Pulp top UK charts for the first time since 1998 with new album More

Pulp have topped the UK album chart for the first time since 1998, with the release of their new album More.

The Sheffield band, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, were last at the top with 1998’s This Is Hardcore, the follow-up to the similarly chart-topping Different Class in 1995.

After the rather gloomy This Is Hardcore, with Cocker lyrics that openly recoiled from fame and success, the band’s fortunes duly waned and their final album We Love Life, released in 2001, only reached No 6. They split the following year and while they reunited to tour on a couple of occasions, More is their first album since.

The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis gave it a four-star review, writing: “A reformed band’s new album might be a placeholder, filled with songs that pad out the hits live, but provoke a rush on the bars and loos in the process. That definitely isn’t the case with More.”

The band are now on tour, playing two nights at London’s O2 Arena this weekend before dates in Birmingham and Manchester.

Thanks to healthy physical sales, Pulp beat the US pop star Addison Rae to the No 1 spot. She is at No 2 with her debut album Addison – another critically acclaimed release, with the Guardian’s Shaad D’Souza saying its “casually incisive tone suggests Rae might be a great pop flâneuse in the vein of Madonna or Janet Jackson”. Lotus, the sixth album from British rapper Little Simz, is at No 3, a career high for the 31-year-old.

At No 4, Sabrina Carpenter’s album Short n’ Sweet makes her the female artist with the longest running spell in the UK Top 5 – it hasn’t dropped out since its release in August last year. The previous record holder was Shania Twain, whose Come on Over had a 41-week run between 1999 and 2000.

Carpenter caused an online stir this week with the announcement of her new album Man’s Best Friend, thanks to a cover image depicting Carpenter on her knees with a man holding her by the hair, which some viewers found degrading.

The lead single from it, Manchild, went straight to No 1 in the singles chart. It dethrones Alex Warren’s Ordinary, whose 12-week run at the top was a record for an American artist.