On Tuesday 3rd December the Official Charts Company, produced by English Folk Expo, reveals 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 on Tuesday 3rd December at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.
There are seven new releases and a new No.1 in the November chart!
Patterns in Repeat (Chrysalis/Partisan Records), the eighth studio album by the ever-prolific British musician Laura Marling, takes the No.1 spot, marking the longest gap between releases in her 15-year career. If 2020’s acclaimed Song For Our Daughter was written figuratively from the perspective of addressing a fictional daughter, Patterns in Repeat—written after the birth of her daughter in 2023—finds Marling reflecting on the patterns within the constellation of a family.
Entering at No. 2 is 1994 (EMI) by Nathan Evans. Following Wellerman, his international breakthrough debut in 2022, the viral sensation’s sophomore record evolves his sound with heartfelt lyrics, danceable shanty-pop beats and an unmistakably Scottish style.
Coming in at No. 4 is A Terrible Beauty (Claddagh) by Christy Moore, arriving 56 years after the release of his debut album Paddy On The Road and just months shy of his 80th birthday. The Irish Times wrote: “For all the living-legend and national-treasure plaudits, you might think A Terrible Beauty is just another dependable Christy Moore album. Not really. This one hits the bull’s-eye repeatedly and with force.”
Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett reunite as The Coward Brothers (New West) with a self-titled album debuting at No. 6, forty years after the duo first collaborated. The record is accompanied by The True Story of The Coward Brothers, a three-part Audible Original audio series recounting the history of pop stars and brothers Henry and Howard Coward – played by Costello and T Bone – as they bitterly reflect on their music industry experiences, including being cheated out of royalties by a cutthroat manager and being persuaded to fake their own deaths.
Twenty years after his Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2005 for Kitty Jay, Seth Lakeman returns with Kitty Jay – Live at Dartmoor Prison (Honour Oak), entering at No. 8. This live album captures the multi-instrumentalist’s return to HMP Dartmoor for a performance, accompanied by long-time collaborators Benji Kirkpatrick and Alex Hart, nearly two decades after his first concert there in May 2004.
Return To Kielderside (Resilient), the latest album from Kathryn Tickell, lands at No. 9. Forty years on from her debut On Kielder Side, Tickell revisits some of those original tunes and and presents new compositions specially crafted for this anniversary release. The album marks a gentle return to her more traditional roots following her acclaimed work with The Darkening.
At No. 16 is O Avalanche (Nettwerk), the seventh record by Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan. Written during his stay in Mallorca, a place he describes as his “true north,” Regan says, “the album has quite a lot of bottled-summer energy running through it… when I listen to the record, it feels like there’s an eternal optimism about it.”
The full Top 40 list can be viewed HERE
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