Entertainment

James Blunt's Airplane Mode Hits No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart

Kiran MachadoPublished 18m ago2 min readBased on 1 source
James Blunt's Airplane Mode Hits No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart
Image by dotigabrielf from Pixabay

James Blunt's album Airplane Mode has reached No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart dated 13 November, according to Billboard. It is Blunt's third U.K. No. 1 album.

The Official Charts Company compiles the chart each week. It ranks albums by sales and by streams converted into album-equivalent sales, so a record can climb through either route. Blunt's earlier chart-toppers were his debut, Back to Bedlam, and All the Lost Souls, which reached No. 1 in 2007.

The race for the top spot was tight at the upper end of the chart. Royal Blood's fifth studio album, Dead Company, debuted at No. 2. It is the first of the band's albums not to reach No. 1. Their four earlier albums all went to the top, between 2014 and 2023.

Olivia Rodrigo's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love placed at No. 3. Skepta's The Fork and Knife debuted at No. 4, his fourth consecutive album to finish in the top five. Kings of Leon's O My Beloved finished at No. 5.

That makes five new or recent albums in the top five in a single week. Kings of Leon have a record of their own to point to. All 10 of their studio albums have landed inside the U.K. top five.

Further down, Steven Wilson's Requiem for a Village debuted at No. 6, and George Michael's The Faith Tour came in at No. 7. Rex Orange County's Dream Fatigue debuted at No. 18, and Tinie Tempah's The Night's Not Dead debuted at No. 20.

A chart position is a one-week snapshot. Albums move up and down as sales and streams come in, and the next chart will set a new order. For the artists and their teams, a No. 1 or a top-five debut also means the week's sales are counted and reported publicly, which can help with promotion and with booking the next round of shows.

Chart news also carries a human side. Behind each position are the people who made the album, the label staff who pushed it, and the shops and streaming accounts that carried it to listeners. The chart only records the result. The listeners are the ones who decide what it means to them.

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