Radiohead’s Critically-Acclaimed Album Hits The Top 10 For The First Time

For more than 30 years, Radiohead has stood out from so many other alternative rock bands as one of the most critically adored and progressive names in the field. The group has turned away from attempting to chart hits or score bestsellers, and instead produce the best art possible. In doing so, the rockers have nonetheless managed to become hugely commercially successful.

While the band has been quiet for years – Radiohead’s last album, A Moon Shaped Pool, dropped nearly a decade ago – the act’s music has become surprisingly popular in the past several months. A mix of organic discovery (and rediscovery) paired with TikTok virality has turned long-overlooked tracks by the Grammy winners into hits and pushed several albums up the weekly rankings.

This frame is special for Radiohead in the group’s home country of the United Kingdom, as the outfit charts a brand new top 10 while multiple full-lengths reach never-before-seen peaks.

In Rainbows Finally Reaches the Top 10

In Rainbows, which Radiohead released back in the fall of 2007, is on the rise across almost every tally on which it appears in the U.K. The set breaks into the highest tier on the Official Albums Sales chart for the first time, as it lifts from No. 11 to No. 9. The critically-applauded album finally becomes a top 10 bestseller in the nation 90 weeks into its time on the list of the bestselling full-lengths and EPs throughout the country.

Radiohead Scores a Fifth Top 10 Bestseller

As In Rainbows steps up those two very important spaces, Radiohead collects its fifth top 10 on the Official Albums Sales chart, the most important purchase-only ranking concerning full-length projects in the U.K. Of the half dozen titles the group has placed somewhere on the roster throughout the past decade, only one, The Bends — more on that later — has failed to enter the top 10. Two efforts, A Moon Shaped Pool and OK Computer, have enjoyed short tenures at No. 1, while Kid A Mnesia and Hail to the Thief – Live Recordings, both peaked at No. 4.

In Rainbows Also Soars to a New Peak on the Vinyl Chart

In Rainbows manages a new high point on another roster, the Official Vinyl Albums chart, though it does not find space within the top 10 for the first time as is the case on the Official Albums Sales list. In Rainbows improves by just one spot, landing at No. 7 a little after celebrating a year on the tally.

In Rainbows Rises on Multiple U.K. Tallies

The same project also takes up space within the top 10 on the Official Physical Albums chart as it climbs to No. 9. In Rainbows has previously ruled on that roster.

At the same time, In Rainbows falls more than 20 spaces on the Official Albums chart, which lists the most-consumed projects throughout the U.K., blending both sales and streaming activity. In Rainbows, a former champion, descends from No. 57 to No. 83.

The Bends Reaches a Never-Before-Seen Sales High

Impressively, In Rainbows is not the only album by Radiohead to establish a new peak position on a sales roster in the U.K. The Bends, the outfit’s sophomore full-length, which recently turned 30, jumps from No. 28 to No. 12 on the Official Albums Sales ranking. That position is higher than The Bends has ever reached, and Radiohead misses out on collecting a pair of brand new top 10 bestsellers by just two spaces.

Radiohead’s The Bends Surges on Three Sales Rosters

Just like In Rainbows, The Bends is a bestseller across a trio of tallies. Radiohead’s early studio effort jumps to No. 9 on the Official Vinyl Albums ranking and No. 11 on the Official Physical Albums tally. Unlike In Rainbows, The Bends manages to surge forward on the most competitive albums roster, as it improves by four spots to No. 88.

OK Computer Finds Its Way Back to the Top 10

Yet another bestseller by Radiohead, OK Computer, also finds its way to the top 10 on several of the aforementioned rosters. OK Computer, which officially certified the troupe as superstars in the alternative genre when it dropped in 1997, makes a home at No. 10 on the Official Albums Sales, Official Physical Albums, and Official Vinyl Albums charts all at once. Like In Rainbows, it does descend on the Official Albums roster, falling nearly 10 spaces to No. 52.