On Tuesday 5th August the Official Charts Company, produced by English Folk Expo, revealed the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the July reporting period in the UK by UK and Irish artists. The chart is first announced to the public on Tuesday 5th August at 7pm BST as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.
10 new releases have entered the July chart!
Billie Marten’s fifth record, Dog Eared (Fiction), takes the No. 1 spot this month. The prolific British singer-songwriter headed to New York in the summer of 2024 to record with producer Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Laura Veirs) at his Sugar Mountain studio, joined by an all-star cast of musicians. The result is a warm, rich and textured album that bristles with confidence and self-belief.
All Smiles Tonight (River Lea), the debut album from Poor Creature, lands at No. 6. Featuring Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody, members of Landless and Lankum, the record sees the trio reimagining songs steeped in history, unified by themes of loss and separation, all viewed through an otherworldly, contemporary lens.
Scottish composer and small pipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul returns with her third album, Sunwise (Glitterbeat), entering this month’s chart at No. 8. Having travelled in a short time from her roots as a teenage piping contest winner to a fearless, widescreen artist, this revelatory record sees her push forward experimentally while immersing her music more deeply in tradition, folklore and mystery.
Bright Nights (Fika Recordings) Allo Darlin’s first new material in a decade, comes in at No. 9. The Anglo-Australian indiepop quartet return reflects the emotional tides of the past ten years: “It’s an album from the heart, dealing with themes of love, birth and death, which are things we reflect more on than we did when we made our first album. I would hope that the album sounds timeless and joyous, at other times reflective and emotional,” says songwriter and vocalist Elizabeth Morris Innset.
Ann Liu Cannon’s Clever Rabbits (JJ) enters at No. 13. Blending influences from ’70s folk to synth pop, the album charts a personal journey shaped by grief, heritage and artistic growth. Produced by Ethan Johns (Paul McCartney, Laura Marling), Clever Rabbits is rooted in personal history, cultural symbolism and sonic curiosity, intertwining English rural folklore and Chinese idioms.
Summoning the charming spirit of Laurel Canyon, California Irish’s debut The Mountains Are My Friends (7HZ Productions) arrives at No. 14. Recorded using analogue techniques and captured in just one or two takes to preserve a raw, human touch, the album showcases the Belfast-based seven-piece carving out their own niche within the world of folk, Americana and everything in between.
Cate Francesca Brooks’ Lofoten (Clay Pipe) arrives at No. 15. There are imagined landscapes we all carry within us – dreamed, half-remembered or just beyond reach. This record reflects one such place: Norway’s Lofoten Islands, above the Arctic Circle. Through carefully crafted electronics, melodic themes, richly layered textures and big production, Brooks captures the essence of Lofoten’s icy light, vast horizons and profound quiet.
Dreams (Loose Music) by Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars enter at No. 16.
A revered figure of the Greenwich Village folk scene and composer of Morning Dew, Canadian singer Bonnie Dobson joins forces with the UK’s premier purveyors of Cosmic Americana. Riding a wave of acclaim from Hollow Heart and On A Golden Shore, The Hanging Stars bring their shimmering sound to Dobson’s new compositions, blending timeless songwriting with rich, psychedelic textures.
No. 25 is Me Lost Me’s fourth full-length, This Material Moment (Upset The Rhythm). Proving to be her most honest and vulnerable record to date, Jayne Dent says, “this is an album which uses words as a material, a playful tool for experimentation, full of metaphor, abstraction and analogies. It has softness and anger, humour, hope and despair, intensity of feeling in all directions expressed as textures, objects, places.”
Poems & Non-Fiction (Wipe Out Music), the debut album by Newcastle’s Ruth Lyon, lands at No. 29. Forged by her experiences as a disabled woman and a life-long sense of otherness, she explores the beautiful mess of existence, challenges social norms and ignites a journey towards self-acceptance, empowerment and hope. “I have surprised myself with the raw honesty in these songs and I hope these stories inspire healing and growth,” says Lyon.
The full Top 40 list can be viewed HERE.
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