With National Album Day just over a week away on Saturday 12th October, Official Charts can reveal the biggest albums of 2019 so far as figures for the first nine months of the year are released.
Singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi currently holds 2019’s biggest album released this year with his chart-topping debut Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. The record, which has so far logged six weeks Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, has notched up 408,000 chart sales since release back in May. Lewis is one of four ‘album champions’ for National Album Day, alongside Mark Ronson, elbow and Mahalia.
Speaking about his debut album and National Album Day, Lewis Capaldi, said, “Absolutely buzzing to be part of National Album Day! Unreal to have finally released my debut album this year & find out that not everyone hates it! 🎉 On the whole I’m very proud of it, although I won’t lie there’s probably a few stinkers on there, but I’m only human. Hope you don’t hate it but if you do don’t worry, it’s only my life’s work.”
This year’s National Album Day has a ‘#Don’t Skip’ theme to encourage music lovers to discover albums – both new and classic – in full, as a complete body of work that tells a story. The Official Biggest Albums of 2019 so far list features both new and classic albums, and spans a huge range of genres.
Only one other album is standing in the way of Lewis claiming the year’s biggest album - last year’s biggest-seller The Greatest Showman. The film’s cast recording spent four weeks at Number 1 at the start of the year and has remained in the Top 15 since, racking up 450,000 chart sales in 2019.
Currently the third biggest album of the year is Ed Sheeran’s star-studded No.6 Collaborations Project. The collection has so far spent five weeks at Number 1 and has the year’s biggest opening week for an album in the UK, with 125,000 chart sales. Its total figure so far stands at 396,000.
Debut albums
This year has been huge for debut albums, with three featuring in the Top 10 biggest releases of 2019 so far. Alongside Lewis Capaldi, Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go (282,000) is the fifth biggest of the year so far. Released in March, the collection set a record as Billie became the youngest female act in UK chart history to hit the top spot, managing the feat at 17 years, 3 months and 18 days old.
Tom Walker also rocketed to the top of the charts in March when he released his debut album What A Time To Be Alive. The record is the ninth biggest overall (198,000). Three more debut albums feature in the year-to-date Top 40: Dave’s Mercury Prize-winning Psychodrama places 17th, Jax Jones’ Snacks at 35, and AJ Tracey’s self-titled at 36.
Number 1 albums
Other Number 1 albums released in 2019 that feature on the year-to-date Top 40 include; Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande (7), Hurts 2B Human from P!nk (15), Jack Savoretti’s Singing To Strangers (21), Western Stars by Bruce Springsteen (24) and Taylor Swift’s Lover (26).
Classic albums
Finally, several classic albums make it into the year-to-date chart as they continued to be enjoyed by the British public in 2019. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours appears as the 29th biggest album of the year so far, some 42 years after its release. Elsewhere, hits collections from Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, Eminem, Take That, ABBA, Bob Marley & The Wailers and The Killers all feature.
© 2019 OFFICIAL CHARTS COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Covers physical, downloads and streaming equivalent sales of albums for 2019 up to 27th September.
Singles: Someone You Loved is the biggest single of the year so far
Lewis Capaldi’s breakout success continues on the Official Singles Chart, as Someone You Loved is currently 2019’s biggest song.
Released in November 2018, Someone You Loved first charted inside the Top 40 in April 2019 and went on to spend seven weeks at Number 1. The ballad has so far notched up 1.9 million chart sales this year, including 221 million streams, more than any other song on audio and video platforms.
Another 2019 breakthrough star, US rapper and singer Lil Nas X, takes second place with Old Town Road on 1.5 million chart sales. The hip-hop-meets-country track – a viral hit online through Tik Tok - spent two weeks at Number 1 across April/May and is the UK’s biggest song released this year.
Eight more Number 1 singles in 2019 feature in the year-to-date Top 40 chart, four of which place inside the Top 10: Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber’s eight-week leader I Don’t Care at 3 (1.2m), Ava Max’s January chart-topper Sweet But Psycho at 5 (1.45m), Stormzy’s Vossi Bop at 8 and Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings at 9.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, big tracks by breakthrough artists this year are Billie Eilish’s Number 2 hit Bad Guy at Number 6, Meduza’s club smash Piece Of Your Heart ft. Goodboys at 10.
Further down, more big hits from this year’s rising stars include Dave’s Location ft. Burna Boy (16), AJ Tracey’s Ladbroke Grove (20), NSG’s Options ft. Tion Wayne (27) and Russ & Tion Wayne’s Keisha & Becky (35).
