Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell crowned UK's biggest debut album of all time
Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell has been crowned the UK's biggest debut album of all time.
As part of the 2022 National Album Day celebrations, the late performer's 1977 debut has been announced by BBC Radio 2 as the biggest debut album of all time in the UK, using Official Charts data in partnership with National Album Day based on sales and streams combined since records began in 1956.
Bat Out Of Hell reached the Top 10 for the first time in 2013 - proving the longevity of the collection, before it peaked at Number 3 in January this year following the sad news of Meat Loaf's death. It has spent a total of 530 weeks in the Official Albums Chart Top 100 in the 45 years since its release.
Taking the Number 2 position, and the biggest debut album by a British artist, is none other than James Blunt with his 2004 chart-topping debut Back To Bedlam. Reacting to the news James said, “Are you sure? There must have been some kind of mistake.”
MORE: The biggest debut albums from every UK region revealed
Leona Lewis follows at Number 3, scoring the biggest debut for a female artist with 2007's Spirit; she's closely followed by Lady Gaga's The Fame (4), which sports two Number 1 singles in Just Dance and Poker Face, and Dido's 1999 album No Angel (5) which took 20 months to finally reach Number 1 in February 2001 before spending seven weeks at the top.
"I had the most incredible support from the UK when I released my debut album Spirit." Lewis said, "I was overwhelmed with how much love it received and I just remember feeling the same then as I do now, endlessly thankful to everyone that listened and supported me. I felt like I was representing my country and that felt amazing."
Spice Girls come in at Number 6 with Spice (1996), the biggest debut for a group, while rounding out the Top 10 is Keane's Hopes and Fears (7), Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette (8), Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour (9) and Parachutes by Coldplay (10). See the full Top 20 below.
Steve Wright will count down the full Top 20 on BBC Radio 2 this National Album Day, Saturday 15 October, from 1-3pm. Listen to the countdown from 40-21 exclusively on BBC Sounds.
The UK's Top 20 biggest debut albums of all time
| POS | TITLE | ARTIST | YEAR |
| 1 | BAT OUT OF HELL | MEAT LOAF | 1977 |
| 2 | BACK TO BEDLAM | JAMES BLUNT | 2004 |
| 3 | SPIRIT | LEONA LEWIS | 2007 |
| 4 | THE FAME | LADY GAGA | 2008 |
| 5 | NO ANGEL | DIDO | 1999 |
| 6 | SPICE | SPICE GIRLS | 1996 |
| 7 | HOPES AND FEARS | KEANE | 2004 |
| 8 | JAGGED LITTLE PILL | ALANIS MORISSETTE | 1994 |
| 9 | IN THE LONELY HOUR | SAM SMITH | 2014 |
| 10 | PARACHUTES | COLDPLAY | 2000 |
| 11 | TUBULAR BELLS | MIKE OLDFIELD | 1973 |
| 12 | SCISSOR SISTERS | SCISSOR SISTERS | 2004 |
| 13 | TRACY CHAPMAN | TRACY CHAPMAN | 1988 |
| 14 | + | ED SHEERAN | 2011 |
| 15 | COME AWAY WITH ME | NORAH JONES | 2002 |
| 16 | 19 | ADELE | 2008 |
| 17 | APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION | GUNS N' ROSES | 1987 |
| 18 | OUR VERSION OF EVENTS | EMELI SANDE | 2012 |
| 19 | DEFINITELY MAYBE | OASIS | 1994 |
| 20 | HOT FUSS | THE KILLERS | 2004 |
©2022 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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Neil Prince
Jagged Little Pill was not Alanis' debut album!!!
R
RyanT
Where is Kylie? Didn't her debut sell like 2 million in the UK alone?
ML
Mick Lynch
Ah OCC, while its lovely to see this list, it's sad that the research is disappointing. Each artist can only have ONE debut album, and while its fair to say Bat Out Of was Meatloafs (he'd a duet one before), ye are way off the mark with Alanis. Jagged Little Pill wasn't her debut (it wasn't even her second album). Anyway, rant over.
LM
Lee Moore
Debut album in the UK?
FC
Fact Checker
Why haven't you downgraded Alanis Morissette's sales from 1994 to 1996 like you have those of Oasis and Tracy Chapman ?
Why did you omit Jeff Wayne from the Top 20 ?
Why did you omit Bruno Mars from the Top 40 ?
col0362
Blimey. Can't even get the facts right using your own database. BOOH made the Top 10 well before 2013. Try looking in the mid 80s. And what happened to Please Please Me? It was No1 for months after all.
LM
Lee Moore
Show me an OCC 'all time' article that isn't littered with errors/inconsistencies... Also since their 'Archive' section isn't working, I guess they can't check their database!
Bengy
Please please me - very low sales in 1963. After 30 weeks at number 1 sales were 600,000.
LM
Lee Moore
OCC, shame no chart sales mentioned - big let down. Guns N Roses are currently certified 4x Platinum, but judging by the list must qualify for 8x Platinum?