Harry’s House is off to a flyer in the charts, claiming the fastest-selling album of the year so far, after just one weekend of sales and streams.
When Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’, the teasing 80s synth-pop single, broke the Guinness World Record last month for being the most streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours from a male artist (accruing 16,103,849 streams, to be precise), you knew the forthcoming album was in with a shot of being a major hit.
And now, the Official Charts Company’s Midweek Sales Flash has shown just that.
Harry’s House has opened with 61,430 sales, with 42,063 from physical, 16,408 from streams and 2,959 from downloads – and that’s just over Friday, the day of release, and Saturday. The stats already surpass the former One Direction singer’s eponymous 2017 debut (57,000) and his 2019 album, Fine Line.
It means the album now has the biggest first-week sales since Adele’s 30, released toward the end of last year. The success appears to have had a knock-on effect for Style’s previous releases, too, with his self-titled debut rising from no. 50 to no. 28 in the charts.
Tracks from Harry’s House also dominates the singles charts, too, with ‘As It Was’, ‘Late Night Talking’ and ‘Music For A Sushi Restaurant’ taking first, second and third spots respectively – the no. 1 track extending its eight-week run at the top of the table.
Sometimes, albums can sail away as a result of limited competition. But with a Kendrick Lamar album still in the charts, a no.1 return from Florence + the Machine with Dance Fever and an impressive, AI-assisted album from Everything Everything, that certainly hasn’t been the case. Harry’s House has already had a stonkingly successful start to life on its own accord. (Even if whynow’s Maria Lattila doesn’t think it’s all that).
We’ll see what the rest of the week’s sales have in store.
