After closing the gap on La Luz by 92% last week and getting closer to #1 than any #2 album had been all year, it seemed a bit of an inevitability that Portland quintet The Decemberists would reach #1 this week. And that is exactly what we see happen. La Luz steps down to #5 and The Decemberists accomplish something with this release that their previous LP, I’ll Be Your Girl, couldn’t quite do. That 2018 album made the Top 5 on the NACC 200, but couldn’t quite reach the top spot. Now their ninth studio effort, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again (their first on Thirty Tigers), rises 2-1. It also spends a third week at #1 on the NACC Non-Comm Chart. They’ll have their hands full maintaining the top spot next week as you’ll see with our next featured record…
Wasting absolutely no time reaching the NACC Top 10 this week is Chicago six-piece Wilco. After their new EP, Hot Sun Cool Shroud (dBpm), became last week’s most-added record and debuted at #47, the album skyrockets to #2 this week and closes the gap between themselves and The Decemberists by a whopping 85%. Should Wilco be able to reach #1 it would tie them with The New Pornographers for the most NACC 200 #1s among bands. It would also give lead singer, Jeff Tweedy, his cumulative fifth chart topper (combining band and solo releases), more than any other artist ever on the NACC 200. Could be a historic week next week. Watch this space.
One other band reaches the top tier of the NACC 200 this week. It’s Melbourne, Australia quartet Hiatus Kaiyote. Formed in 2011, the band got its start when bassist Paul Bender caught a solo show from lead singer Nai Palm. The two soon began working as a duo shortly thereafter and Hiatus Kaiyote was born the next year. Love Heart Cheat Code (Brainfeeder) is their fourth LP and the second straight to reach the Top 10 on the NACC 200. They scored the biggest climb into the Top 10 in 2021, rising 31-7 with Mood Valiant. Now they reach the top tier again, rising 19-9. The album also jumps 22-6 at NACC Non-Comm, debuts at #11 on NACC NEXT & debuts at #15 on NACC Jazz this week.
Also making a nice move up the NACC 200 is Perth, Australia five-piece, Pond. They are the highest-charting artist on the chart this week that we have not yet featured… until now! The band have a very strong connection to fellow Perth act Tame Impala and are considered a spin-off of that band as lead singer Nick Albrook was part of Tame Impala from 2009-2013 and both bands still share other members. Pond formed in 2008 and has released ten LPs, including their latest, Stung! (Spinning Top). The album zips ahead 27-14 this week.
A solo artist also reaches the NACC 200’s Top 10 this week and she does it in grand style. Atlanta-born, Massachusetts-raised musician Claire Cottrill, who records as Clairo, is no stranger to our weekly NACC Chart Recap. This is the ninth time we’ve featured her. The other eight were in service of her first two LPs (2019’s Immunity and 2021’s Sling) both of which reached #1. So the pressure is on for her third studio album, Charm (Virgin), to keep her perfect streak going. And the probability of that happening, so far anyway, seems very good. She not only enjoys the most-added album of the week, but she simultaneously scores the week’s highest debut at #10. It’s one of just three albums to debut inside the Top 10 this year, the others coming from Sleater-Kinney and Faye Webster, who both went on to spend multiple weeks at #1 earlier in 2024.
Last week’s most-added single, “Bells and Whistles,” by Omaha trio Bright Eyes, has quickly climbed to #1 on the NACC Singles Chart, racing up from #11. It’s the 12th single to reach #1 this year and previews the band’s upcoming 11th LP, Five Dice, All Threes, due September 20. Just two singles reach the NACC 200 Top 30 Chart this week. The highest placing is from Canadian musician Art d’Ecco. His new single “I Feel Alive” is his first new music since 2022 and although no album announcement has been made, it could certainly be previewing what would be his fifth studio album. Time will tell. Also reaching the overall adds chart with a new single is Hello Mary.
