List of one-hit wonders on the UK Albums Chart

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The UK Albums Chart is a weekly record chart based on album sales from Sunday to Saturday in the United Kingdom. It listed only physical album sales until 2007, after which it also included albums sold digitally and streams (the latter included in 2015).[1] The chart is currently compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the UK music industry,[2] and each week's new number one is first announced by BBC Radio 1 on their weekly chart show.[3]

The definition of a "one-hit wonder", as given by the reference text The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, was any act that achieves a number one on the UK Album Chart and no other Top 40 entry. However, when Guinness first published the list in the 1980s the hit albums chart was a Top 100 with compilations included, until being split at the end of 1989 into a Top 75 Hit/Official Albums Chart and Top 20 Hit/Official Compilations Chart,[4] with a Top 200 artist albums chart being available to industry insiders from the 1990s. One hit wonders on the Singles Chart are artists with their number one being also their only Top 75 entry. Since the album chart was first published on 28 July 1956,[5] 19 acts have reached number one and had no other hit albums (Top 75 entries). Artists who have topped the album chart as solo artists but also charted as members of groups are exempted from the main list as well as those with smaller hits (listed separately).

One-hit wonders[]

Artist Album Record label Reached number
one (for the week ending) 		Weeks at number one Notes Ref.
Freddy Cannon The Explosive Freddy Cannon Top Rank 12 March 1960 1 The first number one album on the Record Retailer chart [6]
Blind Faith Blind Faith Polydor 20 September 1969 2 Although the band Blind Faith had one number-one album and nothing else, each member of the supergroup (including Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton) had further album chart success. [7]
Johnny Hates Jazz Turn Back the Clock Virgin 23 January 1988 1 Follow-up album Tall Stories (with The Cure's Phil Thornalley on vocals) failed to make the Top 75, while a couple of reunion albums in the 21st Century also failed to reach the chart. [8]
The Farm Spartacus Produce 16 March 1991 1 Follow-up albums failed to make the Top 75 [9]
Chaka Demus & Pliers Tease Me Mango 29 January 1994 2 Had originally peaked at number 26 in July 1993, before being re-released and topping the chart in January 1994. [10]
Steve Brookstein Heart and Soul Syco 21 May 2005 1 Winner of the 2004 series of The X Factor. Follow-up album 40,000 Things failed to make the Top 75 [11]
Ray Quinn Doing It My Way Syco 24 March 2007 1 Runner-up in the 2006 series of The X Factor Follow-up album Undeniable failed to chart. [12]
The Commonwealth Band Sing Decca 9 June 2012 3 Co-credit with Gary Barlow [13]
Pnau Good Morning to the Night Mercury 28 July 2012 1 Co-credit with Elton John. Pnau have had charting albums in their native country Australia and were partly responsible for Elton's UK Number One single "Cold Heart" with Dua Lipa, whilst band member Nick Littlemore has had two UK Top 40 hits with Empire of the Sun[14] [15]
Conor Maynard Contrast Parlophone 11 August 2012 1 Follow-up album Covers failed to make the Top 75. [16]
Jahméne Douglas Love Never Fails RCA 3 August 2013 1 Runner-up in the 2012 series of The X Factor. Follow-up album Unfathomable Phantasmagoria failed to make the Top 75. [17]
Ella Henderson Chapter One Syco 25 October 2014 1 Henderson was placed sixth in the 2012 series of The X Factor and continued to release singles on Major Toms Records[18] after splitting with Simon Cowell's Syco. Henderson was in the UK Top Ten singles chart on 29 April 2021 with the Tom Grennan duet "Let's Go Home Together" and will release second album Everything I Didn't Say in March 2022.[19][20][21][22]
Viola Beach Viola Beach Fuller Beans 11 August 2016 1 The band's only album was released posthumously, all of the band members having died in a road accident earlier in the year.
Tom Walker What a Time to Be Alive Relentless 14 March 2019 1 In 2017, Walker released a five-track live EP (mini-album) called Blessings which did not chart. As of November 2019 he is working on a follow-up album.[23]
Lewis Capaldi Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent Virgin EMI 30 May 2019 10 In 2020, Capaldi released a six-track live EP (mini-album) called To Tell The Truth I Can’t Believe We Got This Far[24] which was deemed not eligible for the UK charts.
Dermot Kennedy Without Fear Island 11 October 2019 1 A self-titled compilation album charted at number 76 in October 2019.[25]
Celeste Not Your Muse Polydor 11 February 2021 1 Compilation 1.1, a digital-exclusive re-issue of the EP Lately with extra songs "Coco Blood" and "Strange", reached number 7 on the UK Album Downloads Chart.
Olivia Rodrigo Sour Geffen 5 June 2021 5
Inhaler It Won't Always Be Like This Polydor 16 July 2021 1 Inhaler sold 16,371 copies of their album to debut at number one (from a sales total of 17,728), compared to the number two album Sour by Olivia Rodrigo which sold 899 copies in the same week (with a sales total of 15,379).[26][27] In addition, their album spent two weeks inside the Top 75 albums chart and so would make the list of 'number one albums with the fewest weeks on the chart'.[28]

Most recent one-hit wonder to be removed from the list: Hypersonic Missiles by Sam Fender (October 2021)

Artists with a number one album and a smaller Top 75 hit[]

The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums was first issued in 1983, six years before the Top 75 albums chart hit definition came into being (with a full Top 150 Artist Albums Chart being published for people within the industry at this time).[29] As of January 2022, the OCC still track the number of Top 75 album hits on their website, but make available a Top 100 countdown to the public. The following list includes artists with more than one album chart hit who would have been seen as a one-hit wonder under the Guinness definition of 1983.

  • Neil Reid reached number one for three weeks on 19 February 1972 with his self-titled debut album on Decca, after winning the 1971 series of Opportunity Knocks. He was the youngest person ever to top the album chart but success was short lived as follow-up album Smile peaked at number 47 in September 1972.[30]
  • Journey South hit number one on the albums chart on 1 April 2006 with their self-titled debut album (Syco Music) after coming third in the 2005 series of The X Factor. Follow-up album Home peaked at number 43 in November 2007.

Number one albums: One-week wonders[]

When The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums was last published in the 1990s, the list of 'number one albums with the fewest weeks on the chart' was based on the Top 75, with the shortest chart stay for a number one album being 5 weeks with acts such as Little Angles (with their 1993 album Jam),[31] topping the list. In 2021, a never-to-be-beaten record was set with a number of albums debuting at the top and exiting the Top 75 the next week. The following is an update to the original 'number one albums with the fewest weeks on the chart' list but only lists those number one hit albums with one week in the Top 75 (as per The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums data):

  • You Me At Six - Suckapunch (reached the top on 28 January 2021)[32]
  • Ben Howard - Collections from the Whiteout (reached number one on the chart of 08 April 2021)[33]
  • The Wombats[34] - Fix Yourself, Not the World (reached the top on 27 January 2022)[35][36] The following week this album had dropped out of the Top 75 and was at number 96, and so would be still eligible for the The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums list.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Who We Are – History of the Official Charts – The Teens". Official Charts Company.
  2. ^ "The Charts We Compile". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  3. ^ "The Official UK Top 40 Albums Chart". London: BBC Radio 1. 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Who We Are – History of the Official Charts – The Eighties". Official Charts Company.
  5. ^ Mawer, Sharon (2008). "1956". London: The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 8 March 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Freddy Cannon". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Blind Faith". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Johnny Hates Jazz". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Farm". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Chaka Demus & Pliers". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  11. ^ "Steve Brookstein". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Ray Quinn". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  13. ^ "Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band". London: Official Charts Company. 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Empire of the Sun | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
  15. ^ "Pnau". London: Official Charts Company. 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Conor Maynard". London: Official Charts Company. 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  17. ^ "Jahmene Douglas". London: Official Charts Company. 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  18. ^ "Ella Henderson announces second album Everything I Didn't Say". Official Charts.
  19. ^ "ELLA HENDERSON & TOM GRENNAN | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
  20. ^ "Ella Henderson | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
  21. ^ "First Look: Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan on course for highest new entry". Official Charts Company.
  22. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
  23. ^ "Tom Walker: 'I get really excited about Irish gigs'". RTÉ. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Lewis Capaldi releases new live EP 'To Tell The Truth I Can't Believe We Got This Far'". Nme.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  25. ^ "dermot kennedy | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
  26. ^ "Polydor do the double in albums charts with Inhaler and Cinderella". Musicweek.com. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Charts analysis: Inhaler land at No.1 with debut LP | Analysis". Musicweek.com. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  28. ^ https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/57041/inhaler/
  29. ^ "Who We Are - History of the Official Charts - the Eighties". Official Charts.
  30. ^ "Neil Reid". London: Official Charts Company. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  31. ^ "LITTLE ANGELS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  32. ^ "You Me At Six | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  33. ^ "Ben Howard | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  34. ^ https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/the-wombats-fix-yourself-not-the-world-review-3135044
  35. ^ https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/
  36. ^ https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20220121/7502/

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