KCRW’s Top 30: Automatic takes the lead, Beyoncé breaks the top 5, and other shake-ups

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Automatic(ally) in peak position, as another album of the year contender fully enters the conversation. Photo by Sela Shiloni

Not since the lockdown-era days of KCRW Music’s blue team/red team scheduling has there been this much turnover within a single Top 30 chart. Granted, new singles from the likes of station-wide favorites Gorillaz, Steve Lacy, and (Queen) Beyoncé were always going to be a lock, but perhaps even more intriguing is the presence of returning players Rosalía and MUNA.

And yet, for a week so full of shake-ups and excitement, we had the number one album penciled in before the tallies were fully counted. LA-local post-punk trio Automatic have held this spot before, so it was more or less a given that the feverishly-anticipated release of their new album “Excess” would get them back into position.

Top 30 Albums (6.28.2022)

1 Automatic Excess
2 Braxe + Falcon Step By Step
3 Adrian Quesada Boleros Psicodélicos
4 Beyoncé Renaissance
5 Flying Lotus The Room / You Don't Know [Single]
6 J.Rocc A Wonderful Letter
7 Say She She Norma [Single]
8 La Femme Sacatela [Single]
9 De Lux Do You Need a Release?
10 Gorillaz Cracker Island (Feat. Thundercat) [Single]
11 mehro pirate song [Single]
12 Hollie Cook Happy Hour
13 Makaya McCraven In These Times
14 Viagra Boys Cave World
15 Steve Lacy Mercury [Single]
16 yaya bey Remember Your North Star
17 Hot Chip Down (Remixes)
18 Kendrick Lamar Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
19 Rosalía Motomami
20 Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs When the Lights Go
21 Santigold Spirituals
22 FKJ V I N C E N T
23 Phoenix Alpha Zulu [Single]
24 Kikagaku Moyo Kumoyo Island
25 The Smile A Light For Attracting Attention
26 070 Shake YOU CAN'T KILL ME
27 Ambar Lucid La Torre [Single]
28 Leon Bridges & Kevin Kaarl Summer Moon [Single]
29 Dry Cleaning Stumpwork
30 MUNA MUNA