Congratulations to Paul Weller, whose new album On Sunset lands straight in at Number 1 on this week’s Official Albums Chart and claims a rarely seen chart feat.
Celebrating the news, Weller told OfficialCharts.com:
“I’m very proud of On Sunset so to have it go in at Number 1 is brilliant. Massive thanks to the team at Polydor for all their hard work.”
The entry earns the musician his fifth chart-topper as a soloist and seventh overall when including his Number 1 records with The Jam and The Style Council.
It means Weller claims the impressive feat of reaching Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart across five consecutive decades. They are:
1982: The Gift – The Jam
1985: Our Favourite Shop – The Style Council
1995: Stanley Road – Paul Weller
2002: Illumination – Paul Weller
2008: 22 Dreams – Paul Weller
2012: Sonik Kicks – Paul Weller
2020: On Sunset – Paul Weller
Other acts that have topped the Official Chart across five consecutive decades are Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan have also landed chart-toppers across five decades, though not consecutively.
On Sunset scored 24,000 chart sales to claim this week’s Number 1. Just over a quarter of that figure was vinyl sales, also taking it to the top of the Official Vinyl Albums Chart.
Meanwhile, the late US rapper Pop Smoke – who died in February this year – is at Number 2 with posthumous debut album Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon. It’s the highest-charting debut album by an international rap artist in 17 years, since 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ debuted at Number 2 back in 2003.
Fittingly, 50 Cent executive-produced the Pop Smoke album and completed the record after the 20-year-old was killed. Pop Smoke’s 2019 mixtape Meet The Woo 2 also appears in this week’s Top 40, re-entering at 32.
Completing an all-new Top 3 this week is Katherine Jenkins’ Cinema Paradiso. The classical singer’s 13th studio album is her tenth Top 10 collection and highest charting in 13 years, since 2007’s Number 3-peaking Rejoice.
Sparks are new at Number 7 with A Steady Drip Drip, earning the art-pop duo their fourth Top 10 album, and metalcore band Bury Tomorrow claim their first Top 10 with Cannibal at 10.
Elsewhere, London punk-rock trio Dream Wife make their Top 40 debut with their second album So When You Gonna at 18, and The Shadows’ live album The Final Tour lands at 37.
