Six years after quietly releasing her first EP from a bedroom studio, Gracie Abrams just landed the biggest week of her career. Her third studio album, “Daughter From Hell,” has debuted at No. 1 on the national albums chart, marking the first time the 26-year-old singer-songwriter has topped it.
The Numbers Behind the Milestone
“Daughter From Hell” opened with 124,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. during the tracking week ending July 23, according to Luminate. That’s Abrams’ best sales week ever, and it’s not close. Of that total, 77,000 came from pure album sales, enough on its own to debut at No. 1 on the sales-only chart. The remaining streaming-equivalent units add up to roughly 47.27 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs. The record officially arrived on July 17, capping off a first tracking week that outpaced even the strongest early projections.
Abrams’ path to No. 1 didn’t happen overnight. She started out with two EPs, “minor” in 2020 and “This Is What It Feels Like” in 2021, before releasing her full-length debut, “Good Riddance,” in 2023. Her sophomore album, “The Secret of Us,” followed in 2024 and peaked at No. 2 with 89,000 units, becoming her first real breakthrough and sending her out on a world tour that later expanded into an arena run. “Daughter From Hell” builds on that momentum and finally pushes her past the runner-up spot.
Abrams shared her excitement directly with fans once the news broke over the weekend. On her Instagram Story, she wrote simply, “this is nuts and entirely your doing!!! Thank you,” alongside a red heart.
What’s Actually On the Record
“Daughter From Hell” leans further into collaboration than anything Abrams has released before, featuring contributions from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and her partner, actor Paul Mescal. The album’s rollout included lead singles “Hit the Wall” and “Look at My Life,” along with “Good Reason,” which has quickly become a favorite among fans since the album’s release. Abrams also added two surprise bonus tracks, “Out of Nowhere” and “Love Letter,” as an iTunes-exclusive addition just two days before the tracking week closed, a move that likely helped push her sales total even higher.
The streaming numbers backed up the hype early. On release day alone, the album pulled in nearly 18 million global streams on Spotify, with six different songs landing on the platform’s Daily Global Songs chart the same day. Critics have largely responded well too, with several reviews noting that Abrams sounds more experimental here than on her earlier, more hushed records, without losing the intimacy that built her audience in the first place.
Joining a Short List
Abrams isn’t the only artist enjoying a first-ever chart-topper this year. She’s the sixth act to score a debut No. 1 album in 2026, joining Noah Kahan, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Don Toliver, and Megadeth on that list. It’s a notable jump from last year, when only five acts — Ken Carson, Ghost, Tate McRae, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Sleep Token — managed the same feat across the entire year.
The rest of this week’s top five reads like a snapshot of 2026’s biggest album releases: Olivia Rodrigo’s “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” sits at No. 2, followed by Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem,” Ella Langley’s “Dandelion,” and Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide.”
Abrams isn’t slowing down to enjoy the milestone. She’s already announced a 64-date international arena run in support of the album, kicking off in North America this December with 37 shows before crossing into the U.K. and Europe for 27 more dates next spring. The North American leg opens at Denver’s Ball Arena and wraps with a four-night stand at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in mid-March, before the tour resumes overseas that April.
For an artist who spent her first two albums quietly building a devoted following, “Daughter From Hell” marks the moment that following turned into a genuine commercial force — and given the size of the tour ahead, this No. 1 likely won’t be her last.
