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The
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
is a weekly
record chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...
based on sales of
albums
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
in the United Kingdom. The first weekly albums chart in the UK was published by ''
Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...
'' in July 1956 – since then, 28 albums by deceased artists have
posthumously
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ''Posthumous'' (E ...
reached number one. Until 2007, the chart was based solely on sales of physical albums; from 2007 onwards, it has also included albums sold through
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...
. , the listing is created using Friday to Thursday record sales from more than 3,500 vendors across the UK. It is compiled by the
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
on behalf of the UK music industry, and each week's new number one is first announced on Friday evenings on ''
The Radio 1 Chart Show
''The Official Chart'' is a long-running United Kingdom music chart programme, airing each Friday afternoon on BBC Radio 1. It airs the UK Singles Chart compiled by the Official Charts Company.
In July 2015 ''The Official Chart'' moved from ...
''.
The first deceased artist to top the UK Albums Chart was
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
, who died in a plane crash on 10 December 1967.
On 20 May 1968, Redding's sixth studio album, ''
The Dock of the Bay'', was released in the UK – three weeks later, it became his first and only UK number-one album.
Since Redding, 14 further artists have posthumously topped the albums chart, of which three have done so more than twice.
[ The first of these was American singer ]Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first albu ...
; after dying in 1996, three posthumous releases from Cassidy reached number one in consecutive years, 2001–03. The second musician to achieve this feat was American entertainer Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
. Following his death from a heart attack in August 1977, Presley's compilation album '' 40 Greatest'' climbed to number one within three weeks. Subsequent compilations ''ELV1S
''Elvis: 30 #1 Hits'' is a greatest hits collection of songs by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on September 24, 2002. It is the first Elvis Presley album to feature the remix of "A Little Less Conver ...
'' (2002), '' The King'' (2007), ''If I Can Dream
"If I Can Dream" is a song made famous by Elvis Presley, written by Walter Earl Brown for the singer and notable for its similarities with Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. The song was published by Elvis Presley's music pub ...
'' (2015) and ''The Wonder of You
"The Wonder of You" is a song written by Baker Knight. It was originally recorded by Vince Edwards in 1958, but this recording has never been released.
In an interview with a DJ from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ray Peterson told the story of how Bake ...
'' (2016) also topped the chart. With ''If I Can Dream'', Presley achieved his fourth posthumous number one, more than any other artist.
The death of a musician can often result in an immediate increase in sales of their albums. As UK chart commentator James Masterton
James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...
remarked in December 1995: "Death is very commercial." Following his death in 2009, the number of purchases of Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
's albums grew significantly worldwide. In the UK, sales of the singer's albums increased by more than 80 times in a single day. On 28 June, Jackson's 2003 release '' Number Ones'' climbed 120 places to the top of the chart; the following week, his 2005 compilation ''The Essential Michael Jackson
''The Essential Michael Jackson'' is a greatest hits compilation album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on July 19, 2005, by Sony Music's catalog division Legacy Recordings as part of ''The Essential'' series. The two-disc com ...
'' reached number one. The two albums spent a combined total of eight weeks at number one. Five of Jackson's records were featured in the top twenty biggest-selling albums of 2009's third quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25.
Quarter or quarters may refer to:
Places
* Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town
Placenames
* Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland
* Le Quartier, a settlement ...
, and sales of his albums during the year lifted Warner/Chappell Music
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.
...
's share of the albums market to its highest level in nearly six years.[
] In May 2014, Jackson's album '' Xscape'' topped the chart, making him the third musician to top the listing with three posthumous releases.
Like Jackson, British singer Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
received a significant increase in sales after her death in 2011, when purchases of her albums grew 37 times over. This resulted in her 2006 album, ''Back to Black
''Back to Black'' is the second and final studio album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with then-ex-boyfrie ...
'', returning to the top of the UK Albums Chart for three weeks and becoming the UK's biggest-selling album of the 21st century for three months before being overtaken by '' 21'' by Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...
. Four months later, Winehouse's first compilation album, '' Lioness: Hidden Treasures'', became her second release to posthumously reach number one. Over the year following her death, 1.2 million copies of Winehouse's albums were sold.[
]
Number ones
The following albums were all explicitly credited (either wholly or partially) to deceased artists when they reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Albums featuring deceased artists who did not receive an explicit credit (e.g. as a member of a band or on a various artist compilation album or soundtrack) are not included.
References
External links
Official Albums Chart Top 100
at the Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
{{Featured list
Posthumous
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ...
Cultural aspects of death