The top of the NACC 200 is bursting with new music as two albums soar from outside the Top 5 into the Top 3 this week. Los Angeles-based trio, La Luz, in just their third week on the chart, leaps 7-1 with their self-titled fourth studio album (Hardly Art). The band previously reached our Top 10 in 2018 with Floating Features, but this is their first #1 on the NACC 200, and the 14th chart-topper of 2021 They already have fierce competition for the top spot next week from the band you’ll hear about next.

Philadelphia sextet The War On Drugs made a strong debut (the highest last week at #20) with their fifth LP, I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Atlantic). Portending a big jump this week were instant #1 debuts on the NACC NEXT and NACC Non-Comm Charts last week. That big jump did indeed come to fruition as the band races 20-2 on the NACC 200 in search of their second chart-topper here. They last hit #1 in 2017 with A Deeper Understanding.

Two other albums reach the NACC Top 10 this week. Destroy Boys climbs 12-9. Making the second-biggest climb into the Top 10 is Los Angeles-based musician Meg Duffy, who has recorded as Hand Habits since 2013. Their third LP, Fun House (Saddle Creek), rises 15-8 this week. The NACC 200’s biggest climb, just like last week’s, is further down the chart (hence our featuring of Hand Habits), but honorable mention goes to Cuffed Up (rising 200-65).

Making the splashiest debut on the NACC 200 this week is Brooklyn quintet Geese. Having all just recently graduated high school, these young waterfowl enthusiasts are receiving rave reviews for their debut LP, Projector (Partisan). Besting both Spoon and Snail Mail for the highest debut of the week is certainly further proof of the excitement the band is generating as their record hits #19 in its first week on the chart.

Michigan native Curtis Harding has the most-added album of the week with If Words Were Flowers (Anti-). Harding got his start when he met CeeLo Green in the early 2000s, rapping on Green’s 2002 LP and touring with him as a background singer. His profile was raised considerably with his critically lauded sophomore LP in 2017, which NPR named one of the 10 best R&B albums of the year. His third LP collects 74 Top 10 Adds, debuts on the NACC 200 at #88, and leaps onto NACC R&B/Soul at #3.

Last week’s most-added single from Spoon opens at #1 on the NACC Singles Chart this week. “The Hardest Cut” is one of the splashiest singles of the year, exploding onto the NACC 200 at #21 as well. It’s the first single from their upcoming 10th LP, Lucifer On The Sofa, due out February 11. Rochester, NY trio Joywave scores the most-added single (and only one able to land inside the NACC 200 Adds Chart) this week with “Cyn City 2000.” It previews the band’s fourth album, Cleanse, also due February 11.

This week’s Top 5 overall NACC Adds, the genre chart-toppers, and the week’s most-added genre records are included below. There are new chart-toppers this week at Heavy, Electronic, Hip Hop, and Folk.

NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 ADDS

# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | # OF ADDS

1) CURTIS HARDING If Words Were Flowers [Anti-] // 74
2) NATION OF LANGUAGE A Way Forward [Play It Again Sam] // 52
3) NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATSThe Future [Stax/Fantasy/Concord] // 50
4) TASHA Tell Me What you Miss The Most [Father/Daughter] // 43
5) GENERATIONALS ILEANA (EP) [Polyvinyl] // 42

NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 DEBUTS

# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | DEBUT

1) GEESE Projector [Partisan] // 19
2) SPOON “The Hardest Cut” (Single)l [Matador] // 21
3) SNAIL MAIL Valentine [Matadorr] // 22
4) SAM EVIAN Time To Melt [Fat Possuml] // 38
5) LUNAR VACATION Inside Every Fig Is a Dead Wasp [Keeled Scales] // 40

NACC 200 CHART: TOP 5 CLIMBERS

# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | MOVE

1) CUFFED UP Assymetry [Royal Mountain] // 135
2) PINKPANTHERESS To Hell With It [Parlophone] // 120
3) JACK WHITE “Taking Me Back” b/w “Taking Me Back (Gently)” (Single) [Third Man/The Orchard] // 81
4) LILY TV or Not TV [Flush] // 78
5) LE FEMME Paradigmes : Supplements [Disque Pointu/IDOL] // 69

#1 ON NACC GENRE CHARTS:

GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]

NON-COMM: WAR ON DRUGS, THE I Don’t Live Here Anymore [Atlantic]
NACC NEXT: WAR ON DRUGS, THE I Don’t Live Here Anymore [Atlantic]
BLUES: CAROLYN WONDERLAND Tempting Fate [Alligator]
CANADIAN: ANDY SHAUF Wilds [Anti-]
CHILL: GREAT NORTHERN, THE Nocturnes [Heart Dance]
ELECTRONIC: ANZ All Hours (EP) [Ninja Tune]
FOLK: VARIOUS ARTISTS Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows:
Songs Of John Prine, Vol. 2 [Oh Boy/Thirty Tigers]
HEAVY: MASTODON Hushed And Grim [Reprise]
HIP HOP: SHAD TAO [Secret City]
JAZZ: JOEY DEFRANCESCO More Music [Mack Avenue]
LATIN: XENIA RUBINOS Una Rosa [Anti-]
R&B/SOUL: VARIOUS ARTISTS DaptoneSuper Soul Revue – Live At The Apollo [Daptone]
WORLD: BOMBA ESTEREO Deja [Sony Latin]
MOST-ADDED @ NACC GENRES:

GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]

ELECTRONIC: HARD FEELINGS HARD FEELINGS [Domino]
FOLK (tie): BUFFALO NICHOLS Buffalo Nichols [Fat Possum]
HAYES CARLL You Get It All [Dualtone]
NORMAN BLAKE Day By Day [Smithsonian Folkways]
HEAVY: UNLEASHED No Sign Of Life [Napalm]
HIP HOP: BAD WITH PHONES Marinade [Don’t Sleep/PIAS]
JAZZ: LADY BLACKBIRD Black Acid Soul [BMG]
WORLD: PARROTS, THE Dos [Heavenly/PIAS]

NACC SINGLES:

GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]

#1 SINGLE: SPOON “The Hardest Cut” [Matador]
MOST-ADDED SINGLE: JOYWAVE “Cyn City 2000” [Hollywood]