Year Artist Title
1960 Freddy Cannon The Explosive Freddy Cannon
1972 * Neil Reid Neil Reid
1988 Johnny Hates Jazz Turn Back The Clock
1991 The Farm Spartacus
1994 Chaka Demus & Pliers Tease Me
2005 Steve Brookstein Heart And Soul
2006 Corinne Bailey Rae Corinne Bailey Rae
2006 * Journey South Journey South
2007 The View Hats Off To The Buskers
2007 Ray Quinn Doing It My Way
2007 Paul Potts One Chance
2007 Kate Nash Made Of Bricks
2007 Newton Faulkner Hand Built By Robots
2007 The Hoosiers The Trick To Life
2007 Leona Lewis Spirit
2008 Amy Macdonald This Is The Life
2008 Duffy Rockferry
2008 Ting Tings We Started Nothing
2008 Basshunter Now You're Gone - The Album
2008 The Script The Script
2009 White Lies To Lose My Life
2009 Lady GaGa The Fame
Last one-hit wonder to be removed from the list: Mika (Oct 2009).
Notes about One-Hit Wonders:
- Blind Faith had one no. 1 album and nothing else ("Blind Faith", 1969) but all four members (Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech, Eric Clapton) went on to further album success either as soloists or with other groups.
- Linda McCartney is exempted. Her 1971 chart-topper ("Ram") (with Paul) is her only 'solo' credit but she had further success as a member of Wings.
- Holly Johnson is exempted. His only solo success is the chart-topper "Blast!" (1989) but he was the frontman of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
- Leona Lewis returned to no. 1 with a 'deluxe' version of her "Spirit" album in Nov 2008. This version contained additional tracks, technically making it a different album so, on a point of order, it could be argued that she has had two hit albums.
Biggest Jump To Number One
Within the Top 40, the record is held by Blind Faith's "Blind Faith" album which leapt to no. 1 from no. 32 (1962).
Beyond the Top 40, the record goes to "20 Golden Greats" by The Shadows which, in 1977 shot from no. 48 to. no. 1.
Fastest Selling Album
Defining "fastest selling" as shifting most copies in a single week, the record goes to "Be Here Now" by Oasis which sold 663,389 copies in its first week on sale (1997).
Fastest seller by a solo artist is Dido's "Life For Rent" (400,351 copies, 2003). Robbie Williams' "Intensive Care" is fastest seller for a male artist (373,832 in 2005). "Spiceworld" by The Spice Girls (1997) sold 192,000 copies in its first week on sale, making it the fastest seller by an all-girl group.
Fastest selling debut album is "Spirit" by Leona Lewis (375,872 copies, 2007) - beating the record set in the previous year by The Arctic Monkeys' "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (363,735 copies).
It is worth pointing out that accurate, detailed sales figures for albums are only available from 1995. Though this is the point at which album sales really picked up, it is possible that an album released prior to this date would qualify for one of the record in this section.
Biggest Climb Within The Album Top 40
37 places from no. 40 to no. 3 by the Various Artist album "Raiders Of The Pop Charts" in Jan 1983. Biggest climb by an album recorded by a group is The Shadows' "String Of Hits" (up 36 places to no. 3 in Mar 1980 ). Biggest climb for a soloist is 35 places to no. 2 by David Bowie's "Low" in Feb 1977. Greatest leap by a female soloist is Gabrielle's appropriately titled album "Rise" (33 places to no. 6 in Feb 2000).
Biggest Fall Within The Album Top 40
34 places. In 2001, Westlife's album, "Westlife" fell from no. 3 to no. 37.
Biggest Fall From Number One
17 places from Number 1 to Number 18 by George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" in the chart of w/e 3rd April 1971. This was, in part, a consequence of disrupted chart reporting due to a postal strike. The biggest exit from Number 1 in a conventional week is 13 places (to. no. 14). This has happened on two occasions; the Wu-Tang Clan's 1997 album "Wu-Tang Forever" and The Doves' "Some Cities" (2005).
Longest Span Of Album Chart-Toppers
Elvis Presley; 50 years, 9 months and 15 days. From "Elvis Is Back" (w/e 10th Nov 1956) to "The King" (w/e 25th Aug 2007).
The group record is held by The Beatles; 37 years, 8 months and 9 days (11th May 1963 to 20th Jan 2001).
Madonna has the greatest album chart-topping longevity of any woman; 24 years, 0 months, 12 days (21st Sep 1985 to 3rd Oct 2009).
Longest Span Of Hit Albums
Elvis Presley; 50 years, 11 months and 17 days. From "Rock 'N' Roll" (w/e 3rd Nov 1956) to "The King" (w/e 20th Oct 2007). Cliff Richard is a mere 6 months behind (see the notes on The Shadows, below).
Shirley Bassey has the greatest album longevity of any female soloist; 46 years, 5 months and 10 days (28th Jan 1961 to 7th Jul 2007).
The group record is held by The Shadows (50 years, 5 months, 15 days) from "Cliff" (w/e 18th Apr 1959) to "Reunited" (w/e 3rd Oct 2009), though they were actially know as The Drifters on the former of these albums. If we were to go by the fist album to feature "The Shadows" then this record is shortened to 49 years, 10 months and 19 Days (from "Cliff Sings" - w/e 14th Nov 1959). Either way, they beat The Rolling Stones into second place [43 years, 11 months and 24 days (25th Apr 1964 to 19th Apr 2008)].
Youngest Album Chart-Topper
Neil Reid was 12 years 9 months old when his self-titled album topped the chart in 1972.
Youngest girl to top the chart is Avril Lavigne. She was 17 years and 3 months old when she hit no. 1 with "Let Go" (2003).
Youngest group to top the album chart is McFly. When they made no. in July 2004 the average age of the four members was a shade over 18 years and 1 month [6618 days] (ranging from youngest member Dougie - 16 years, 7 months and 11 days, to the elder of the band, Tom, who was 18 years 11 months and 24 days.)
Youngest Top 10 Album Act
Lena Zavaroni was 10 years 146 days old when she took "Ma" into the charts (1974).
Longest Top 40 Album Title
"My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair, But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows" (78 letters - spaces and punctuation don't count) by Tyrannosaurus Rex (a hit in 1972 but first released in 1968).
Shortest Top 40 Album Title
A few albums have just one letter (or number) in their title. They are, in alpha-numeric order:
"A" - Jethro Tull (1982) / "K" - Kula Shaker (1996) / "L" - Steve Hillage (1976) / "O" - Damien Rice (2003) / "R" - R Kelly (1998) / "U" - Incredible String Band (1970) / "X" by INXS (1990)
and by The Beloved (1996)
and by Def Leppard (2002)
and by Liberty X (2005)
and by Kylie Minogue (2007) / "1" by Spandau Ballet (1983)
and by The Beatles (2000) / "4" - Foreigner (1981) / "5" - by J.J. Cale (1979)
and by Lenny Kravitz (1998) / "7" - S Club 7 (2000) / "9" - Public Image Ltd (1989) and Damien Rice (again!) (2006)
In Jul 2009, Billy Talent's album "III" became a hit. Some publications listed this as "3" so there is a case for including it in the list of shortest titles.
Global All-Time Top 20 Albums
The Top 20 Best-Selling albums of all time in the whole wide world are:
- "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (60 million)
- "Black In Black" - AC/DC (42m)
- "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" - The Eagles (41m)
- "Saturday Night Fever" - (Soundtrack) (40m)
- "Dark Side Of The Moon" - Pink Floyd (40m)
- "Come On Over" - Shania Twain (39m)
- "The Bodyguard" - (Soundtrack) (37m)
- "Bat Out Of Hell" - Meat Loaf (37m)
- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - The Beatles (32m)
- "Led Zeppelin IV" - Led Zeppelin (32m)
- "Dirty Dancing" - (Soundtrack) (32m)
- "Falling Into You" - Celine Dion (32m)
- "Let's Talk About Love" - Celine Dion (31m)
- "Rumours" - Fleetwood Mac (30m)
- "Jagged Little Pill" - Alanis Morissette (30m)
- "Titanic" - (Soundtrack) (30m)
- "Millenium" - Backstreet Boys (30m)
- "1" - The Beatles (30m)
- "Abbey Road" - The Beatles (30m)
- "Bad" - Michael Jackson (29m)
Special thanks go to chart expert Hanboo for much of the information on this page.
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