Wuthering Heights is the second soundtrack album by British singer Charli XCX. Created for the film Wuthering Heights (2026), it was released on 13 February 2026 by Atlantic Records, the same day as the film's theatrical release. The album's lead single, "House" featuring the Welsh musician John Cale, was released on 10 November 2025 and served as a significant departure from the sound of Charli's previous album, Brat (2024). Wuthering Heights spawned three further singles: "Chains of Love" on 13 November 2025, "Wall of Sound" on 16 January 2026 and "Always Everywhere" on the same day as the album.
Work on the album began in December 2024, when the film's writer and director Emerald Fennell approached Charli XCX to compose a song for its soundtrack. Inspired by the screenplay, Charli wrote several songs with frequent collaborator Finn Keane and decided to make a full companion album for the film, which she and Keane recorded during the Brat Tour throughout 2025.
Background and composition
Throughout the release and touring for her 2024 album Brat, Charli XCX struggled with exhaustion and a lack of creative inspiration that made her feel like she "wouldn't be able to make music anymore".[1] In December 2024, Emerald Fennell messaged Charli to record a song for her film adaptation of Wuthering Heights.[2] Charli "immediately felt inspired" after reading Fennell's screenplay and worked on several tracks with frequent collaborator Finn Keane, later suggesting to Fennell that she create a full concept album for the film with songs that were "connected to the world [Fennell] was creating".[2][3] Describing the musical style of the album as an "elegant and brutal sound palette" that "couldn't be more different from Brat",[4] Charli wanted the album to reflect "a world that felt undeniably raw, wild, sexual, gothic, [and] British".[5] She created most of the album with Keane, with the pair writing and recording songs in rented studio spaces throughout 2025 while she was on the Brat Tour.[5]
"Chains of Love", the album's second single, features synth-pop production accompanied by strings that more closely resembles Charli's past music.[13][14] Multiple publications felt that the song was stylistically similar to tracks on her debut album, True Romance (2013).[11][13][15] Charli later referenced this comparison in a tweet, stating that Wuthering Heights is "100% a sister" of True Romance.[16]
Release
On 6 November 2025, Charli posted a short clip of a new song titled "House" featuring a spoken word poem by Welsh musician John Cale of the Velvet Underground.[2] The song was released as the album's lead single on 10 November, alongside a music video directed by Mitch Ryan.[6] The second single, "Chains of Love", was released on 13 November,[17] with a music video later released on 17 November.[18] "Wall of Sound" was released without prior announcement as the album's third single on 16 January 2026.[19] Charli XCX announced the album's track list on 28 January 2026.[20] "Always Everywhere" and its music video were released on 13 February 2026, the same day as the album.[21]
Commercial performance
Wuthering Heights debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart dated 20 February 2026, selling 21,071 units in its first week and earning Charli XCX her third number-one album in the United Kingdom.[22]
Wuthering Heights received critical acclaim from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[24] The album's lead single, "House", was highlighted as one of the best songs released that week by staff members at The Fader and Stereogum,[34][35] while the second single "Chains of Love" was featured in Rolling Stone's Songs You Need to Know.[36]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
