Gorillaz Reach the Summit: ‘The Mountain’ Scales the U.K. Charts to Secure Number 1

Gorillaz have ascended to the peak of the U.K. Official Albums Chart once again, fending off stiff competition from Olivia Dean and Bruno Mars to secure the top spot for the week of March 6.

The band’s ninth studio LP, ‘The Mountain’, officially becomes their third U.K. Number 1 album. It joins the ranks of the seminal 2005 release ‘Demon Days’ and 2023’s ‘Cracker Island’ as a chart-topping milestone. According to the Official Charts Company, ‘The Mountain’ moved 30,000 units in its opening week, making it the biggest independent release of 2026 to date.

To commemorate this achievement, which coincides with the 70th anniversary year of the U.K. Official Albums Chart, famed illustrator Jamie Hewlett created a bespoke piece of art featuring the band’s self-proclaimed leader, Murdoc Niccals, clutching the iconic gold Official Charts Number 1 award.

Characteristically humble, Murdoc issued a statement from the band's headquarters:

“Mortal friends, Murdoc F. Niccals here, speaking to you from on high, the top of the world, the summit of achievement! I’ve only gone and done it again, haven’t I? Number 1! Could have gone further… was hoping for a 0, but 1 will do. To all my devoted er… devotees, you have shown impeccable taste as ever. It takes a lot to make a mountain, so all I can say is… I couldn't have done it without me. Cheers!”

‘The Mountain’ represents one of the most ambitious chapters in the Gorillaz discography. Incorporating the intricate sounds of Indian classical instrumentation and featuring guest performances in five different languages, the record is a testament to the project's borderless philosophy.

It has been 25 years since the four animated misfits first flickered onto our screens, signalling a seismic shift in pop culture. What was dismissed in 2001 as a "jokey" one-off project from "the guy from Blur" has evolved into one of the most creative, enduring, and genre-defying pillars of 21st-century music. With a collaborative roster exceeding 100 artists, Gorillaz remain the only entity capable of linking Carly Simon to Shaun Ryder, or providing the neutral ground for Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher to finally bury the Britpop hatchet.

However, that restless urge to collaborate has occasionally made Gorillaz records feel like sprawling, disconnected playlists. The project is always at its most potent when anchored by a singular vision. While ‘Demon Days’ captured post-9/11 paranoia and ‘Plastic Beach’ tackled ecological rot, ‘The Mountain’ turns the lens inward.

The album’s DNA was formed in the heavy summer of 2024. Following the death of his father, Keith Albarn travelled to Varanasi, India, a city where the Ganges flows and transitions are sacred. In a stroke of cosmic coincidence, Hewlett’s father passed just ten days later while Hewlett was in Rajasthan.

Out of this shared grief emerged an album inspired by the Indian concept of the "Bardo", a transitional state between worlds. The lore follows 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel sneaking into India on fake passports to escape a digital curse, a narrative mirrored by a sonic palette featuring legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle and the virtuoso sitar of Anoushka Shankar.

The instrumentation is exquisite: a sitar engages in a psychedelic duet with Johnny Marr’s guitar on ‘The Plastic Guru’, while the title track opens with a transcendent bansuri flute. Perhaps most haunting is the recruitment of a "choir from beyond the grave." Albarn has excavated unreleased recordings of late collaborators, including Bobby Womack, Mark E. Smith, and De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove, to explore how art outlives the vessel.

On ‘The Manifesto’, the late Proof (of D12) bursts through with a verse recorded 25 years ago, while Mark E. Smith brings a surrealist snarl to the ravey horror of ‘Delirium’. These "Voices From Elsewhere" turn the album into a sonic testament to the permanence of the soul.

Albarn thrives in the wistful melodic lane of ‘The Empty Dream Machine’, while ‘Casablanca’, uniting Johnny Marr and Paul Simonon, blends English pining with a nomadic, dub-heavy groove. Yet, the record refuses to linger in the shadows

• ‘The Moon Cave’: A dip into sleek, rubbery funk.
• ‘The Happy Dictator’: A Sparks-assisted slice of 80s synth-pop that serves as a playful jab at eternal tyrants.
• ‘The God of Lying’: IDLES’ Joe Talbot trades his roar for a reflective, 'Ghost Town' lilt, interrogating modern complacency.

‘The Mountain’ achieves a miraculous feat. While previous explorations of grief by Albarn, like ‘The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows’, and Blur's 'The Narcisist', felt like funeral rites, this record refuses to be sombre. It is a vibrant tapestry of major-key sing-alongs and sitar-soaked bangers. Quite simply, this is the band’s best work in 15 years, an exceptional record proving that even at the summit of their career, Gorillaz are still finding new ways to climb.