This is a list of the number one hits in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, from its inception in 1956 to the present. The sources are the ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'' chart from 1956 to the end of 1958, the '' Melody Maker'' chart from November 1958 to March 1960, the '' Record Retailer'' chart from March 1960 to March 1972 and the ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' chart from then onwards. In January 1989 the compilation album chart started, and compilation albums were excluded from the main chart. * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1950s * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1960s *

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1970s The UK Albums Chart is a record chart based on weekly album sales in the United Kingdom; during the 1970s, a total of 148 albums reached number one. In October 1971, '' Imagine'' by John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band became the 100th album to ...

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1980s The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom; during the 1980s, a total of 184 albums reached number one. Number ones By artist Ten artists spent 10 weeks or more at num ...

* List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1990s *

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2000s The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom; during the 2000s, a total of 274 different albums by 170 artists reached number one. The chart was compiled weekly by the Official ...

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2010s The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Friday to Thursday in the United Kingdom; , there had been 266 number-one albums during the 2010s, by 76 artists. The Official Charts Company (OCC) defines an "album" as bei ...

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2020s The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Friday to Thursday in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company (OCC) defines an "album" as being a type of music release that feature more than four tracks and last lon ...

The first number one album was Frank Sinatra's ''

Songs for Swingin' Lovers! ''Songs for Swingin' Lovers!'' is the tenth album by American singer Frank Sinatra and his fourth for Capitol Records. It was arranged by Nelson Riddle and released in March 1956 on LP and January 1987 on CD. It was the first album ever to top ...

''. For its first few years the chart was usually topped by a musical soundtrack or original cast recording, but rock albums steadily gained ground. Rock was dominant after the release of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

first LP, ''

Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two s ...

'', in 1963, except for the two and a half year spell later in the 1960s when the soundtrack of ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'' went to the top of the charts repeatedly. As of the week ending 1 December 2013,

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

' tenth studio album ''

Swings Both Ways ''Swings Both Ways'' is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams. It is his second swing album after 2001's ''Swing When You're Winning''; unlike the latter, which had one original composition, this album features an e ...

'' became the 1,000th album to become number 1.

Records

The original soundtrack of '' South Pacific'' holds the record for the most weeks at Number 1, with a cumulative total of 115 weeks, including one stretch of 70 consecutive weeks. A fairly distant second place is held by ''

'' soundtrack with a cumulative total of 70 weeks. Third is ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'' soundtrack with a cumulative total of 48 weeks. Fourth is the highest non soundtrack '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' by

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

with a cumulative total of 33 weeks. The second longest consecutive streak is held by The Beatles' ''Please Please Me'', which spent 30 weeks at the top before being knocked off by the band's second album, ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut '' Please Please Me''. Produced by George Mar ...

'', which was itself at the summit for 21 weeks. This means The Beatles were at number one for 51 consecutive weeks in all - a total not bettered by any other artist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United Kingdom, number-one albums

Records

See also

References