Paul McCartney is the UK’s most successful album artist of all time winning the new Official Chart Record Breaker Award.
The new accolade is presented to select artists to have enjoyed the greatest success on the official chart.
Paul’s chart performance has seen him rack up 22 number one albums across his illustrious career as a member of The Beatles (15 number ones), Wings (two number ones), through his Paul McCartney solo projects (four number ones) and his work with Linda McCartney (one).
Since his debut number one as a member of The Beatles in May 1963 with Please Please Me (the longest-running number one debut album in chart history at 30 weeks), he has spent 191 weeks at the top of the album charts.
He also played a hand in the biggest selling studio album of all time in the UK with The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a record which has to date sold 5.1m copies in the UK alone.
Commenting, Paul McCartney said: ‘Okay, you know how it really feels? It feels unbelievable, because when you write your songs you don't count how well they're doing.
‘I remember when Please, Please Me went to number one, that was our first number one record, and it’s a beautiful feeling to suddenly get this [award], I mean it's amazing. So thank you to the people for giving it to me, I love you. And thank you to everyone who made it possible by buying the records, we love you too!’
The award comes as the official charts celebrates its sixtieth anniversary.
Martin Talbot, Official Charts Company chief executive, added: ‘It is a huge honour for the Official Charts to pay tribute to Paul McCartney’s incredible achievements with this special award. Over more than fifty years, Paul has been a fixture on the British and world music scene - so to recognise his contribution as part of the UK album chart’s sixtieth birthday feels absolutely appropriate.’
Read Paul McCartney’s complete UK singles and albums chart history here.
The new accolade is presented to select artists to have enjoyed the greatest success on the official chart.
Paul’s chart performance has seen him rack up 22 number one albums across his illustrious career as a member of The Beatles (15 number ones), Wings (two number ones), through his Paul McCartney solo projects (four number ones) and his work with Linda McCartney (one).
Since his debut number one as a member of The Beatles in May 1963 with Please Please Me (the longest-running number one debut album in chart history at 30 weeks), he has spent 191 weeks at the top of the album charts.
He also played a hand in the biggest selling studio album of all time in the UK with The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a record which has to date sold 5.1m copies in the UK alone.
Commenting, Paul McCartney said: ‘Okay, you know how it really feels? It feels unbelievable, because when you write your songs you don't count how well they're doing.
‘I remember when Please, Please Me went to number one, that was our first number one record, and it’s a beautiful feeling to suddenly get this [award], I mean it's amazing. So thank you to the people for giving it to me, I love you. And thank you to everyone who made it possible by buying the records, we love you too!’
The award comes as the official charts celebrates its sixtieth anniversary.
Martin Talbot, Official Charts Company chief executive, added: ‘It is a huge honour for the Official Charts to pay tribute to Paul McCartney’s incredible achievements with this special award. Over more than fifty years, Paul has been a fixture on the British and world music scene - so to recognise his contribution as part of the UK album chart’s sixtieth birthday feels absolutely appropriate.’
Read Paul McCartney’s complete UK singles and albums chart history here.
