British singer & songwriter Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, who records as Arlo Parks, spends a second week at #1 on the NACC 200 with My Soft Machine (Transgressive/PIAS). The album is her second NACC 200 chart-topper in as many tries. And these two weeks (and possibly counting) combined with the 12-week #1 run of her debut, Collapsed In Sunbeams, ties her with Soccer Mommy for the most-ever weeks atop the chart. She also spends a second week at #1 on NACC Non-Comm and a third at #1 on NACC NEXT. A lengthy #1 for Parks on the NACC 200 is not a foregone conclusion. Bully is hot on her heals, holding at #2, and closes the gap in points between the two albums again this week. Also Plarks and Bully’s albums hold more than twice the points of any other record on the chart so it will be a two-horse race for #1 next week.
Two new albums rise into the NACC Top 10 this week. Hannah Jadagu (who we’ve featured twice here recently) rises 11-8. But it’s last week’s most-added album from Brooklyn quartet Beach Fossils that makes the biggest move. The band leaps from #62 (where they debuted last week) to #5 with their fourth studio album, Bunny (Bayonet). Their previous LP, Somersault, enjoyed similar honors back in 2017 when it jumped from 40-7 on the NACC 200. Their 57 spot jump this week is the biggest into the Top 10 since mid-February.
Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy winner Ben Harper is back. The California native has been making music professionally since 1992 and has released seventeen albums along the way, many solo, but some with his backing like The Innocent Criminals and others collaboratively with the likes of Charlie Musselwhite, Ellen Harper, and The Blind Boys Of Alabama. His latest effort, Wide Open Light (Chrysalis) is this week’s biggest climber on the NACC 200, jumping 194-27. That’s the biggest climb the chart as seen this year. The album is also the highest debut (#7) at NACC Non-Comm.
Montreal-quartet Half Moon Run scores the highest debut on the NACC 200 this week, opening at #43 with their fourth LP, Salt (BMG). The group formed as a trio in 2009 but expanded to a quartet just after the release of their critically lauded debut, Dark Eyes, in 2012. Returning to their original line-up in 2020, Half Moon Run went on to release two EPs. The band recently announced a European and North American tour that will keep them on the road through the end of the year.
Not too many successful indie musicians begin their careers as child actors starring in movies like Troop Beverly Hills and The Wizard and guesting on sitcoms like Golden Girls, Mr. Belvedere, and Growing Pains. In fact, no one comes to mind but Jenny Lewis. Her music career took off in 1998 with the formation of the quartet Rilo Kiley. The band released four albums before calling it quits in 2013. Lewis has also recorded five solo albums, including her latest, Joy’All (Blue Note/Capitol). It’s this week’s most added new record and scores a Top 3 debut on the NACC 200 as well, opening at #46.
Longtime English quartet Blur enjoys a second week at #1 on NACC Singles this week with the first single from their upcoming ninth LP, The Ballad Of Darren, due July 21. “The Narcissist,” is their first new music since 2015. Canadian four-piece Dizzy is back with another preview track from their upcoming third LP, which will be self-titled and arrives August 18. “Close” is the second song from the album that has grabbed ‘most-added single’ honors following “Barking Dog” which hit late last year. Ratboys has the only other single that collected enough adds to reach the NACC 200 Top 30 Adds chart.
