Charli Xcx’s Number 1 hat-trick is reshaping her catalog and lifting vinyl sales
Who feels the impact first? Fans, physical retailers and Charli Xcx’s back catalogue. The soundtrack Wuthering Heights has reached Number 1, joining her earlier chart-toppers CRASH and BRAT and pushing vinyl sales to the top of the week. That momentum is already nudging other albums back up the chart and arriving at a moment when a related mockumentary hits UK cinemas today.
Charli Xcx’s chart momentum and the immediate ripple
Wuthering Heights doesn’t just register as a new Number 1; it is changing how Charli Xcx’s body of work is moving on the charts. The soundtrack also topped the vinyl albums chart by shifting the most copies on wax over the seven-day window, which signals renewed interest from collectors and independent shops. A prior Number 1, BRAT, climbed seven places this week, showing direct catalog lift. Sales rebounds like this often prolong promotion cycles and give labels and artists levers to reissue or repackage formats.
- Key takeaways:
- Wuthering Heights earned a Number 1 album slot and led the week's vinyl sales.
- CRASH and BRAT are now part of a three-album Number 1 run for the artist.
- BRAT moved up seven places following the soundtrack’s success.
- A mockumentary linked to the release opened in UK cinemas the same week, amplifying visibility.
What’s easy to miss is how format-specific sales—especially vinyl—are steering resurgence for older records; this week’s moves suggest the soundtrack’s fans are also collectors. If you’re wondering why this keeps coming up, the presence of a film tie-in released in cinemas today is the contextual nudge many campaigns need to convert casual listeners into buyers.
The Wuthering Heights surge and related chart shifts
Wuthering Heights is described as the soundtrack to a movie adaptation of Emily Brontë’s gothic tragedy and now sits at the top of the albums chart. It joins CRASH and BRAT in the artist’s tally of Number 1 albums, making this a three-album streak. Beyond the headline, the week’s chart movements included several catalog rebounds and notable debuts: BRAT rose seven places; a live recording titled Tension Tour 2025 entered the chart at Number 19 and also topped independent shop sales; a long-running album by another artist remained inside the Top 5 for its 21st consecutive week; and a vault release following a multi-night residency returned to the Top 40.
Here’s the part that matters for the industry: when a new project pushes to Number 1 and also dominates vinyl, it creates two parallel effects—short-term sales spikes and medium-term catalog uplift. That dynamic is visible this week in the boosted positions and renewed interest across formats.
Micro timeline of the recent Number 1 run:
- 2022 — CRASH reached Number 1.
- 2024 — BRAT reached Number 1 and has seen renewed movement this week.
- Now — Wuthering Heights joins those two as a Number 1 album and tops the vinyl chart.
The real question now is how sustained this lift will be: continued vinyl demand, streaming behavior and any subsequent physical reissues will determine whether this becomes a short burst or a longer trend. A few other albums also benefited from new-format releases or live-event tie-ins this week, underlining how coordinated drops across media still move charts.
Editorial aside: The bigger signal here is how cross-format strategies—soundtrack plus film presence plus vinyl availability—can compound to create outsized momentum even for an artist with an already sizable discography.
If trends hold, the immediate winners are artist campaigns that can convert film exposure into physical sales and catalog attention, and record shops that can capitalise on a vinyl spike. Recent chart hits this week also gesture toward awards season conversations, as one long-running Top 5 album remains in contention for high-profile recognition at an upcoming ceremony.
