Author: Editor

On Tuesday 5 December the Official Charts Company in partnership with English Folk Expo revealed the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the November reporting period in the UK by UK and Irish artists. The chart is first announced to the public at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show  presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.

There are 12 new releases in the November chart, including a new no. 1.

Straight in at no. 1 is The Moon Also Rises (Transgressive) by Johnny Flynn & Robert Macfarlane. The album gathers songs that Johnny and Robert have written together since finishing their first joint album, Lost In The Cedar Wood (2021). It fuses poetry, story, landscape, history, nature and myth into a series of rich, strange songlines that criss-cross time and place, joining winter to spring, ancient to present and birth to death.

No. 2 is Thea Gilmore (Mighty Village) by Thea Gilmore. Born from preceding EPs, the album is written, played and produced entirely by the artist. Emerging from the personal revelations in her prior release, Afterlight, she offers a resilient perspective on the world.

First Loves & White Magnolias (Communion) by Bear’s Den comes in at no. 3. The folk-pop duo’s latest release follows on from their chart-topping album Blue Hours (2022) and contribution to the Apple TV+ series Trying.

Smoke Fairies come in at no. 6 with their sixth studio album Carried in Sound (Year Seven). Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire’s latest release has been hailed by Uncut Magazine as, their “most spectacular yet”. The album reflects inner strength and tackling darkness with a longing for light.

Cyrm (Claddagh) by ØXN lands at no. 7. The collaboration’s debut album melds experimental doom folk from Radie Peat (Lankum), the motorik euphoria of John ‘Spud’ Murphy and Eleanor Myler (Percolator) and Katie Kim’s glorious Lynchian meta-verse.

No. 8 is John Francis Flynn’s Look Over the Wall See the Sky (River Lea Recordings). In his latest album John Francis Flynn unpicks traditional songs and rearranges them with emotional force, evoking the space between past and present, analogue and digital, love and tragedy.

In at no. 10 is Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain’s debut collaborative album Double You (Bendigedig). Dublin’s versatile violinist Aoife Ni Bhriain and Welsh harpist Catrin Finch offer a captivating journey, drawing inspiration from diverse genres and celebrating the cultures of the artists’ home countries.

Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones’s seasonal album Wesselbobs (Selwyn Music) comes in at no. 19. The powerhouse folk duo present a collection of winter songs and tunes sourced from Yorkshire, offering unique versions of classic seasonal material packed with rich traditions and yuletide tales.

No. 22 is Sooner After Solstice – A Transatlantic Folk Christmas (Sungrazing) by A Winter Union, featuring Gilmore & Roberts, Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage and Jade Rhiannon of The Willows. This joyful record captures the individual and collective talents of the all-star band in a collection of original compositions and re-imagined classics.

Roots 2 (Hands On Music), the latest album by Show of Hands, comes in at no. 29. This anthology is a musical journey through three decades, featuring anthemic classics alongside haunting melodies, capturing the essence of their extraordinary thirty-year career.

Bex Burch’s debut solo album There is Only Love And Fear (International Anthem) lands at no. 39. She describes her sound as “messy minimalism”. The album explores a unique sonic universe, blending experimental elements and harmonics, symbolizing a musical journey rooted in openness and magic.

You Are Wolf’s third studio album, Hare // Hunter // Moth // Ghost (Firecrest), is at no. 40. You Are Wolf is the folk project of composer/author Kerry Andrew. The album explores transformation through traditional folk songs and originals, influenced by drone, electronica and alt-pop.

The full Top 40 list can be viewed HERE