Crash

Crash was released on 18 March 2022 and was the last album under her Asylum contract. Charli dubbed it her "major label sell-out" record. She recorded songs written by other writers and used an A&R executive for the first time in her career, and the sound is a more conventional dance-pop than her earlier experimental production, with elements of 1980s and 1990s pop. David Cronenberg's 1996 film of the same name inspired the title and artwork. The liner notes dedicate it to Sophie, who died in early 2021.

Singles included "Good Ones", "New Shapes" with Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek, "Beg for You" with Rina Sawayama, "Baby", "Every Rule" and "Used to Know Me". Producers included Oscar Holter, A. G. Cook, George Daniel, Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen.

It debuted at number one in the UK with 16,117 units, her first album to do so, and at number seven on the Billboard 200, her first US top ten. Metacritic averaged 79. Pitchfork's Owen Myers called it her best full-length project since Pop 2, while The Guardian's Alexis Petridis gave a mixed review. In a 2024 interview with The Face she said she needed to switch after Crash.