DUA DELIVERS 

Warner Records U.K. is currently heading to the top of the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart with Dua Lipa’s widely praised Future Nostalgia, which has racked up 732k worldwide sales so far. Over on Spotify, she’s the most streamed British female artist of all time and #3 in the world overall.

Props go to Warner Records U.K. President Phil Christie and his team, who have worked with Lipa and management at Tap since he took the top job in 2016. Amid the current coronavirus pandemic, Christie helped make the decision to bring the album forward one week (rather than delay it), to provide fans with some much needed upbeat pop during an otherwise sober time.

The decision landed in the right place—critics praised the “viscerally brilliant” 11-track set for its “fusion of disco and ruthlessly efficient contemporary pop” and for being “the album this moment demands.”

After peaking at #2 in the U.K. last week, the set has moved up to the top spot with 145k sales in Blighty so far. Its three lead singles, which currently sit in the U.K. Top 10 singles chart, have recorded 5.97m sales, and the set had the highest pre-adds by a British female ever on Apple Music.

Christie rightfully tells us that Future Nostalgia has catapulted Lipa into “rarefied global superstar status.”

“Dua just keeps on getting better and better. I can’t speak highly enough of her. She’s made a real statement with Future Nostalgia, delivered on her vision and has proven herself to be one of the world’s most exciting artists.” The album is the start of a two-year campaign and Christie promises “lots of exciting things to come.”

This week’s #1 will be one of four Warner albums to have hit the top spot in Blighty in 2020 under the helm of newly crowned U.K. CEO Tony Harlow. Releases from Stormzy, Rod Stewart and Green Day charted at #1 in Q1, while Stormzy and Ed Sheeran claim two of the Top 5 best-selling albums. The label also claims four entries in the Top 6 best-selling singles chart of Q1, thanks to tracks from Tones & I, Roddy Ricch, Stormzy/Sheeran/Burna Boy and Lipa.