The Last Dinner Party debut at number one with Prelude To Ecstasy

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The Last Dinner PartyImage source, Official Charts
Image caption,

The Last Dinner Party pose with their Official Chart Award (L-R): Emily Roberts, Abigail Morris, Aurora Nishevci, Georgia Davies and Lizzie Mayland

Indie rock band The Last Dinner Party, who won the BBC Sound of 2024 in January, have made their official debut at the top of the UK album charts.

Their first album, Prelude To Ecstasy, outsold records by Taylor Swift, Noah Kahan and The Weeknd to take the title.

According to the Official Charts, it shifted 32,800 chart units, a measure than combines sales and streams.

The quintet celebrated with a one-word statement conveying their disbelief, which is unprintable on the BBC.

But calling to Radio 1's chart show, they thanked fans and listeners for supporting the album.

"Thank you so much for playing it and listening to it and helping us and supporting us," said singer Abigail Morris.

The band formed four years ago at university, and built up a large live following before releasing their debut single, the baroque pop anthem Nothing Matters, last year.

Since then, their rise has been meteoric. They played a packed-out set at Glastonbury, supported Hozier and Florence + The Machine on tour and won the Brits rising star award, which they will collect at the O2 Arena next month.

"Everything has happened so quickly and it's really overwhelming," Morris told BBC Breakfast earlier this week. "It's been very fast and not what we expected.

"We say this all the time, but we're so grateful that we're not solo artists - that there's five of us, and we can come home together and have a drink".

Media caption,

Florence + The Machine delivers a surprise to The Last Dinner Party

Their debut album was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Jessie Ware) and released by Island Records last week.

Critics praised the record's "sky-high ambition, external" and ""decadence and theatricality", external", calling it "one of the strongest debuts in recent memory, external".

Fans clearly agreed. The album sold 14,000 copies on vinyl - the highest weekly total for an album since Oasis re-released their compilation album The Masterplan last November.

Elsewhere in the album chart, Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Jamie Webster earned his highest-charting album to date with 10 For The People, which entered at number two; while US singer-songwriter Noah Kahan' Stick Season was at number three.

Taylor Swift's victory at the Grammy Awards on Sunday also saw her back catalogue rebounding up the chart, with 1989 (Taylor's Version) at five, album of the year winner Midnights at six, Folklore at 10 and three further albums - Lover, Reputation and Evermore - in the top 40.