The excitement surrounding Charli XCX’s amazing new LP Brat is real, but it’s apparently not enough to give Charli a #1 album, either in the US or the UK. In the US, where Charli has always been more of a cult figure than a proper mainstream pop star, Brat is currently projected to debut at #4. If that happens, it’ll be Charli’s best showing over here. (Previously, her highest-charting album was her last one, 2022’s Crash, which debuted at #7.) The UK chart race was much closer, and it did not break Charli’s way.

Charli XCX is much more of a proper pop star in her homeland, and Crash became her first #1 album in the UK two years ago. As Official Charts reports, Brat actually sold more first-week copies in the UK than Crash did, but that wasn’t enough to defeat former Charli tourmate Taylor Swift, whose The Tortured Poets Department will have its sixth week at #1. It’s now Swift’s longest-running chart-topping LP in the UK. Swift achieved this feat partly by releasing a UK-exclusive version of Tortured Poets, featuring exclusive live tracks and first-draft phone memos.

#TSTheErasTour in the UK means #TSTTPD Standard Digital Albums + Bonus Tracks (Live from Paris) and First Draft Phone Memos are available on the UK Store until 11:59pm BST! 🤍 UK only. https://t.co/DG0IewhXxK pic.twitter.com/Qhpwafmjeb

— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) June 13, 2024

Taylor Swift is widely believed to be the subject of Charli XCX’s Brat song “Sympathy is a knife” — “This one girl taps my insecurities” — and some observers see the bonus-track release as Taylor intentionally preventing Charli from reaching the top spot. I think that’s a reach. Swift cares about chart statistics, and she will continue to rack up statistical achievements for as long as possible. I really don’t think it’s personal.

In any case, the long US #1 reign of The Tortured Poets Department will probably come to an end soon, since the new Luke Combs album just dropped this morning.