James Blunt bags first number one album in almost 20 years after Traitors stint
James Blunt has secured his first UK number one album in almost two decades, just weeks after missing out on victory on The Celebrity Traitors.
The 52-year-old singer recently featured on the BBC reality game show, but was banished by fellow faithfuls Sebastian “Bash” Croft and Romesh Ranganathan towards the end of the nail-biting finale.
Blunt released his eighth studio album – titled Airplane Mode – on Friday amid the hype surrounding the TV show.
He previously admitted he signed up for the show to promote his new music rather than play the game to make it to the end.
The 12-track record has flown to the top of the charts and secured the singer his first UK number one album in 19 years, according to the Official Charts Company.
Blunt’s last album to achieve a UK number one was All The Lost Souls in 2007, while his 2005 release Back To Bedlam spent 10 weeks at the summit.
The singer told the Official Charts Company: “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to every single person who has gone out there and downloaded, or bought, or streamed my album.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”
The achievement follows a light-hearted promotional campaign during which Blunt vowed to legally change his name to Ryan Air if the album topped the charts, as a nod to the budget airline.
Elsewhere on the albums chart, Royal Blood sit at two with Dead Company while Olivia Rodrigo is at three with her chart-topping record You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love.
Skepta is at four with The Fork And Knife – his first solo LP in seven years – and rounding off the top five are rock group Kings Of Leon with their self-produced studio record O My Beloved.
Over on the UK singles chart, Welsh singer-songwriter Jamie Miller has secured a fourth consecutive week at the summit with Babydoll, closely followed by Ashe, who is at two with Stop The Wedding!
They are joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae, whose single Housewife has placed third, while Sienna Spiro is in fourth place with Great Expectation.
Completing the top five is US singer-songwriter Sombr with My Body Isn’t Ready.
As the Christmas season approaches, Wham! have made their annual return to the Top 40 with Last Christmas, while Mariah Carey’s pop favourite All I Want For Christmas Is You has soared to number 36.
US singer Rodrigo’s first festive track Take Me Home (4 Christmas) has entered the charts at number eight.
The track, which was inspired by The Waitresses’ 1981 song Christmas Wrapping, sparked controversy after its release last week, with fans noting similarities to Robbie Williams’ 2012 single Candy.
However, the former Take That star defended Rodrigo, saying he thinks a lot of plagiarism accusations in the music industry are “absolute bollocks”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub