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Sum 41 and Sabaton go to war! - Weekly Rock Chart Round-Up (26/07/19)

After taking a break for a few weeks, the Weekly Rock Chart Round-Up has finally returned with a bunch of big new releases to talk about! Let's take a look at how rock's biggest names are fairing across the UK charts...

On the albums front, two big names releasing albums in the same week made for a unpredictable race for the top spot of the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart. Pop punk veterans Sum 41 dropped perhaps their heaviest, most overtly metal-influenced album to date with 'Order in Decline', which was preceded by several fairly popular singles yet failed to take the top spot. Forcing Sum 41 to settle for the number 2 position was the pleasure of Swedish power metal outfit Sabaton, whose latest war-obsessed record also managed to debut at an impressive 11 on the main UK Albums Chart. Meanwhile, Sum 41 only just managed to crack the top 30, coming in at 29, significantly lower than 2016's '13 Voices' LP.

I usually focus entirely on albums for the rock chart recap, since the UK Rock Singles Chart is typically dominated by the same bunch of classic tracks. However, this week we have an attention-worthy new entry in the form of the latest Slipknot single 'Solway Firth', which has come in at 17. This may be much lower than the Iowa metal icon's last single, 'Unsainted', which debuted at number 2 and almost ended Bohemian Rhapsody's reign of terror atop the chart, but its still nice to see a new entry for a change.

A trend that I've noticed a few bands jumping on recently is making their previous single the B-side to a new track as a shrewd way to increase streams. Slipknot have done just that by including 'Unsainted' as the B-side to 'Solway Firth' and its worked out pretty well for them already. In its tenth week on the chart, 'Unsainted' has jumped up ten places from 29 to 19, firmly positioning itself as one of the hottest rock tracks of the year. Of course, releasing another single from such an anticipated album is always going to drive people back to the previous track, but the increased streams for 'Unsainted' has undoubtedly been aided significantly by this B-side decision. Expect to see this trend become increasingly common in the near future, as streaming culture continues to alter the way music is released and marketed.

For next week, we can expect the new Thy Art is Murder album to pop up on the Rock & Metal Albums Chart, but I wouldn't bet on the deathcore quintet bothering the main UK chart. It will also be interesting to see whether this new Slipknot track is able to climb the chart, considering that it being bizarrely released on a Monday meant it didn't have a full week to rack up streams before the charts were updated on the Friday. 

Until then, check out my review of the new PVRIS track here and thanks for reading!

- Danny

Follow me on Twitter @realdannymoore

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