Chart News: Biggest Number 1 stars on the UK Albums Chart

July 24, 2016 5:00 am 72 comments Views: 8
The biggest Number 1 stars on the Official Albums Chart

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The Official Albums Chart is 60 years old, which means there have been about 3,120 opportunities to grab a Number 1. To get one chart-topper is as much as any popstar can dream of, but just like making your way through a packet of chocolate biscuits, once you’ve enjoyed one, you’re desperate for another.

To mark the Official Albums Chart’s milestone, we looked back through the archives to celebrate the most prolific albums’ acts – both who’s had the most Number 1s and, as an added bonus, who’s notched up the most weeks at the top too!

Beatles

Elvis Presley

Madonna
The female solo star with the most albums to hit the top, and in joint second place overall, is Madonna, of course. She first hit the top in 1985, when her sophomore album Like A Virgin finally reached Number 1 in its 44th week on the Official Albums Chart, and most recently found herself top of the pile in 2012, with MDNA, her 12th chart-topper (if you include the Evita soundtrack, which we do). When it comes to weeks at number 1, Madonna’s scored 30, and was recently overtaken by Adele as female artist with most weeks at the top.

Robbie Williams
The charismatic breakout star has 11 chart-topping albums all of his own, an impressive enough record, but if you want to play devil’s advocate and include his Number 1s while part of Take That, he’d have another four to add to his tally. That would put him as third most successful UK albums act after Paul McCartney (22) and John Lennon (18).
As a solo artist, Robbie has spent 34 weeks at the top – yep, more than Madonna – and his very first Number 1 was his debut Life Thru A Lens, which took 19 weeks to climb to the summit.

David Bowie


Full rundown of artists who’ve had five or more Number 1 albums:

Number 1 artists with the most weeks at the top, who’ve scored 20 weeks or more::

ATRL – Charts

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