When Pet Shop Boys questioned Taylor Swift's hit career, wondering what “their Billie Jean” would be and ruling out that 'Shake It Off' could be it, they surely already sensed this news.
Pet Shop Boys' new album, 'Nonetheless', was released just a week after 'The Tortured Poets Department', so it had very few, if any, chances of being number 1 in the UK. And so it has been: the album by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe is in position 2, behind that of Taylor Swift.
The news is especially sad, because in another week and with figures above 22,000 units, 'Nonetheless' could have been number 1 in the United Kingdom. Pet Shop Boys have sold their new release 11,000 CDs, 8,000 vinyls, 500 tapes, 1,200 blu-rays, 1,300 downloads and also have 800 streaming points. But they are not enough to match the 50,000 copies that Taylor has sold this week of her double album in the second week of her life.
The worst thing is that it would have been only the second top 1 on the album charts for Pet Shop Boys, the first since 'Very' (1993), as traditionally, Pet Shop Boys have had very bad luck on the album chart.
'Actually' (1987), which went triple platinum, was also in the top 2. This was also the case with 'Introspective' (1988) and 'Behaviour' (1990). Therefore this is the 4th number 2 on Albums for Pet Shop Boys in the land where they were born.
But they have also been top 3 in the United Kingdom 4 other times: with 'Please' (1986), 'Electric' (2013), 'Super' (2016) and 'Hotspot' (2020). The compilation 'Alternative' (1995) was also top 2 and the compilation 'Discography' (1991) was top 3.
Even if only for a week, 'Nonetheless' improves on Pet Shop Boys' latest albums in the UK. In addition, he can boast of being top 3 in Australia, Germany and having reached the top 20 in Holland, Finland and Ireland. The Spanish data will be known next week.
