Muse’s Will Of The People Becomes First UK Number One Album Using NFT Technology | Ents & Arts News

Muse have made history with their ninth LP, Will Of The People, which marks the UK’s first #1 album using NFT technology.

The limited edition Digital Pressing was created in collaboration with Warner Music UK and Serenade, a green music Web3 marketplace.

It is the first full-length record to include NFT (non-fungible token) elements, which takes the top spot, and the first new format to enter the official album chart since it’s 2015 streaming data count started.

A relatively new trend in the cryptocurrency world, NFTs are unique digital assets that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated.

To clarify: if something is fungible, it is interchangeable with another good or asset – nonfungible means that it is not fungible.

Last year, a digital artwork that has sold for more than $69 million (£50 million). at Christie’s, the first-ever sale of a work of art by a major auction house that did not exist in physical form.

Muse’s NFT album was limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and, along with another sleeve, included a downloadable version of the record as high-resolution FLAC files digitally signed by the band.

Each of the 1,000 buyers was also permanently included in the linked buyer list.

After NFT albums were allowed to chart a few months ago, Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, called them an “exciting new format” and said he believes they will have a charting role for years to come.

He appears to be right about Aitch’s ‘Close To Home’, which last week became the first NFT project to enter the UK Official Albums Chart.

It’s a double whammy for Muse – the three-man band from Devon, consisting of a lead singer Matt BellamyBassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard – who also mark their seventh UK number one album with the record.

Will Of The People topped the rest of the top 10 combined, racking up an impressive 51,500 chart units in its opening week.

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Muse now joins fellow groups The Killers and The Prodigy, who also boast seven chart-topping LPs each.

Bellamy has previously released three new songs as NFTs, one of which was recorded on one of the late American musician Jeff Buckley’s guitars.

Muse will be touring the UK next summer.