The longest-running albums on the UK's Official Chart
It’s the mark of a classic album if over the years it continues to sell, especially so if it spends a significant portion of its existence in the upper reaches of the chart.
The Top 100 will always have a portion of legacy releases dating back decades that are still being streamed or sold in significant quantities. Any artist would hope to release a set of songs that will resonate with generations.
Just last year, ABBA's landmark greatets hits collection Gold became the first album to ever spend 1,000 weeks inside the Top 100 of the Official Albums Chart.
It's since been joined two other greatest hits collections; Bob Marley & The Wailers' Legend and, as of today (June 3) Queen's Greatest Hits.
MORE: All the Official Albums Chart Number 1s
First released in 1981, Queen's Greatest Hits peaked at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart for four weeks and has now spent 1,000 weeks charting inside the Top 100.
Comprised of a series of inescapable hits from Queen's first decade-or-so, it features beloved tracks like Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen and Somebody To Love.
With this achievement, Queen now become the first British act to claim 1,000 weeks inside the Official Albums Chart Top 100 - you can find out more about this chart milestone here.
And now, let's discover the longest-running albums in UK chart history below:
The albums that spent the longest in the Official Albums Chart Top 40
| TITLE | ARTIST | WEEKS IN TOP 40 | |
| 1 | GOLD - GREATEST HITS | ABBA | 413 |
| 2 | THE SOUND OF MUSIC | ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK | 346 |
| 3 | RUMOURS | FLEETWOOD MAC | 321 |
| 4 | GREATEST HITS | QUEEN | 320 |
| 5 | SOUTH PACIFIC | ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK | 315 |
| 6 | LEGEND | BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS | 294 |
| 7 | BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER | SIMON & GARFUNKEL | 279 |
| 8 | DIVIDE | ED SHEERAN | 267 |
| 9 | BAT OUT OF HELL | MEAT LOAF | 253 |
| 10 | CURTAIN CALL - THE HITS | EMINEM | 246 |
| 11 | X | ED SHEERAN | 240 |
| 12 | TIME FLIES - 1994-2009 | OASIS | 226 |
| 13 | GREATEST HITS | SIMON & GARFUNKEL | 222 |
| 14 | THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON | PINK FLOYD | 216 |
| 15 | WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY | OASIS | 194 |
| 16 | DIAMONDS | ELTON JOHN | 190 |
| 17 | DUA LIPA | DUA LIPA | 184 |
| 18 | TUBULAR BELLS | MIKE OLDFIELD | 183 |
| 19 | + | ED SHEERAN | 181 |
| 20 | 50 YEARS - DON'T STOP | FLEETWOOD MAC | 177 |
Numbers correct as of 03/06/2022
©2022 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
The albums that spent the longest in the Official Albums Chart Top 100
| POS | TITLE | ARTIST |
WEEKS IN TOP 100 |
| 1 | GOLD - GREATEST HITS | ABBA | 1048 |
| 2 | LEGEND | BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS | 1032 |
| 3 | GREATEST HITS | QUEEN | 1000 |
| 4 | RUMOURS | FLEETWOOD MAC | 943 |
| 5 | NUMBER ONES | MICHAEL JACKSON | 550 |
| 6 | THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON | PINK FLOYD | 545 |
| 7 | WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY | OASIS | 543 |
| 8 | BAT OUT OF HELL | MEAT LOAF | 530 |
| 9 | CURTAIN CALL - THE HITS | EMINEM | 516 |
| 10 | BACK TO BLACK | AMY WINEHOUSE | 468 |
| 11 | GREATEST HITS | FOO FIGHTERS | 459 |
| 12 | TIME FLIES - 1994-2009 | OASIS | 456 |
| 13 | AM | ARCTIC MONKEYS | 455 |
| 14 | + | ED SHEERAN | 440 |
| 15 | DEFINITELY MAYBE | OASIS | 439 |
| 16 | X | ED SHEERAN | 412 |
| 17 | WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM THAT'S WHAT I'M | ARCTIC MONKEYS | 394 |
| 18 | NEVERMIND | NIRVANA | 393 |
| 19 | IN THE LONELY HOUR | SAM SMITH | 390 |
| 20 | THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION | WHITNEY HOUSTON | 386 |
Numbers correct as of 03/06/2022
©2022 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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M
Matt
Come on, ABBA!?!? Man wtf. You Brits sure can make some killer music, but y'all taste is, well, f*cked up if that's what is topping this list. I mean really.... Really....ABBA?
JW
Jon Walker
Wow! Another pretentious snot whining about other people's taste. Why does that bother you soo much is like you said, f*cked up.
Bengy
Album charts were only a Top 20 in the early 60s, then a Top 40 by the late 60s.
So you are not comparing like with like. The Top 100 albums chart did not publish until the 1980s.
Blank
In the early days, when some of the big soundtracks were hits, it was only a top 5.
Blank
Worthy of a mention is The Buddy Holly Story, amassing 155 weeks in the top 20 before all but South Pacific was released and before West Side Story had it's 50th weeek. At one time, it was clearly the most charted artist album of all time and held that accolade for decades while the current top 20 above were catching up.
Rob Parkinson
Not so sure that just listening to one track from an album should be counted towards an albums streaming figures? Surely the whole album needs to be listened to for it to count for a stream especially with individual tracks getting accounted for in the singles chart even if they are effected by acr. Doesn't seem too fair if a person listens to dancing queen then ABBA gold gets a stream? Surely just the track should gain a stream unless the whole album is listened to then it should Surely just be the album and the individual tracks shouldn't get any. Perhaps OCC should stipulate the actual rules more clearly being open and transparent
JW
Jon Walker
Yeah! Especially with an album like Queen Greatest Hits where "Bohemian Rhapsody" has something like 1.7 billion streams and another track ("Flash") on the same album has only 43 million streams. Wich means the whole album was streamed only 43 million times in total. Totally unfair.