09 December 2022
Newsdesk
Let the bells ring! Olly Murs makes a glorious return to the top of the Official UK Albums Chart this week as his new record, Marry Me, enters straight in at Number 1.
Marry Me is Olly’s seventh album and fifth to reach pole position, following In Case You Didn’t Know (2011), Right Place Right Time (2012), Never Been Better (2014) and 24 HRS (2016).
Olly discussed Marry Me on 2022’s final episode of The Record Club with Bowers & Wilkins this week, taking the opportunity to set straight some discourse on single I Hate You When You’re Drunk.
Celebrating, Olly Murs told Official Charts: “Wow, it’s been six years since I had a Number 1, so thank you so much to all the fans, you lot have been absolutely amazing!
Thanks to my wonderful team, to the Official Charts Company, I’m just so excited to have a Number 1 album. Marry Me is Number 1 this week! It’s so amazing, I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. It’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into this…Thank you so much!”
Olly sees off fierce competition this week from Taylor Swift, whose latest album Midnights rebounds one place to Number 2, while Atlanta artist Metro Boomin debuts at Number 3 with Heroes & Villains. It marks his highest-charting album, following 2018’s Not All Heroes Wear Capes (16) and 2020 21 Savage collaborative album Savage Mode II (10).
With the festive season in full swing, several Christmas albums feature in this week’s Top 10. Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff is at 4 (down two places from last week), Michael Bublé’s classic Christmas lands at 5, close behind at 6 is Silver Bells by Andre Rieu, while A Family Christmas by Andrea, Matteo and Virginia Bocelli is at 7.
As Fleetwood Mac fans continue to celebrate the life of Christine McVie following her death last month, two of the band’s albums appear in this week’s Top 20, Rumours at 11 and compilation 50 Years – Don’t Stop at 15.
Further down, Leftfield are new at Number 18 This Is What We Do, the British electronic music duo’s first new studio record in seven years. The pair, comprising Neil Barnes and Adam Wren, previously saw Top 10 success with 1995’s Leftism (3), Rhythm And Stealth in 1999 (1) and 2015’s Alternative Light Source (6).
Finally, the latest album from Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit, Palomino, returns to the Top 40 at Number 37 as their tour hit the UK this week. The record debuted at Number 3 last month.
