Bruce Springsteen makes Official Chart history this week as he scores his 12th Number 1 album with Letter To You.
Outselling the rest of the Top 5 combined, The Boss’ twentieth studio collection is the fastest-selling album of 2020 so far, with 95% of his 51,800 chart sales made up of physical and download sales. Lady Gaga’s Chromatica still holds the title for the biggest opening week overall for an album this year, debuting at Number 1 in June with 53,000 chart sales.
The entry means Springsteen is the first credited solo artist to have a Number 1 album in five consecutive decades, topping the charts in the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, David Gilmour and Paul Weller have also achieved the feat, but only when including their work in groups alongside their solo material.
With 12 Number 1 albums, Bruce Springsteen is now tied with Madonna for chart-topping albums – Robbie Williams and Elvis Presley are the only solo artists to have had more Number 1 albums in the UK.
At Number 2, animated alt-rockers Gorillaz land their sixth Top 5 album with Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, their seventh studio album and released as part of their Song Machine web series featuring different guest artists.
Southend rock band Nothing But Thieves earn the most streamed new release of the week with their third studio album Moral Panic at Number 3. Blossoms claim their second Top 5 album this year with their lockdown covers album In Isolation at 5.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Faithless enter at Number 6 with All Blessed, their first studio album in ten years, blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa’s Royal Tea debuts at Number 7, and Russell Watson’s anniversary album 20 comes in at 10. Harry Styles’ Fine Line flies up nine places to Number 9 following the release of the album’s latest single Golden.
Further down, more new entries come from folk rock vocalist This Is The Kit, who earns her first Top 40 with Off Off On (21), The Nolans’ Gold album (25), 91 Days in Isolation by The Slow Readers Club (33) and the Kidz Bop Kids, who are back with Kidz Bop 2021 (36).
Finally, US jazz singer Melody Gardot debuts at Number 40 with Sunset In The Blue, her fourth Top 40 collection.
