Green Day is bolting to the U.K. chart throne with Saviors (via Reprise), the U.S. pop-punk legends’ 14th studio album.
It’s not even close. Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the Official Charts Company, Saviors is outselling the rest of the top 10 combined.
With Saviors, the Bay Area trio of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool will notch a fifth U.K. crown, following American Idiot (2004), 21st Century Breakdown (2009), Revolution Road (2016) and Father of All… (2020), their most recent studio effort.
For British fans, this could well be the summer of Green Day. The rockers’ The Saviors Tour of Europe kicks off late May, with a handful of U.K. dates locked in for June, including concerts at Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium, Isle of Wight Festival, and London’s Wembley Stadium.
As previously reported, Green Day will play Dookie (celebrating its 30th anniversary) and American Idiot (for its 20th anniversary) in full at all shows.
In a distance second place on the midweek U.K. chart is Welsh pop-punk band Neck Deep’s eponymously titled fifth LP. Neck Deep (Hopeless) is set to become the Wrexham-formed five-piece’s fourth top 10 appearance, and career high on the albums chart, eclipsing the No. 4 best for 2017’s The Peace and the Panic and 2020’s All Distortions Are Intentional.
Completing an all-new, all-rock top three on the Official Chart Update is Saxon’s Hell Fire and Damnation (Militia Guard Music), the British heavy metal band’s 24th studio album. If it holds its course, Hell Fire and Damnation will mark the veteran band’s fourth top 10 LP, and career best chart position.
Further down the midweek tally, 10, Bournemouth, England rockers South of Salem look to make a dent for the first time with Death of the Party (Spider Party), new at No. 14; Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape could nab a fourth U.K. top 40 (and first in seven years) with Orange Head (Dgaff Recordings), new at No. 26; and folk act Fisherman’s Friends set sail for what could be a fifth top 40 LP with 10th LP All Aboard (Island), set to start at No. 36.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, Jan. 26.
