Wuthering Heights (soundtrack)

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]

While writing "House", Charli was inspired by Todd Haynes's 2021 documentary film The Velvet Underground, in which the Velvet Underground band member John Cale said that the group's songs needed to be "elegant and brutal". In mid-2024, she asked Cale for feedback on the music she had been working on for the album, and after taking an interest in "House", he recorded the spoken word poem featured in the song.^[6] Noted for its noisy and distorted instrumentation, "House" was described as a gothic rock,^[a] industrial rock,^[2] and neoclassical dark wave song.^[10][11] In his review of the song, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis called it "powerful, striking and rewarding", comparing it to the industrial music of Nine Inch Nails and saying that it "[bore] almost no relation in sound or mood to the contents of Brat".^[12]

"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]

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]

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]

In the United States, the album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 51,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, including 26,000 in pure sales and 24.85 million streams. The album also debuted at number one on the US Soundtrack Albums chart, marking Charli XCX's first number one album in the United States.^[23]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.8/10[24]
Metacritic	82/100[25]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	8/10[26]
Exclaim!	8/10[27]
The Guardian	[28]
The Independent	[29]
The Line of Best Fit	7/10[30]
MusicOMH	[31]
Pitchfork	7.4/10[32]
Rolling Stone	[33]
Slant Magazine	[34]

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Wuthering Heights received critical acclaim from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^[25] 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,^[35][36] while the second single "Chains of Love" was featured in Rolling Stone's "Songs You Need to Know".^[37]

Lillian Hingley, a Postdoctoral Researcher in English Literature at the University of Oxford, noted the soundtrack's unique experimentation and adaptation of elements from Emily Brontë's novel and highlighted the album's interrogation of the concept of self. Hingley concluded by describing the album as "a productive, imaginative, beautiful haunting".^[38]

Credits were adapted from Tidal.^[39]