The Ledger

Week 20 of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide. A Greek Orthodox priest at #2 with Byzantine hymns on fretless electric guitar; Boards of Canada at #1 with a pre-order 6 days from existing. The chart's top 2 is, in different ways, sacred music.

The sixth edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide: 11 entries are pre-orders for albums that don't yet exist, Boards of Canada climb back to #1 after slipping to #5 last week, and a UK garage EP named after a 1993 Simpsons gag enters at #3.

The fifth edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide: John Dwyer claims #1 with 6 songs on a cassette four-track, KNEECAP climb 7 places to #2, Sophia holds 2 positions with a story that begins with a death in 1994, and Boards of Canada slip from the summit after 2 weeks.

The fourth edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide: Boards of Canada hold #1 for a second week, an Australian songwriter riffs on Orwell and Plath at #3 four months before release, and 2 Denver bands share the top 5 through one drummer.

The third edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide: Boards of Canada claim #1 with a pre-order that dwarfs the field, Bristol places two of trip-hop's founding voices in the top 5, and a Greek Orthodox priest enters at #13 with 150 copies pressed.

The second edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide: Dreamcastle holds two adjacent positions with LEGO-catalogue vaporwave records, Mouth Ulcers debut at #1 with music described as 'for vampires to dance to,' and Massive Attack with Tom Waits reach #2 on a single day of trading.

The first edition of the TOP 20 Albums Worldwide spans fifteen genres, thirty-four countries, and one eleven-year-old album that outsold its own successor.