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Official Charts Company to launch new folk chart
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 24 September 2020
The UK’s Official Charts Company has announced that it will launch a new chart focused on the folk genre next month. It will be produced in partnership with English Folk Expo and the Manchester Folk Festival, and supported by the Showcase Scotland Expo.
The new monthly chart will compile digital and physical sales data relating to folk albums released by UK and Irish musicians. The first chart will be unveiled at an event hosted by Mark Radcliffe in Manchester on 17 Oct.
Confirming the new chart, Tom Besford, CEO of English Folk Expo, says: “As a genre, folk covers thousands of artists at all career stages and it’s really exciting to see this represented for the first time by the Official Charts Company. For many artists, being recognised through chart placement can be an important step in raising their profile and building new audiences. Now more than ever, English Folk Expo and our valued partners, including Showcase Scotland Expo, are delighted to work with the Official Charts Company to develop initiatives like this to help to promote folk music”.
Meanwhile, Charts Company boss Martin Talbot adds: “We are delighted to be supporting this fantastic new chart, celebrating all that is great about British and Irish folk music. The emergence of artists such as Laura Marling, Frank Turner and Kate Rusby as stars of the folk scene, while also taking their place in the mainstream charts and award categories, illustrates how much love there is for this genre which is simultaneously one of the most ancient and contemporary genres in music”.
To celebrate all this, the OCC has compiled the top ten best selling / most streamed folk albums released so far this year, and here they are…
- Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
- Jamie Webster – We Get By
- Levellers – Peace
- Kate Rusby – Hand Me Down
- Seth Lakeman – A Pilgrim’s Tale
- Sam Lee – Old Wow
- Jamie Webster – Boss
- Shirley Collins – Heart’s Ease
- Maria Mckee – La Vita Nuova
- Fairport Convention – Shuffle And Go
