Paul Weller has scored his sixth solo No.1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart with Fat Pop (Volume 1), his second bestseller in less than a year after 2020’s On Sunset. The new success extends his span of solo chart-toppers to 26 years, and in all of his recording incarnations to 39.
“To have people like an album and want to buy it is never taken for granted by me,” Weller tells OfficialCharts.com, “so to have it go to No.1 makes it even more special.” To emphasise the fact that his audience strongly favors the physical format rather than streaming or downloading, 91% of the album’s first-week sales were physical, according to the Official Charts Company.
This sixth solo success draws Weller level with such artists as Pink Floyd, Blur, Phil Collins, and The Killers. But his full total of No.1 albums in the UK across all of his work is eight, also including The Jam’s The Gift in 1982 and the Style Council’s Our Favourite Shop in 1985.
His first solo No.1 was with 1995’s Stanley Road, followed by the 2002 set Illumination. Weller returned to the summit in 2008 with 22 Dreams and with 2012’s Sonik Kicks. Last year’s On Sunset achieved the same feat.
Fat Pop (Volume 1) prevails over the strong challenge of J. Cole’s The Off-Season which debuts at No.2. Rag’n’Bone Man’s Life By Misadventure, which entered at the top last week, drops to No.3. There’s also a No.4 debut for St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home, a career best in the UK, and the Black Keys have a fourth UK Top 10 album with Delta Kream, new at No.5.
Weller said of the widely-acclaimed new album: “It’s a celebration of music and what it’s given us all. No matter what situation you are in, and we’re in one now, music doesn’t let you down, does it?”