The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart compiled by the Official Charts Company, which for most of its history was based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom. The chart was founded in 1956, compiling physical format album sales until 2007, after which it has included albums sold digitally. Since July 2014, it has incorporated music streaming service data. From 10 July 2015, it has been based on a Friday to Thursday album sales.

This list shows the eighteen artists with the most number ones on the UK Albums Chart. English band The Beatles have the most number one albums with sixteen. English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams has the most number one albums for a solo artist, with fourteen.[1] American musician Bruce Springsteen and Australian singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue are the only solo artists to score a number one album in five consecutive decades.[2]

Tally

[edit]
Artists with the most number one albums in the UK Albums Chart
Artist Number ones Number one studio albums Number one album Record label(s) First reached number one Ref.
The Beatles
16
11
 Please Please Me Parlophone 5 May 1963 [3]
With the Beatles 1 December 1963
A Hard Day's Night 19 July 1964
Beatles for Sale 13 December 1964
Help! 8 August 1965
Rubber Soul 19 December 1965
Revolver 7 August 1966
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 4 June 1967
The Beatles Apple 1 December 1968
Abbey Road 28 September 1969
Let It Be 17 May 1970
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl Parlophone 12 June 1977
Abbey Road[a] Apple 31 October 1987
Live at the BBC 4 December 1994
Anthology 2 24 March 1996
1 19 November 2000
The Rolling Stones
14
11
 The Rolling Stones Decca 26 April 1964 [4]
The Rolling Stones No. 2 31 January 1965
Aftermath 24 April 1966
Let It Bleed 14 December 1969
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! 13 September 1970
Sticky Fingers Rolling Stones 13 June 1971
Exile on Main St. 4 June 1972
Goats Head Soup 16 September 1973
Emotional Rescue 29 June 1980
Voodoo Lounge Virgin 17 July 1994
Exile on Main St.[b] Polydor 29 May 2010
Blue & Lonesome 9 December 2016
Goats Head Soup[c] 17 September 2020
Hackney Diamonds 27 October 2023
Robbie Williams
14
11
 Life thru a Lens Chrysalis 12 April 1998 [5]
I've Been Expecting You 1 November 1998
Sing When You're Winning 3 September 2000
Swing When You're Winning 25 November 2001
Escapology EMI 24 November 2002
Greatest Hits Chrysalis 24 October 2004
Intensive Care 30 October 2005
Rudebox 29 October 2006
In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 Virgin 17 October 2010
Take the Crown Island 11 November 2012
Swings Both Ways 24 November 2013
The Heavy Entertainment Show Columbia 11 November 2016
The Christmas Present 6 December 2019
XXV 9 September 2022
Elvis Presley
13
4
 Rock 'N' Roll His Master's Voice 4 November 1956 [6]
Loving You RCA 1 September 1957
King Creole 14 September 1958
Elvis Is Back! 24 July 1960
G.I. Blues 1 August 1961
Blue Hawaii 31 December 1961
Pot Luck 22 July 1962
From Elvis in Memphis RCA Victor 24 August 1969
Elvis' 40 Greatest Arcade 4 September 1977
ELV1S: 30 No. 1 Hits RCA 29 September 2002
The King 19 August 2007
If I Can Dream[d] RCA, Legacy Recordings 6 November 2015
The Wonder of You[e] 28 October 2016
Madonna
12
9
 Like a Virgin Sire 15 September 1985 [7]
True Blue 6 July 1986
Like a Prayer 26 March 1989
The Immaculate Collection 18 November 1990
Evita[f] Warner Bros. 26 January 1997
Ray of Light Maverick 8 March 1998
Music 24 September 2000
American Life 27 April 2003
Confessions on a Dance Floor Warner Bros. 20 November 2005
Hard Candy 4 May 2008
Celebration 27 September 2009
MDNA Interscope 1 April 2012
Bruce Springsteen
12
11
 Born in the U.S.A. CBS 16 June 1984 [8]
Tunnel of Love 17 October 1987
Human Touch Columbia 4 April 1992
Greatest Hits 11 March 1995
The Rising 10 August 2002
Devils & Dust 7 May 2005
Magic 13 October 2007
Working on a Dream 2 July 2009
Wrecking Ball 11 March 2012
High Hopes 19 January 2014
Western Stars 27 June 2019
Letter to You 5 November 2020
Taylor Swift
12
 Red Mercury 3 November 2012 [9]
1989 EMI 8 November 2014
Reputation 23 November 2017
Lover 5 September 2019
Folklore 6 August 2020
Evermore 24 December 2020
Fearless (Taylor's Version) 22 April 2021
Red (Taylor's Version) 25 November 2021
Midnights 3 November 2022
Speak Now (Taylor's Version) 20 July 2023
1989 (Taylor's Version) 3 November 2023
The Tortured Poets Department 26 April 2024
David Bowie
11
9
 Aladdin Sane RCA 5 May 1973 [10]
Pin Ups 3 November 1973
Diamond Dogs 8 June 1974
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) 27 September 1980
Let's Dance EMI America 23 April 1983
Tonight 6 October 1984
Changesbowie 24 March 1990
Black Tie White Noise Arista 17 April 1993
The Next Day ISO, Columbia 23 March 2013
Blackstar RCA 15 January 2016
Best of Bowie EMI 5 February 2016
Eminem
11
10
 The Marshall Mathers LP Interscope 23 May 2000 [11]
The Eminem Show 26 May 2002
Encore 11 December 2004
Curtain Call: The Hits 6 December 2005
Relapse 15 May 2009
Recovery 18 June 2010
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 5 November 2013
Revival 15 December 2017
Kamikaze 31 August 2018
Music to Be Murdered By 17 January 2020
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) 20 July 2024
Rod Stewart
11
8
 Every Picture Tells a Story Mercury 2 October 1971 [12]
Never a Dull Moment Philips 16 September 1972
Sing It Again Rod Mercury 1 September 1973
Smiler 19 October 1974
Atlantic Crossing Warner Bros. 30 August 1975
A Night on the Town Riva 10 July 1976
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 8 December 1979
Time Capitol 25 May 2013
Blood Red Roses Decca 11 October 2018
You're in My Heart: Rod Stewart with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Rhino 13 December 2019
Swing Fever Warner 1 March 2024
U2
11
10
 War Island 6 March 1983 [13]
The Unforgettable Fire 7 October 1984
The Joshua Tree 15 March 1987
Rattle and Hum 16 October 1988
Zooropa 11 July 1993
Pop 9 March 1997
The Best of 1980–1990 8 November 1998
All That You Can't Leave Behind 5 November 2000
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 28 November 2004
No Line on the Horizon Vertigo 8 March 2009
Songs of Surrender Island 24 March 2023
ABBA
10
6
 Greatest Hits Epic 2 May 1976 [14]
Arrival 9 January 1977
ABBA: The Album 29 January 1978
Voulez-Vous 13 May 1979
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 11 November 1979
Super Trouper 16 November 1980
The Visitors 13 December 1981
The Singles: The First Ten Years 21 November 1982
Gold: Greatest Hits Polydor 27 September 1992
Voyage Universal 12 November 2021
Coldplay
10
 Parachutes Parlophone 22 July 2000 [15]
A Rush of Blood to the Head 7 September 2002
X&Y 6 June 2005
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends 18 June 2008
Mylo Xyloto 5 November 2011
Ghost Stories 19 May 2014
A Head Full of Dreams 18 February 2016
Everyday Life 5 December 2019
Music of the Spheres 28 October 2021
Moon Music 11 October 2024
Michael Jackson
10
5
 Thriller Epic 27 February 1983 [16]
18 Greatest Hits[g] Telstar 14 August 1983
Bad Epic 6 September 1987
Dangerous 24 November 1991
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I 18 June 1995
Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix 18 May 1997
Invincible 4 November 2001
Number Ones 23 November 2003
The Essential Michael Jackson 5 July 2009
Xscape 18 May 2014
Kylie Minogue
10
8
 Kylie PWL 16 July 1988 [17]
Enjoy Yourself 21 October 1989
Greatest Hits 5 September 1992
Fever Parlophone 13 October 2001
Aphrodite 17 July 2010
Golden BMG Rights Management 19 April 2018
Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection 11 July 2019
Disco 19 November 2020
Tension 29 September 2023
Tension II 25 October 2024
Queen
10
7
 A Night at the Opera EMI 21 December 1975 [18]
A Day at the Races 2 January 1977
The Game 13 July 1980
Greatest Hits 8 November 1981
A Kind of Magic 8 June 1986
The Miracle Parlophone 28 May 1989
Innuendo 10 February 1991
Greatest Hits II 3 November 1991
Made in Heaven 12 November 1995
Live Around the World[h] EMI 2 October 2020
Bob Dylan
9
 The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan CBS 23 May 1964 [19]
Bringing It All Back Home 15 May 1965
John Wesley Harding 3 February 1968
Nashville Skyline 17 May 1969
Self Portrait 11 June 1970
New Morning 28 November 1970
Together Through Life Columbia 9 May 2009
Shadows in the Night 14 February 2015
Rough and Rowdy Ways 2 July 2020
Take That
9
7
 Everything Changes RCA 18 October 1993 [20]
Nobody Else 13 May 1995
Greatest Hits 1 April 1996
Beautiful World Polydor 4 December 2006
The Circus 8 December 2008
Progress 22 November 2010
III 8 December 2014
Odyssey 30 November 2018
This Life EMI 1 December 2023

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ 1987 version
  2. ^ Re-issue
  3. ^ Re-issue
  4. ^ The album is credited to Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
  5. ^ The album is credited to Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
  6. ^ The album is also credited to Madonna & various artists
  7. ^ The album is credited to Michael Jackson Plus The Jackson 5
  8. ^ The album is credited to Queen + Adam Lambert

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Green, Alex (17 September 2022). "Robbie Williams becomes solo artist with most UK number one albums". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Kylie Minogue 'lost for words' after latest album hits UK number 1, her fifth decade as a chart-topper". ABC News. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  3. ^ "The Beatles songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  4. ^ "The Rolling Stones songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Robbie Williams songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Elvis Presley songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Madonna songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Bruce Springsteen songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Taylor Swift songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  10. ^ "David Bowie songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Eminem songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Rod Stewart songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  13. ^ "U2 songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  14. ^ "ABBA songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Coldplay songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Michael Jackson songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Kylie Minogue songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Queen songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Bob Dylan songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Take That songs and albums | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 October 2024.