The Beatles’ classic record Sgt. Pepper’s has been crowned the British public’s all-time favourite studio album, according to a new chart counted down in a special National Album Day edition of Pick Of The Pops hosted by Paul Gambaccini on BBC Radio 2 (Saturday, 13th October).
The ground-breaking 1967 LP strides home with 5.34 million combined sales at the top of the all-time Official Studio Albums Chart, which has been compiled by the Official Charts Company to mark National Album Day.
Sir Paul McCartney is confirmed as the most successful albums artist in UK chart history, racking up 22 Number 1 albums across his career (15 with The Beatles, 2 with Wings, 4 solo and 1 with Linda McCartney).
The chart – which ranks albums by combining physical sales, downloads and streams in the UK – reflects album sales of 135 million across more than 60 years. It is topped by an eclectic Top 5 which accounts for approaching 25 million sales on its own, reflecting the music from five different decades. Close behind The Beatles’ is Adele’s 2011 album 21 in second place (5.11m), followed by 1995’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis (4.94m). In fourth place comes Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic Dark Side Of The Moon (4.47m), just ahead of Michael Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller (4.47m).
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the only album from the Sixties to make the list, along with six albums from the Seventies, six from the Eighties and eight from the Nineties. The first decade of the new Millennium (2000s) claims most places, with 14 albums, while five albums from the current decade made the list.
The act with most albums in the Top 40 list is Coldplay, with A Rush Of Blood To The Head at 27, X&Y at 32 and Parachutes at 40. Five acts claim two albums in the list – Adele, Dido, Ed Sheeran, Michael Buble and Michael Jackson. In total 33 different acts are represented in the chart.
The 40 albums have, between them, notched 343 weeks at Number 1 in the Official Albums Chart, with Simon & Garfunkel’s 1970 classic Bridge Over Troubled Water claiming the longest spell, a total of 33 weeks. Sgt. Pepper’s follows just behind with 28 weeks, ahead of Adele’s 21 on 23 weeks.
The highest-ranking album not to reach the number 1 spot is Pink Floyd’s 1973 Dark Side Of The Moon – one of three albums in the chart which never claimed the top spot, along with Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell (peaked at #9) and Jeff Wayne’s 1978 album War Of The Worlds (peaked at #5).
25 of the Top 40 are accounted for by British acts, 8 are by US artists, 4 by Canadian acts and 2 by Irish acts – the remaining album is by the US/UK band Fleetwood Mac.
Across the list, 18 are credited to bands, 12 to male artists and 10 to females.
The Official Studio Albums Chart – All-time Top Ten
- Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Beatles
- 21 – Adele
- What’s the Story Morning Glory – Oasis
- The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
- Thriller – Michael Jackson
- Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits
- Bad – Michael Jackson
- Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
- Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
- 25 – Adele
© Official Charts Company
