On Tuesday 14th January the Official Charts Company, produced by English Folk Expo, revealed the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the December reporting period in the UK by UK and Irish artists. The chart is first announced to the public on Tuesday 14th January at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.
In a special bumper edition of the Chart Show, Matthew Bannister will also count down the best-selling folk albums featured in The Official Folk Albums Chart of the Year 2024.
There are five new releases in the December chart!
Recorded over a wintry week on the North York Moors, The Unthanks’ dream-like fantasia In Winter (Rabble Rouser) debuts at No. 2. The album is an extensive time capsule of the season, featuring Christmas tunes known throughout the Western world, mixed with traditional and the newly written material, all passed through The Unthanks’ filter with great care and love.
Needle Mythology Records has announced an expanded, remastered reissue of The Lilac Time’s 1991 release, Astronauts, which enters the chart at No. 10. As Pete Paphides writes in the album’s liner notes, “To fans who have returned to these songs over the years, Astronauts has come to be regarded as the indisputable masterpiece of The Lilac Time’s first incarnation. A record that was never quite of its time has, through the years, become truly timeless.”
After seven years in the making, Janice Burns & Jon Doran’s new winter album Great Joy To The New (Wylam) comes in at No. 17. Many of the songs were chosen and arranged while Janice and Jon lived in Norway, studying Norwegian traditional music. The record draws strongly on the customs and rituals that bring people together during the winter, illuminating the dark nights with light and joy.
Allt Vol. II: Cuimhne (Machair), the second record from renowned artists Julie Fowlis, Zoë Conway, Éamon Doorley and John McIntyre, enters at No. 19. Cuimhne, the Gaelic word for memory, memorial or recollection, is a fitting title for this work as the chamber quartet draws inspiration from the memories of Gaelic tradition, reinterpreting them in a contemporary setting.
Multi-award-winning contemporary folk artists Jackie Oates and John Spiers’ A Midwinter’s Night (Needle Pin) lands at No. 20. Featuring 13 tracks of Christmas material – gathered from local customs, Advent carols, yuletide tunes and festive songs from further afield – the album is a joyous celebration of midwinter in all its shades.
The full Top 40 list can be viewed HERE
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