Robbie Williams has scored his 16th UK No 1 album, surpassing a tally set by the Beatles in 2000 to become the all-time chart record holder.
Britpop, Williams’ homage to the lairy and zeitgeist-setting guitar music of the mid-1990s, went straight to No 1 in its first week of release. All but one of his studio albums have now reached the top – except 2009’s Reality Killed the Video Star, kept off the top by boy band JLS – plus three greatest hits compilations and his soundtrack to the biopic Better Man. Not counted in that tally are two other No 1 albums Williams recorded as a member of Take That.
Williams had clearly longed to break the record, moving the release date of Britpop back from its intended date of October after realising it was going to compete with – and inevitably lose out to – Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl. With Britpop then lined up for a 6 February release, he suddenly brought the release forwardto the relatively uncompetitive week of 16 January.
He has described Britpop as “the album that I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995”. The Guardian’s chief pop critic Alexis Petridis praised it, writing: “There’s a swagger and sparkle to the melodies that shift these songs past the realm of pastiche, and the results are hugely enjoyable.”
The Beatles set the previous record with their greatest hits album 1, one of four chart-topping albums released since the band split. They have come close to adding further No 1s on numerous occasions, reaching No 2 or No 3 a total of 10 times.
Pop fans will debate whether Williams is truly “greater” than the Beatles, though he certainly reached his record tally quicker: 29 years versus the 37 years it took the Beatles’ to notch up their 15 No 1s.
The Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift each have 14 No 1s, while Elvis Presley has 13 and Bruce Springsteen and Madonna 12.
Presley is still the record-holder for UK No 1 singles, with 21. Williams has seven, most recently in 2012 with Candy.
He saw off competition from last week’s chart-topper Olivia Dean, whose album The Art of Loving has now spent its 17th week in the top five; and from US pop singer Madison Beer, whose album Locket enters at No 3.
In the singles chart, British rapper Dave earns his fourth No 1, for his Tems collaboration Raindance.
