OFFICIAL FOLK ALBUMS CHART MAY 2026
8 new releases have entered the May chart!
Mumford & Sons’ hold the No. 1 spot with their album Prize Fighter (Island Records) for the third consecutive month.
Kicking off this month’s new entries is Jim Moray’s Gallants (Managed Decline) at No. 6. Described as the “first essential album of 2026” by Spiral Earth, this album more than ever showcases Moray's distinctive approach to folk music: rooted in tradition while sounding unmistakably contemporary. It features nine tracks, comprising eight traditional songs alongside one newly written ballad.
Landing at No. 8 is The Longest Johns’ latest studio album Ends of the Earth. This album came into fruition thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, in which 1500 contributors raised over £85,000 to fund its release and subsequenttour. The beloved shanty singers will be following the demand for their music around the UK, before crossing the seas to Canada and Europe this summer.
Brighton quartet ladylike’s debut EP It’s a Pleasure of Mine, to Know You’re Fine (Heist or Hit) arrives at No. 10. Toeing the line between folk and post-rock, the band’s debut was recorded live with producer Ali Chant. Across four tracks, they explore cycles of renewal and the beauty of persistence, finding poetry in English idioms and the banality of the mundane.
Chris Brains's fourth album Red Sun Rising (Big Sun) comes in at No. 12. Using the rising sun to symbolise new life and fresh beginnings, the album explores hope and the feeling that something is always waiting just around the corner. The songs lean into the repetitive rituals of life such as watching the sun rise or looking out onto the horizon, while also touching on the complexities that shape each of our individual paths.
Lemoncello’s second album Perfect Place (Decca Records) enters at No. 30. Building on the organic sound explored in the duo’s debut, Perfect Place combines synths and electronic percussion within explorations of both personal and collective themes. Co-produced with Ruth O’Mahony Brady, the album expresses the way external pressures find their way into intimate relationships and the difficulty of navigating an increasingly unstable world.
In celebration of the summer season, Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith have joined creative forces once again; their second collaboration Wakefire: A Summer Album (LM) joins the chart at No. 35. At 27 tracks, Wakefire bucks the emergent trend of ephemeral shorter releases. It’s a return to the long form, a double length album, befitting its reverence for the longest days of the year; an invitation to a more immersive and unfolding listening experience.
Landing at No. 36 is The Little Winters (Hudson) by nu-folk singer and clàrsach player Anna McLuckie. Written during a period of transition, The Little Winters emerged as Anna relocated from Manchester to London, stirring an unexpected and profound homesickness for Scotland. The album portrays this cycle of emotion: a farewell, the nostalgia that follows and finally a fresh sense of wonder and new love for a city still being discovered.
Written and recorded in the North Yorkshire moors, Natalie Wildgoose’s EP Rural Hours (States 1) enters at No. 38. Across 6 tracks, Natalie combines her unusual trembling melodies with analogue tape from her grandfather’s old Akai reel-to-reel recorder, fusing the environments of the people and places that surround her.
View the full chart HERE.