Kylie Minogue becomes first woman to top album chart across five decades
Kylie Minogue has become the first woman to top the album chart in each of five consecutive decades.
Her 15th studio album, Disco, reaches No 1 this week, beating Little Mix’s Confetti in one of the hottest chart battles of 2020. Disco earned the biggest opening week sales of the year, with 55,000 sales units drawn from streaming, downloads, CDs, vinyl and even a cassette release.
Minogue continues a chart-topping run that she began in 1988 with her debut album, Kylie. She has topped the album chart six further times, with Enjoy Yourself (1989), Fever (2001), Aphrodite (2010) and Golden (2018), plus two greatest hits collections in 1992 and 2019.
Shirley Bassey becomes the first woman to have a Top 40 album in seven consecutive decades – her new album I Owe It All to You reaches No 5 this week. Bassey’s chart history began in 1957 with her take on The Banana Boat Song; her first Top 40 album was The Fabulous Shirley Bassey in 1961. At 83, she becomes one of the oldest artists to score a Top 5 album, though is some way off Vera Lynn’s record – the late singer reached No 3 in 2017, aged 100.
Last week, Cliff Richard, 80, became the first artist to score a UK Top 5 album across eight consecutive decades with his new release, Music … The Air That I Breathe.
In this week’s singles chart, Ariana Grande remains top for a third week with Positions. Internet Money’s Lemonade holds at No 2 and Little Mix’s Sweet Melody climbs to No 3.