The UK's biggest studio albums of all time

The Beatles’ classic record Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has been crowned the British public’s all-time favourite studio album, according to a brand new chart due to be counted down on BBC Radio 2 today (Saturday, October 13).

The ground-breaking 1967 LP strides home with 5.34 million combined sales at the top of the all-time Official Studio Albums Chart, which has been compiled by the Official Charts Company to mark today’s National Album Day celebrations.

The confirmation further cements the position of Sir Paul McCartney as the most successful albums artist in UK chart history, racking up 22 Number 1 albums across his illustrious career (15 with The Beatles, 2 with Wings, 4 solo and 1 with Linda McCartney).

The news was confirmed on Saturday, October 13 when the brand new all-time studio albums chart was counted down during a special National Album Day edition of Pick Of The Pops hosted by Paul Gambaccini will be broadcast by BBC Radio 2 from 1-3pm. The full Top 40 is posted below.

Celebrating the incredible feat, Sir Paul McCartney told OfficialCharts.com: "This is really great news. Especially as at the time we were being told, 'You’re gonna lose all your fans with this one.' Before the release some people would say that we had dried up but we knew we had something special - we were having an explosion of creative forces.

"I’ve always been a fan of the album format and with my latest album, Egypt Station, I approached the creation of it as a more traditional ‘album' album. More like a concept to work around.  All the songs didn't need to be hits.  I selected the songs I liked the best with an idea that it was going to be an entity. Pepper was actually an influence on this album.  I remember going to the studio with Greg (Kurstin) saying I’d seen this programme, and I thought on ‘Penny Lane’ it was just one piano that I played but it turns out it was eight! It inspires you and makes you think you can go anywhere.

"To still have Sgt Pepper celebrated after all this time feels like a major achievement and is a huge thrill, something we can be very proud of.  Thanks to everyone who has ever enjoyed it."

The chart - which ranks albums by combining physical sales, downloads and streams in the UK - reflects album sales of 135 million across more than 60 years.

It is topped by an eclectic Top 5 which accounts for approaching 25 million sales on its own, reflecting the music from five different decades. Snapping at The Beatles’ toes are Adele’s 2011 album 21 in second place (5.11m), followed by 1995’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis (4.94m). In fourth place comes Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic Dark Side Of The Moon (4.47m), just ahead of Michael Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller (4.47m).

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (to give it it’s full name) is the only album from the Sixties to make the list, along with six albums from the Seventies, six from the Eighties and eight from the Nineties. The first decade of the new Millennium (2000s) claims most places, with 14 albums, while five albums from the current decade made the list.

The act with most albums in the Top 40 list is Coldplay, with A Rush Of Blood To The Head at 27, X&Y at 32 and Parachutes at 40. Five acts claim two albums in the list – Adele, Dido, Ed Sheeran, Michael Buble and Michael Jackson. In total 33 different acts are represented in the chart.

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The 40 albums have, between them, notched 343 weeks at Number 1 in the Official Albums Chart, with Simon & Garfunkel’s 1970 classic Bridge Over Troubled Water claiming the longest spell, a total of 33 weeks. Sgt. Pepper’s follows just behind with 28 weeks, ahead of Adele’s 21 on 23 weeks.

The highest ranking album not to reach the number 1 spot is Pink Floyd’s 1973 titles Dark Side Of The Moon (peaked at 2) – it is one of three albums in the rundown which never claimed the top spot, along with Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell (peaked at 9) and Jeff Wayne’s 1978 album War Of The Worlds (peaked at 5).

Some 25 of the Top 40 are accounted for by British acts, 8 are by US artists, 4 by Canadian acts and 2 by Irish acts; the remaining album is by the US/UK band Fleetwood Mac.

Across the list, 18 are credited to bands, 12 to male artists and 10 to females.

Official Studio Albums Chart - all-time 

©2018 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
Chart is based on album sales and streams from 1956 to wk 39, 2018.