Brighton singer Maisie Peter’s new album goes to number one

Maisie Peters, who grew up in Steyning and learned her trade busking on the streets of Brighton, has secured her second consecutive UK number one album as ‘Florescence’ topped the Official Albums Chart this week.

The album was launched with a performance in Brighton on May 22, the same day it was officially released.

Maisie on the balcony at Resident today ahead of her performance last week (Image: The Argus)

The West Sussex singer-songwriter pipped a strong challenge from Michael Jackson’s The Essential Michael Jackson by just over 250 chart units to claim the top spot—a victory she celebrated in characteristically spirited fashion.

“I’m really proud of myself and for the team, everyone worked really hard,” she said.

“Michael Jackson tried, but he couldn’t come up against the real M-dog!”

Florescence joins Peters’s 2023 debut The Good Witch at the summit of the Official Albums Chart, making her one of very few British artists to have scored back-to-back chart-toppers in recent years.

The album also topped both the Official Record Store Chart and the Official Vinyl Chart.

Maisie said the West Sussex countryside partially inspired her new album (Image: Ella Pavlides)

Peters lived in Brighton as a child and then spent her teenage years in Steyning, catching the number 2 bus into Brighton to busk outside the Pavilion and in the Lanes.

Her debut single, Place We Were Made, released when she was just 17, was inspired directly by life in Steyning.

The Argus caught up with Maisie at the launch of her new album last week, where she recalled her experiences of growing up in Sussex.

You can read the full feature here: Maisie Peters performs Florescence at Brighton album launch | The Argus

Maisie with a copy of her new album, which came out on May 22 (Image: The Argus)

She returned home to Steyning to write parts of Florescence, finding in the West Sussex countryside the grounding she needed after years of relentless touring—including a career-defining appearance supporting Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in London.

She celebrated the release of the record on May 22 with an in-store event at Resident, the independent music shop in the North Laine, before an impromptu set on the balcony of the Theatre Royal overlooking New Road.

A headline show at the O2 Arenas in London is booked for May 2027, and new album Florescence is out now.