UK's The Official Charts Company kicked off a Prog Albums Chart this week with Tame Impala heading the pack, beating out Pink Floyd and taking the No. 1 spot on the first ever best-seller list with its new album Currents. Prog Magazine will publish the innovative chart, which will coincide with this year's Progressive Music Awards to be held at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London on Sept. 3.
"We felt it was an oversight not to have done this a long time ago. Progressive music is as alive and kicking as it's ever been. It's more a state of mind than a genre. There are some artists who embrace the term 'progressive', and there might be lots of others who don't because it is a tainted word," Official Charts Company's Martin Talbot explained to NME.
2015's Currents trails the success of Kevin Parker and company's 2010 debut Innerspeaker and 2012 sophomore album Lonerism. Ahead of the dance-leaning album's July 17 release date, Tame Impala dropped a few album tracks, teasing fans along the way, including "Cause I'm a Man," "Eventually" and "Let it Happen."
Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman expressed his approval of the newest chart to BBC, "It's only 45 years too late, but better late than never. Prog rock is the healthiest it's ever been... the standard of musicianship of young bands is overall way higher than the standard was back in the 1970s."
Prog Magazine will choose which albums are qualified to sit on the chart among Roger Waters, Muse, Faith No More, Public Service Broadcasting and more.
"You look at some of the best-selling and acclaimed artists of the modern era, like Muse, Radiohead, Mogwai, Tame Impala, what they do is incredible, they are challenging themselves, their audience and inspiring a new generation, and the Official Progressive Albums Chart is the platform in which this will be recognized," Prog Magazine editor Jerry Ewing told The Guardian.
See the Prog Albums Chart Top 10 below:
01. Tame Impala, Currents
02. Muse, Drones
03. Roger Waters, Amused to Death
04. Joe Satriani, Shockwave Supernova
05. Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space
06. Faith No More, Sol Invictus
07. Symphony X, Underworld
08. Pink Floyd, The Endless River
09. Tim Bowness, Stupid Things That Mean the World
10. Nightwish, Endless Forms Most Beautiful
