UK Albums Chart

The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming[1] in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays (previously Sundays). It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (top 5) and published in Music Week magazine (top 75), and on the OCC website (top 100).

To qualify for the Official Albums Chart, the album must be the correct length and price. It must be more than three tracks or 20 minutes long and not be classed as a budget album. A budget album costs between £0.50 and £3.75. Additionally, various-artist compilation albums – which until January 1989 were included in the main album listing – are now listed separately in the "Official Compilation Chart". Full details of the rules can be found on the OCC website.[2]

According to the canon of the OCC, the official British albums chart was the Record Mirror chart from 22 July 1956 to 1 November 1958; the Melody Maker chart from 8 November 1958 to March 1960;[3] the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969; and the Official Albums Chart from 1969 on. For eight weeks in February and March 1971 no Official Albums Chart was compiled due to a postal strike - for this period, the OCC uses the chart compiled by Melody Maker instead.[4]

In the 1970s the new album chart was revealed at 12:45 pm on Thursdays on BBC Radio 1, and then moved to 6:05 pm (later 6:30 pm) on Wednesday evenings during the Peter Powell and Bruno Brookes shows. In October 1987 it moved to Monday lunchtimes, during the Gary Davies show, and from April to October 1993 it briefly had its show from 7:00–8:00 pm on Sunday evenings, introduced by Lynn Parsons. Since October 1993 it has been included in The Official Chart show from 4:00 – 5:45 pm on Fridays (previously from 4:00 – 7:00 pm on Sundays). A weekly 'Album Chart' show was licensed out to BBC Radio 2 and presented by Simon Mayo, until it ended on 2 April 2007.

Though album sales tend to produce more revenue and, over time, act as a greater measure of an artist's success, this chart receives less media attention than the UK Singles Chart, because overall sales of an album are more important than its peak position. 2005 saw a record number of artist album sales with 126.2  million sold in the UK.[5] In February 2015, it was announced that due to the falling sales of albums and rise in popularity of audio streaming, the Official Albums Chart would begin including streaming data from March 2015.[1] Under the revised methodology, the Official Charts Company takes the 12 most streamed tracks from one album, with the top-two songs being down-weighted in line with the average of the rest. The total of these streams is divided by 1000 and added to the pure sales of the album. This calculation was designed to ensure that the chart rundown continues to reflect the popularity of the albums themselves, rather than just the performance of one or two smash hit singles. The final number one album on the UK Albums Chart to be based purely on sales alone was Smoke + Mirrors by Imagine Dragons. On 1 March 2015, In the Lonely Hour by Sam Smith became the first album to top the new streaming-incorporated Official Albums Chart.[6]

The first number one on the UK Albums Chart was Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Frank Sinatra for the week ending 22 July 1956. As of the week ending 6 August 2020, the UK Albums Chart has had 1203 different number one albums. The current number one album is Folklore by Taylor Swift.

Record holders

The most successful artists in the charts depend on the criteria used. As of February 2016, Queen albums have spent more time on the British album charts than any other musical act,[7] followed by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, U2 and ABBA. By most weeks at number one, The Beatles lead with a total of 174 weeks, and the most number one albums of all with 15.[8] The male solo artist with the most weeks at number one is Presley with a total of 66 weeks. Presley also holds the record for the most number one albums by a solo artist (13) and most top ten albums by any artist (53).[9] Madonna has the most number one albums (12) by a female artist in the UK, though this includes the Evita film soundtrack which was a cast recording and not strictly a Madonna album.[10] Adele is the female solo artist with the most weeks at number one, with a total of 37 weeks.[11] Spice Girls are the female group with the most weeks at number one, with a total of 18 weeks for Spice (15 weeks) and Spiceworld (3 weeks).[12]

Queen's Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in UK chart history, with six million copies sold as of February 2014.[13] Previous first-place holder The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is now in third-place after being supplanted by Queen and then by ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits. Both albums have sold in excess of 5.1 million copies.[14] The longest running number one album, both consecutively and non-consecutively, is the soundtrack of the film South Pacific. It had a consecutive run of 70 weeks from November 1958 to March 1960, and had further runs at the top in 1960 and 1961, making a non-consecutive total of 115 weeks.

Eminem holds the record for the most consecutive number one albums in Official Albums Chart history, with ten consecutive UK number one albums.[15]

The youngest artist to top the chart is Neil Reid, whose debut album topped the chart in 1972 when he was only 12 years old.[16] The oldest living artist to top the charts is Vera Lynn at the age of 92 with We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn, released in 2009 (though the album only contains material she recorded between 1936 and 1959). Lynn also holds the record for the oldest living artist to have a chart album, with the 2017 release of Vera Lynn 100, released to mark her 100th birthday (though again, this only contains material she recorded decades earlier). The album peaked at number 3.

The album which has spent the most weeks on the charts is Queen's Greatest Hits, which has spent over 1000 weeks on the chart by January 2018. See List of albums which have spent the most weeks on the UK Albums Chart for full details.

In 1980, Kate Bush became the first British female artist to have a number-one album in the UK with Never for Ever, as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at number 1. In August 2014 she became the first female artist to have eight albums in the Official UK Top 40 Albums Chart simultaneously, (altogether she had eleven albums in the Top 50 in one week).[17] She is currently in fourth place for artists having the most simultaneous UK Top 40 albums, behind Elvis Presley and David Bowie who both tie for the most simultaneous Top 40 albums (twelve each, both immediately following their deaths in 1977 and 2016 respectively),[18] and The Beatles who had eleven in 2009 when remastered versions of their albums were released.

The fastest selling album (first chart week sales) is 25 by Adele. Released in November 2015, it sold over 800,000 copies in its first week.[19]

The X Factor's 2006 runner-up, Ray Quinn, is the only solo artist to top the album chart without ever releasing a single, though Led Zeppelin achieved eight consecutive number-one albums from 1970 to 1979 without releasing a single in the UK until 1997.

The Rolling Stones have reached number one in the album chart with new studio albums during five different decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2010s). In the 2000s, they failed by the narrowest of margins to reach the top in 2005 with A Bigger Bang, which was the best-selling album of the week in Britain (England, Scotland & Wales combined) but was denied a number one by poor sales in Northern Ireland. ABBA have reached the top spot in four consecutive decades, though this was with the same album (Gold) in the 1990s and the 2000s. For solo artists, Elvis Presley has scored UK number-one albums in five different decades (the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 2000s and 2010s). In 1993, Cliff Richard became the first male solo artist to score UK number-one albums in four consecutive decades (the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s). In 2010, Kylie Minogue became the first female solo artist to have UK number-one albums in four consecutive decades (the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s).

The longest number one by a group is Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water which was number one for 33 weeks (13 of which were consecutive). The longest consecutive number one by a group was the Beatles' Please Please Me, which held the top spot for a straight 30 weeks. The longest number one by a male solo artist was Elvis Presley with G.I. Blues which stayed at the top for 22 weeks (his Blue Hawaii album was also the longest consecutive number one album for a male artist with 17 weeks). Adele's album 21 has the most weeks at number one by a female solo artist (and by a solo artist of any gender) with 23 weeks, 11 of which were consecutive (which is also a record for a female artist).

The first studio album and non soundtrack or cast recording album to top year-end chart was With the Beatles by The Beatles in 1963, they became the first group to achieve this feat. Elton John's Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player in 1973, marks the first album by male artist and solo act to do so. The fitst woman to reach year-end best seller was Barbra Streisand in 1982, for Love Songs.

The first studio album and non soundtrack or cast recording album to top decade-end chart was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles in 1960s, they became the first group act to achieve this. James Blunt's Back to Bedlam in 2000s, marks the first album by male artist and solo act to do it. Blunt was the only performer in history to top decade chart with debut album. The fitst woman to reach this feat was Adele in 2010s, with 21.

Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia holds the record for having the lowest one-week sales while at the top of the chart in the modern era, when it was number one the week beginning 15 May 2020 with sales of only 7,317.

Debut albums

The fastest selling debut albums (first-week sales):


Sam Smith holds the record for most weeks spent in the Top 10 by a debut album with In the Lonely Hour, with 76, surpassing a record previously held by Emeli Sandé.[22]

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See also

References
  1. "UK's Official Albums Chart to include streaming data for the first time". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. "Rules for Chart Eligibility: Albums" (PDF). Official Charts Company. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  3. Warwick, Neil; Kutner, Jon; Brown, Tony (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums (3rd ed.). London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-058-0.
  4. "The history of the Official Charts: the Seventies". OfficialCharts.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  5. "Blunt boosts record labels' 2005". BBC. 6 January 2008.
  6. Jones, Alan (1 March 2015). "Sam Smith tops first streaming integrated UK Albums Chart". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  7. "Queen top UK album charts league". BBC. 4 July 2005. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
  8. "The Beatles". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  9. "Elvis Presley". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  10. "Madonna". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  11. "Adele". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  12. http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=203971. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "Queen reach six million album sales in UK". BBC. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  14. "ABBA overtake The Beatles to score UK's second biggest selling album". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  15. "Eminem surpasses Led Zeppelin and ABBA to claim the most consecutive Number 1s in Official Albums Chart history with Kamikaze". Official Charts Company. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  16. "Record Breakers and Trivia: Albums". everyhit.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
  17. "Kate Bush sets new Official Chart record". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  18. "David Bowie matches Elvis Presley's Official Albums Chart record". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  19. "Adele's '25' becomes UK's fastest selling album of all time with sales of over 800,000". NME.com.
  20. "Madonna breaks earnings record". BBC Online. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  21. Morgan Britton, Luke (1 March 2016). "Craig David recreates iconic 'Born to Do It' album artwork with Instagram post". NME. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  22. Myers, Justin (3 September 2015). "Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour breaks Official Charts record". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
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