UK Albums Chart

The Official Albums Chart logo, as introduced by the Official Charts Company in October 2011

The UK Albums Chart (currently entitled 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), on the OCC website (top 100) and in UKChartsPlus magazine (top 200).

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 compilations – which until January 1989 were included in the main album listing – are now listed separately in a compilations 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 Melody Maker chart from 8 November 1958 to March 1960 (although the Record Mirror published charts from 22 July 1956[3]); the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969; and the Official Albums Chart from 1969 on. 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 own 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.[4] 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] 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.[5]

Record holders

The most successful artists in the charts depends on the criteria used. As of 2005, Queen albums have spent more time on the British album charts than any other musical act,[6][7] followed by The Beatles, Elvis Presley and U2. By most weeks at number one, however, The Beatles lead with a grand total of 174 weeks. The male solo artist with the most weeks at number one is Presley with a total of 63 weeks. Presley also holds the record for the most top ten albums.[8] Madonna is the most successful female solo recording artist in the UK with 12 number one albums, more than any other solo artist, and most weeks at number one on the albums chart, 30 in total (though these tallies includes the Evita film soundtrack which was a cast recording and not strictly a Madonna album).

Queen's Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in UK chart history with 6 million copies sold as of February 2014.[9] Previous second-place holder The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has been edged into third-place by ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits. Both albums have sold in excess of 5.1 million copies.[10] 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 seventy weeks from November 1958 to March 1960 (meaning it was number one for the entire year of 1959), and had further runs at the top in 1960 and 1961, making a non-consecutive total of 115 weeks.

The Original Cast Recording of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical The Phantom of the Opera became the first album in British history to enter the British albums chart at No. 1 in 1987.

The youngest female artist to top the chart is Joss Stone at 17 years and 6 months old with Mind, Body & Soul in 2004.[8]

The oldest person 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.

The album which has spent the most weeks on the charts is Queen's Greatest Hits with over 600 weeks on its own and a further 210 weeks as part of The Platinum Collection. 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 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 performer to have eight albums in the Official UK Top 40 Albums Chart simultaneously; altogether she had 11 albums in the top 50, putting her at number three for simultaneous UK Top 40 albums.

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.[11]

The fastest selling debut albums (first week sales):

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 first artist to reach number one on the Singles Chart, Downloads Chart and Albums Chart simultaneously were the Sugababes on two occasions, for "Push the Button" and "About You Now".

The biggest drop from number one was by Christina Aguilera with her 2010 album, Bionic. The album fell from the top spot in its second week to number 29.[12]

The Rolling Stones have reached number one in the album chart during five different decades (1960, 70s, 80s, 90s and then in the 2010s with a deluxe re-release of their 1972 album Exile on Main Street). ABBA have reached the top spot in four consecutive decades, though this was with the same album (Gold) in the 1990s and the 2000s. Elvis Presley has scored UK number-one albums in four different decades (1950s, 60s, 70s and 2000s), though Cliff Richard is the first male solo artist to score UK number-one albums in four consecutive decades (1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s). Kylie Minogue became the first female solo artist to have UK number-one albums in four consecutive decades (1980s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s), and this feat was matched by Madonna in 2012.

The longest number one by a group is Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water which was no.1 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 either gender) with 23 weeks, 11 of which were consecutive (which is also a record for a female artist).

Sam Smith holds the record for most weeks spent in the Top 10 by a debut album with In the Lonely Hour, with 67 in total, surpassing a record previously held by Emeli Sandé and The Beatles.

Rihanna's album Talk That Talk holds the record for having the lowest one-week sales while at the top of the chart, when it was number one the week of 12 August 2012 on sales of only 9,578 copies.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "UK's Official Albums Chart to include streaming data for 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. ↑ "Blunt boosts record labels' 2005". BBC. 6 January 2008.
  5. ↑ Jones, Alan (1 March 2015). "Sam Smith tops first streaming integrated UK Albums Chart". Music Week (Intent Media). Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Queen top UK album charts league". BBC. 4 July 2005. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
  7. ↑ Queen becomes longest reigning chart act Daily Mail Retrieved 3 February 2011
  8. 1 2 "Record Breakers and Trivia: Albums". everyhit.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
  9. ↑ "Queen reach six million album sales in UK". BBC. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "ABBA overtake The Beatles to score UK's second biggest selling album". Official Charts Company.
  11. ↑ "Adele's '25' becomes UK's fastest selling album of all time with sales of over 800,000". NME.com.
  12. ↑ "Christina Aguilera Makes Music History in the UK". New York Magazine. New York Media LLC. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  13. ↑ "Album sales fall to new low as Rihanna tops UK chart despite selling less than 10,000 copies of Talk That Talk". The Independent. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

External links

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