant the #1 run for Blue Rev (Polyvinyl), the third LP from Canadian five-piece Alvvays, has been and continues to be. The album once again builds its chart total from last week. Only two albums in the last four years have garnered more. And their lead over the #2 album has gotten so big that it more than doubles the total of the next record on the chart, the kind of lead no artist has ever experienced on the NACC 200 until now. Blue Rev tops NACC Next and NACC Canadian again this week too.
Three new albums reach the NACC Top 10 this week. Reno-formed quartet Surf Curse’s fourth LP rises 11-10. Making the biggest climb into the Top 10 is, I Walked With You A Ways (Anti-), the debut studio album from Plains. The collaborative record joins Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield with singer-songwriter Jess Williamson. These two musicians have nine albums collectively under their belts and this tenth project rises 17-8 on the NACC 200. The album also advances 2-1 on NACC Folk this week.
Also climbing into the Top 10, with an 18-9 move, is Madison, WI five piece Disq. The band got its start when childhood friends Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock, then teenagers, decided to take their shared love of musical styles a step further. We first profiled Disq here back in March of 2020 when their debut album, Collector, was the highest debut of the week This week their second album, Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet (Saddle Creek), gives them a follow-up spotlight.
The NACC 200’s highest debut this week comes from longtime soul singer Lee Fields. He released his first single in 1969 and his first album in 1979. It wasn’t until 2002 that he released a follow-up LP, his first of six albums with The Expressions. His first new record in three years, Sentimental Fool, is his debut full-length for Daptone Records and was produced by label founder Bosco Mann. The album leaps onto the NACC 200 at #26.
Just three weeks ago, Aussie outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard scored the most-added album of the week (in a tie with The 1975) with their succinctly titled 21st LP, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava. This week their more imaginatively titled 23rd LP, Changes (KGLW), not only matches that feat but exactly matches it with 51 Top 10 Adds, the same amount they collected three weeks ago. Their new album enjoys one of the Top 3 highest debuts on the NACC 200 at #48 as well.
Recorded for the film White Noise, LCD Soundsystem‘s “New Body Rhumba” pins down #1 on the NACC Singles Chart for a fourth week and is just a week away from matching the most weeks at #1 on the chart this year. Two singles tie for most-added honors this week. Longtime indie favorite Yo La Tengo is back with “Fallout.” It’s the first taste of their appropriately titled 17th LP, This Stupid World, due February 10. And the second single, “Mad At Me” feat. papa mbye, from L.A. singer Samia’s upcoming album, Honey (due January 27), is also making waves. Fun facts: Samia is the daughter of Kathy Najimy and this song was produced by uber-indie producer Rostam.
The current NACC 200 Top 20, the Top 5 overall NACC Adds, the genre chart-toppers, and the week’s most-added genre records are included below. We saw new #1s at NACC Folk and Latin.
NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 ADDS
# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | # OF ADDS
1) KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD Changes [KGLW] // 51
2) EZRA COLLECTIVE Where I’m Meant To Be [Partisan] // 45
3) BACKSEAT LOVERS, THE Waiting To Spill [Capitol] // 40
4*) BIG JOANIE Back Home [Kill Rock Stars] // 38
4*) TURNOVER Myself In The Way [Run For Cover] // 38
*denotes a tie
NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 DEBUTS
# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | DEBUT
1) LEE FIELDS Sentimental Fool [Daptone] // 26
2) SOBS Air Guitar [Topshelf] // 35
3) KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD Changes [KGLW] // 48
4) BABEHOVEN Light Moving Time [Double Double Whammy] // 53
5) FIELD GUIDE Field Guide [Birthday Cake] // 55
NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 CLIMBERS
# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | MOVE
1) CHARLOTTE DOS SANTOS Morfo [Because] // 145
2) WHITMER THOMAS The Older I Get The Funnier I Was [Hardly Art] // 111
3) AFGHAN WHIGS How Do You Burn? [BMG] // 90
4) GIRLPUPPY When I’m Alone [Royal Mountain] // 73
5) CHATS, THE Get Fucked [Bargain Bin] // 68
#1 ON NACC GENRE CHARTS:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
NON-COMM: YEAH YEAH YEAHS Cool It Down [Secretly Canadian/Secretly Group]
NACC NEXT: ALVVAYS Blue Rev [Polyvinyl]
BLUES: BUDDY GUY The Blues Don’t Lie [RCA]
CANADIAN: ALVVAYS Blue Rev [Polyvinyl]
CHILL: BRIAN ENO FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE [Opal/Universal]
ELECTRONIC: SHYGIRL Nymph [Because]
FOLK: PLAINS I Walked With You A Ways [Anti-]
HEAVY: LAMB OF GOD Omens [Epic]
HIP HOP: SOL MESSIAH GOD CMPLX [Rhymesayers]
JAZZ: BOBBY WATSON Back Home In Kansas City [Smoke Sessions]
LATIN: BATIDA Neon Colonialismo [Crammed Discs]
R&B/SOUL: SUDAN ARCHIVES Natural Brown Prom Queen [Stones Throw]
WORLD: VIEUX FARKA TOURE AND KHRUANGBIN Ali [Dead Oceans/Secretly Canadian]
MOST-ADDED @ NACC GENRES:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
ELECTRONIC: DANIEL AVERY Ultra Truth [Mute]
FOLK: ASPEN JACOBSEN Arsonist Daughter [Self-Released]
HEAVY: EPICA The Alchemy Project [Atomic Fire]
HIP HOP: EZRA COLLECTIVE Where I’m Meant To Be [Partisan]
JAZZ (tie): ACUTE INFLECTIONS Let Go [Self-Released]
REBECCA COUPE FRANKS Planets [RCF]
WORLD: LA FEMME Teatro Lucido [Disque Pointu/IDOL]
NACC SINGLES:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
#1 SINGLE: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM “New Body Rhumba” [Columbia/Sony]
MOST-ADDED SINGLE (tie): YO LA TENGO “Fallout” [Matador]
SAMIA “Mad At Me” feat. papa mbye [Grand Jury]
