This is a list of the number one hits in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' chart from 1956 to the end of 1958, the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' chart from November 1958 to March 1960, the ''

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The ti ...

'' 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 We ...

'' 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 * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1980s * 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 * List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2020s The first number one album was

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

's '' Songs for Swingin' Lovers!''. For its first few years the chart was usually topped by a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

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 music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

first LP, '' Please Please Me'', 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''. ...

'' 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, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

' tenth studio album '' Swings Both Ways'' 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'' 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 comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

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 release of the band's debut album, '' Please Please Me''. P ...

'', 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