The Beatles‘ Abbey Road (Apple Corps/Universal) returns to the UK album chart at No. 1 in its new 50th anniversary editions, as the group break their own longevity record.
Abbey Road has the longest-ever span between runs at the summit, at 49 years and 252 days since its original 17-week at No. 1 ended on Jan. 31, 1970. The Beatles held the previous record with the 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which returned to the top in June 2017, some 49 years and 125 days after its initial run.
On hearing the news, Sir Paul McCartney commented: “It’s hard to believe that Abbey Road still holds up after all these years. But then again it’s a bloody cool album.” The album’s first-week total included 9,000 on vinyl, according to the Official Charts Company.
After debuting at No. 1 last week, Liam Gallagher’s Why Me? Why Not (Warner Records) is down to No. 2. Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent (EMI/Universal), which last week dropped below the top five for the first time since its debut at No. 1 in late May, rebounded 7-3. The OCC reports that it’s the biggest-selling artist title released in 2019, at 423,000 combined units. Genre-crossing south London collective D-Block Europe enter at No. 4 with PTSD (D-Block Europe), as Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding (Republic/Universal) dips 3-5.
The Beatles, 1967:
The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ Is Strolling to No. 1 In the U.K.: Meanwhile, Australian chart sensation Tones & I’s “Dance Monkey” (Bad Batch) climbs 7-1 on the singles chart. Tones & I, a.k.a. Toni Watson, records weekly combined units of 50,000, including 5.1 million streams, to win the singles crown. It entered the chart at No. 82 in August and reaches No. 1 in its ninth chart week. The track spent a ninth week at the top in Australia last week, claiming the record for most weeks there by a female Australian artist held for 32 years by Kylie Minogue’s “Locomotion.” The last Australian to top the UK singles chart, in 2014, was Iggy Azalea with “Problem,” featuring Ariana Grande.
“Ride It” (Ministry of Sound) by Regard climbs 5-2 on the new singles survey, on which AJ Tracey’s “Ladbroke Grove” (AJ Tracey) moves 4-3 in its tenth straight week in the top five. Aitch’s “Taste (Make It Shake)” (Since 93) is down 2-4 and Kygo’s “Higher Love” (Kygo/Columbia/Sony), featuring Whitney Houston, 3-5. Capaldi’s “Bruises,” from his aforementioned debut album, zooms 82-11, propelled by an EP of remixes.
