– Queen’s Greatest Hits maintains crown of Britain’s most popular album as 60 Years of the Official Albums Chart celebrations get underway
– Adele’s 25 secures place in the Top 30 all-time best sellers, just seven months after release
– Ed Sheeran claims first-time entry into the list with X
60 years ago this month saw the birth of the Official Albums Chart – the UK’s official weekly snapshot of popularity dedicated to one of the most influential art forms of our time.
The first ever chart, which was published in Record Mirror on 22 July 1956, saw Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers landing in the coveted Number 1 slot. Now, over half a century of vinyl, cassette, CD and download-purchasing later, nearly 1,100 albums have hit the top spot in the UK.
To mark the chart’s historic milestone and kick off July’s month-long anniversary celebrations, OfficialCharts.com can today unveil the 60 biggest selling albums of all time here in Britain, as compiled by the Official Charts Company.
The “60 at 60” list will provide the centrepiece of a retail campaign offering selected titles across a range of retailers – a unique partnership bringing together the Official Charts Company, the three major record companies and participating retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, iTunes, Amazon and Morrisons this summer.
Queen’s Greatest Hits maintain its lead as Britain’s most popular album of the past 60 years
Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits collection leads the tally, and stands alone as the first and only album to have sold over 6 million copies in the UK (6.1 million sales to date). Queen’s Greatest Hits II also makes it into the Top 10 at Number 10 with almost 4 million albums sold.
On being crowned Britain’s most popular album of the past 60 years, Queen’s Brian May tells OfficialCharts.com, “What a great bit of news to wake up to! The most popular album ? Well, I always thought the band showed promise, but this is beyond our boyhood dreams ! Thanks Folks!”
Queen bandmate Roger Taylor adds, “Incredible…marvellous…humbling…thank you…I feel good!”
The record is also set for yet another boost later this year as a new double album gatefold vinyl edition hits shops in Autumn.
Gold Award OFFICIAL ALBUM CHART TOP 10 – ALL-TIME (Top 60 can be found HERE)
1 GREATEST HITS QUEEN
2 GOLD – GREATEST HITS ABBA
3 SGT. PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND THE BEATLES
4 21 ADELE
5 (WHAT’S THE STORY?) MORNING GLORY OASIS
6 THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON
7 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD
8 BROTHERS IN ARMS DIRE STRAITS
9 BAD MICHAEL JACKSON
10 GREATEST HITS II QUEEN
© Official Charts Company 2016 Credit: www.officialcharts.com