One of the year's most anticipated records has finally been confirmed. Arctic Monkeys will release their new album, The Car, on October 21 via Domino.
The band’s seventh studio album features ten new songs written by Alex Turner, produced by James Ford and recorded at Butley Priory, Suffolk, RAK Studios, London and La Frette, Paris.
The record is the follow-up to 2018’s No.1 album Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. The Sheffield band’s sixth album powered to the summit with first week sales of 86,359 (OCC). What’s more interesting was that the album broke some records, following an unusual release campaign without a lead single. As revealed in Music Week’s charts analysis, it was the first album ever to sell more than 20,000 copies across each of the three main formats – CD, download, vinyl – in the same week. CD was just ahead (27,681 OCC sales), followed by vinyl (24,478) and downloads (15,679). Sales-equivalent streams accounted for 18,016 sales.
The LP's opening tally meant it secured a new chart record as the fastest-selling vinyl record of the last 25 years, surpassing the 16,164 copies that Liam Gallagher’s As You Were moved in seven days.
The record was eventually broken by Abba's Voyage vinyl sales of 29,891 last year and, in turn, Harry Styles earlier this year.
To date, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino has sold 243,094 according to OCC data. Their best selling album remains 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not which has sold 2,131,031.
An official press release stated that The Car finds “Arctic Monkeys running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape and contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turner’s career.”
The album is being releases in a number of formats and bundles. The deluxe LP will be available on limited grey vinyl with a tip on sleeve and mounted gloss cover image via the AM Official Store. An exclusive, custard coloured LP will be available at independent record shops and HMV stores. The Car will also be available on standard LP, CD, cassette and digitally.
The tracklisting for The Car is as follows:
There’d Better Be A Mirrorball
I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am
Sculptures Of Anything Goes
Jet Skis On The Moat
Body Paint
The Car
Big Ideas
Hello You
Mr Schwartz
Perfect Sense
Arctic Monkeys headline the Reading and Leeds Festivals this weekend. You can read our interview with Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn here.
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