Robbie Williams Now Has More UK No 1 Albums Than The Beatles
- Editor OGN Daily
- 31 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The singer first achieved solo success with his 1997 album Life Thru a Lens, which included the popular singles Angels and Let Me Entertain You.
His latest album, Britpop, is his 16th album to top the UK charts, surpassing the Fab Four’s tally of 15. Despite this spectacular good news for the 51 year-old star, Williams has only really been a huge hit in Britain - his enormous domestic popularity has never been transformed into global appeal, unlike The Beatles. While Williams has also sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, The Beatles total album sales is thought to exceed 600 million and the Fab Four have more than twice the amount of UK number one singles. But, despite the differences in overall vinyl performance, Williams is obviously and rightly delighted to capture the accolade of the UK’s number 1 album artist of all time.
Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said: “There are chart records and there are chart records, and Robbie Williams’ achievement today in securing his record 16th UK Number 1 album is simply extraordinary.”Adding: “Not even the confident young 16-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent would have believed this were possible when he joined Take That back in 1990, but here he is, on top of the world, the UK’s number 1 album artist of all time.”
The UK album record held by The Beatles had stood since 2000, when the album “1” earned top spot in the charts, despite Lennon’s death 20 years prior.
Coming up in Williams' rear-view mirror is Taylor Swift who has 14 albums that have topped the UK charts, currently in a tie with the Rolling Stones, who released their last hit album, Hackney Diamonds, in 2023, and are 'nearly done' on a new album.
Next on the list? Well, you have to go all the way back to Elvis Presley with 13 top albums. Moody Blue was Elvis Presley's final studio album released during his lifetime, which topped the UK album chart in September 1977 shortly after his death.