Fontaines D.C. score their second Number 1 album with Dopamine Chamber

Straight in at Number 1

Fontaines D.C. went to Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart on Friday 23 October with Dopamine Chamber, their fifth studio album. It is the Dublin band's second chart-topping album, after Skinty Fia in 2022, and it arrived with one of the biggest first weeks of the year.

The Official Charts Company said the album shifted more than 70,000 chart units in its first week. Only two albums have opened bigger in 2026: Harry Styles' Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. and Olivia Rodrigo's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. Dopamine Chamber is also the fastest-selling studio album by an Irish act in 15 years, since Snow Patrol's Fallen Empires in 2011.

The rest of that week's albums Top 10 included Rachel Chinouriri's I think I spoke too soon at Number 9, her first Top 10 album, and Zach Bryan's Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs EP went in at Number 11. Dopamine Chamber also topped two other charts the same week: the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and the Official Record Store Chart, which counts sales in independent record shops. The album came out on 16 October on XL Recordings, the band's current label.

Laura Snapes reported this first for The Guardian. Checked against Official Charts: Fontaines D.C. and Dopamine Chamber earn the third biggest opening week for an album in 2026.

Singles to match

The album pulled the band's songs up the singles chart too. Lead single Marianne reached Number 12, Fontaines D.C.'s highest singles chart placing so far, and two more album tracks, Japan and Demolition, went straight into the Top 40 at Numbers 14 and 18, the Official Charts Company reported.

Two days later, the Official Charts Company's first look at the following week's chart had a fourth album track, Mimesis, heading for the Top 40. Even now the band have never had a Top 10 single, by the Official Charts Company's count, which says a lot about how they have built their audience: through albums and live shows rather than radio hits.

What the album sounds like

Dopamine Chamber was widely praised on release. The Guardian gave it five stars, with Laura Snapes calling it "gloomy, gorgeous and a gargantuan triumph" in her review. She described it as the band's most formidable and cohesive record, and singled out Where Is Gone?, a duet with the Catalan singer Rosalía, the first guest artist to appear on a Fontaines D.C. album.

Snapes also picked out the range of the record: Happy for You carries a sour, lonely guitar twang that recalls the Cure, Mimesis is built on a rough New Order-style bassline, Demolition is a sledgehammer of grunge, and the closing track, Intimate, ends the album on a bitter note. Her verdict was that the influences sound like part of the band's own world rather than pastiche.

The frontman Grian Chatten has said the album is about the way social media blurs context and wears away what it means to be human, according to that review. The guitarist Conor Curley said before release that the band wanted to avoid sounds that immediately recalled older bands.

The record follows Romance, the 2024 album that came with a striking new look for the band, neon hair and all. Some early fans thought Romance was too pop, but it became their first platinum-selling album in the UK and Ireland and earned more Grammy nominations, as Kate Solomon reported for The Guardian.

Five albums, one steady climb

The five-piece formed at the BIMM music college in Dublin in 2014, The Guardian reported. Their debut, Dogrel, came out in April 2019 and peaked at Number 9 on the Official Albums Chart. A Hero's Death followed in July 2020 and reached Number 2. Skinty Fia, released in April 2022, gave them their first Number 1.

Romance came out in August 2024 and peaked at Number 2, but its staying power has been the bigger story: by the Official Charts Company's count it has now spent 90 weeks on the albums chart. Romance was also shortlisted for the 2025 Mercury Prize, the year Sam Fender won.

Their first single, Liberty Belle, came out in 2017, and the band toured with the south London group Shame that year, The Guardian reported in its history of the band. BBC Radio 6 Music's Steve Lamacq played their self-released seven-inch, Hurricane Laughter, early on. After a gig in a tiny pub backroom in Dalston, east London, in March 2018, Jeff Bell of Partisan Records flew to Dublin the following week to sign them. Dogrel went Top 10 in both the UK and Ireland the next year.

Rather than cancelling releases during the Covid lockdowns, the band kept going, and A Hero's Death came out in the middle of the pandemic in July 2020. They have since moved from Partisan to XL Recordings, which released Romance and Dopamine Chamber.

The Guardian's history of the band traces the rise to a run of early singles, heavy support from BBC Radio 6 Music and relentless touring, rather than viral social media campaigns. It also notes the death earlier this year of their manager Trevor Dietz, whom the band called their sixth member.

From pub backrooms to stadiums

The scale of the band's live business has changed fast. In 2018 they played a pub backroom in Dalston, east London, The Guardian reported. In November 2026 they play six UK arenas, every one of which is sold out at the box office, according to the band's own tour listings.

The UK arena run starts at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on 20 November, then moves to the AO Arena in Manchester on 21 November, the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on 22 November, the First Direct Arena in Leeds on 24 November, the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on 25 November and The O2 in London on 27 November. Before that, the tour takes in arenas across Europe, including Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris, several of which are also sold out.

Summer 2027 is bigger again. The band headline two nights at Slane Castle in Ireland on 26 and 27 June 2027, then a UK run of stadiums and big outdoor shows: Blackweir Fields in Cardiff on 29 June, St James' Park in Newcastle on 1 July, two nights at Heaton Park in Manchester on 3 and 4 July (the second added after the first), Glasgow Green on 6 July and London Stadium on 9 July. The band also list 2027 dates across Europe, North America, Latin America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The band's approach to fame has been unusual for the era. The Guardian noted that they have stayed away from the viral video interview formats most big acts now do, keeping a less-is-more presence online, while fans film and share whole shows themselves. Kneecap's Mo Chara told the paper the band's politics, including a homelessness benefit show they curated and their stance on Palestine, had endeared them to many fans, and that the mainstream had come to them rather than the other way round.

The Guardian also reported talk of a Glastonbury headline slot, but the festival has not announced any part of its 2027 line-up, and nothing is confirmed.

What the November tickets cost now

Because the arena dates are sold out at the box office, resale is the only way in for anyone who missed them. On the morning of 30 October StubHub listed The O2 in London from £80.68 with 123 listings, Manchester from £75 with 73 listings and Birmingham from £70 with 44 listings, plus StubHub booking fees at checkout.

Sold out at the box office means the official seller has nothing left for that night. The listings on StubHub are tickets that fans bought and are now reselling, so the sellers set the prices, which can sit above or below the original price and change from hour to hour. StubHub's guarantee covers buyers if a ticket does not work.

Liverpool, the opening UK night, was the most expensive at the bottom end, from £110 with 34 listings. Glasgow was from £100 and Leeds from £94, plus StubHub booking fees at checkout.

For summer 2027, London Stadium on 9 July was the cheapest way in on 30 October, from £58.66 across 92 listings. St James' Park in Newcastle was from £70, Glasgow Green from £97, the first Heaton Park night from £108 and the second from £129, and Cardiff from £134.99, plus StubHub booking fees at checkout.

Resale prices move with demand. The live prices for all 12 UK dates print below this story and are checked hourly. If you are waiting for a lower price, set an alert below and we will email you when it drops.

What comes next

The second week of Dopamine Chamber's chart run was due to be published on the evening of 30 October. With a European tour under way and the UK arena run starting on 20 November, the band will be playing the new songs live through the rest of the year.

After the 2027 stadium summer, the obvious next question is a festival headline slot in the UK, and the band's 2027 diary already includes headline billing at big European festivals, including Primavera Sound in Barcelona, The Guardian reported. Abel González of the Primavera booking team told the paper the band first played the festival on a small stage in 2018 and had something new to say every time they came back. For UK fans, the next dates are the six arenas in November, followed by the summer stadium and park shows from late June. Any new UK dates will appear on our Fontaines D.C. page as soon as tickets are listed.

Tickets today

What StubHub lists now, checked hourly. Prices are listing prices; StubHub adds its booking fees at checkout.