This is a list of the number one hits in 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 ...
, from its inception in 1956 to the present. The sources are the ''
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 ...
'' chart from 1956 to the end of 1958, the ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' chart from November 1958 to March 1960, the ''
Record Retailer
''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...
'' chart from March 1960 to March 1972 and the ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' chart from then onwards. In January 1989 the compilation album chart started, and compilation albums were excluded from the main chart.
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1950s
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1960s
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1970s
The UK Albums Chart is a record chart based on weekly album sales in the United Kingdom; during the 1970s, a total of 148 albums reached number one. In October 1971, '' Imagine'' by John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band became the 100th album to ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1980s
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom; during the 1980s, a total of 184 albums reached number one.
Number ones
By artist
Ten artists spent 10 weeks or more at num ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1990s
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom; during the 1990s, a total of 216 albums reached number one. Until 1 February 1994, the chart was compiled each week by Gallup  ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2000s
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom; during the 2000s, a total of 274 different albums by 170 artists reached number one. The chart was compiled weekly by the Official ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Friday to Thursday in the United Kingdom; , there had been 266 number-one albums during the 2010s, by 76 artists. The Official Charts Company (OCC) defines an "album" as be ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2020s
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Friday to Thursday in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company (OCC) defines an "album" as being a type of music release that feature more than four tracks and last long ...
The first number one album was
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
's ''
Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
''Songs for Swingin' Lovers!'' is the tenth album by American singer Frank Sinatra and his fourth for Capitol Records. It was arranged by Nelson Riddle and released in March 1956 on LP and January 1987 on CD. It was the first album ever to top ...
''.
For its first few years the chart was usually topped by a
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
soundtrack or original cast recording, but rock albums steadily gained ground. Rock was dominant after the release of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
first LP, ''
Please Please Me
''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two s ...
'', in 1963, except for the two and a half year spell later in the 1960s when the soundtrack of ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
'' went to the top of the charts repeatedly. As of the week ending 1 December 2013,
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
' tenth studio album ''
Swings Both Ways
''Swings Both Ways'' is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams. It is his second swing album after 2001's ''Swing When You're Winning''; unlike the latter, which had one original composition, this album features an ...
'' became the 1,000th album to become number 1.
Records
The original soundtrack of ''
South Pacific'' holds the record for the most weeks at Number 1, with a cumulative total of 115 weeks, including one stretch of 70 consecutive weeks.
A fairly distant second place is held by ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
'' soundtrack with a cumulative total of 70 weeks. Third is ''
The King and I
''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childre ...
'' soundtrack with a cumulative total of 48 weeks. Fourth is the highest non soundtrack ''
Bridge over Troubled Water'' by
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
with a cumulative total of 33 weeks.
The second longest consecutive streak is held by The Beatles' ''Please Please Me'', which spent 30 weeks at the top before being knocked off by the band's second album, ''
With the Beatles
''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut ''Please Please Me''. Produced by George Martin ...
'', which was itself at the summit for 21 weeks. This means The Beatles were at number one for 51 consecutive weeks in all - a total not bettered by any other artist.
See also
*
Lists of albums
This is a list of lists of album
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 centu ...
*
List of artists by number of UK Albums Chart number ones
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Friday to Thursday in the United Kingdom (the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday until 2015). It listed only physical album sales until 2007, after which it has also incl ...
*
List of UK Singles Chart number ones
The UK Singles Chart is a weekly record chart which for most of its history was based on single sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom. Since July 2014 it has also incorporated streaming data, and from 10 July 2015 has been based o ...
*
List of one-hit wonders on the UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom. It listed only physical album sales until 2007, after which it also included albums sold digitally and streams (the latter included ...
*
Lists of UK Compilation Chart number ones
This is a list of the number ones of the UK Compilation Chart.
*List of UK Compilation Chart number-one albums of the 1980s
*List of UK Compilation Chart number-one albums of the 1990s
*List of UK Compilation Chart number-one albums of the 2000s ...
*
Lists of UK Dance Albums Chart number ones
This is a list of the number-one albums of the UK Dance Albums Chart.
* List of UK Dance Albums Chart number ones of 2005
* List of UK Dance Albums Chart number ones of 2006
* List of UK Dance Albums Chart number ones of 2007
* List of UK Dance ...
*
Lists of UK Independent Albums Chart number ones
This is a list of the number-one albums of the Official Charts Company's independent chart.
* List of UK Independent Albums Chart number ones of 2007
* List of UK Independent Albums Chart number ones of 2008
* List of UK Independent Albums Cha ...
*
List of UK Albums Chart Christmas number ones
The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on sales of albums in the United Kingdom; the term "Christmas number ones" refers to the records that are at the top of the chart on Christmas Day. Typically, the Christmas number one is the alb ...
*
Lists of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones
This is a list of the number ones of the UK Album Downloads Chart.
*List of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones of the 2000s
*List of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones of the 2010s
*List of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones of the 2020s
Se ...
*
Lists of UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart number ones
The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...
*
Lists of UK R&B Albums Chart number ones
This is a list of the number-one albums of the UK R&B Singles and Albums Charts.
* List of UK R&B Albums Chart number ones of 1994
* List of UK R&B Albums Chart number ones of 1995
* List of UK R&B Albums Chart number ones of 1996
* List of UK ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:United Kingdom, number-one albums