{"id":388028,"date":"2026-01-24T13:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T13:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388028\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T13:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T13:27:11","slug":"robbie-williams-tops-the-beatles-record-for-uk-number-one-albums-with-britpop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/388028\/","title":{"rendered":"Robbie Williams tops The Beatles’ record for UK Number One albums with ‘BRITPOP’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robbie Williams<\/a>\u00a0has topped\u00a0The Beatles<\/a>\u2019\u00a0all-time record\u00a0for the most UK Number One albums with his new record \u2018BRITPOP<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

The pop star\u00a0surprise-released his 13th\u00a0solo album last Friday<\/a>\u00a0(January 16), having already\u00a0postponed it from its original release date of October 2025 to this February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today (January 23), it was announced that the album had gone in at Number One on the UK Albums Chart, making it the 16th chart-topper of his solo career, which puts him ahead of the Fab Four, who scored 15 UK Number One albums.<\/p>\n

Williams has sold a reported 80million albums throughout his career to date, while The Beatles remain the best-selling act of all time with sales over an estimated 600million.<\/p>\n

\"\"Robbie Williams and The Beatles. CREDIT: Hector Vivas\/FIFA\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable,\u201d he told BBC News<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve always said my success has been the equivalent of stretching an elastic band from Stoke-on-Trent to the Moon. Well, I reckon the elastic band just got longer, and now it\u2019s orbiting Venus.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s just sensational what has happened. I feel like the Forrest Gump of pop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every one of Robbie\u2019s studio albums reached the summit, except 2009\u2019s \u2018Reality Killed The Video Star\u2019.<\/p>\n

Martin Talbot, CEO of Official Charts said: \u201cNot even the confident young 26-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent would have believed this were possible when he joined Take That back in 1990, but here he is, on top of the world, the UK\u2019s number 1 album artist \u2013 of all time! Just let that sink in, Robbie!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobbieRobbie Williams celebrates scoring a record-breaking run of Number One albums in the UK. Credit: Press\/Robbie Williams<\/p>\n

\u2018BRITPOP\u2019 held off the challenge of\u00a0Madison Beer<\/a>\u2019s third album \u2018Locket\u2019,\u00a0which debuted at Number Three on the chart, and toppled\u00a0Olivia Dean<\/a>\u2019s \u2018The Art\u00a0Of\u00a0Loving<\/a>\u2019,\u00a0which had topped the chart for the previous three weeks.\u00a0Sleaford\u00a0Mods<\/a>\u2019 \u2018The Demise\u00a0Of\u00a0Planet X<\/a>\u2019 landed at Number Six.<\/p>\n

The Official Albums Chart Top 5 for January 23 is:<\/p>\n

Robbie Williams \u2013 \u2018BRITPOP\u2019
\nOlivia Dean \u2013 \u2018The Art\u00a0Of\u00a0Loving\u2019
\nMadison Beer \u2013 \u2018Locket\u2019
\nNathan Evans & Saint\u00a0Phnx\u00a0\u2013 \u2018Angels\u2019 Share\u2019
\nFleetwood Mac \u2013 \u201850 Years \u2013 Don\u2019t Stop\u2019<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Williams admitted that the prospect of dethroning The Beatles<\/a>\u00a0was something that he wanted \u201cmore than anything in my career right now\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cLet me just qualify that by saying\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0broken the matrix. When that sort of record is mentioned and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0me, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know how\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0happened, I just know that it has. It massively makes my imposter syndrome come out to play and the first thing I feel is embarrassed about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the other bit, where the ego steps in is going, \u2018It\u2019s outside of my family, my kids and my wife, the most important thing to me in the world\u2019,\u201d he added. \u201cDo I think I deserve that? No. Am I on the precipice of maybe achieving that? Yeah. Should I grab it with both arms? Yeah. And can I learn to be grateful and happy for it? Grateful, maybe, proud, I\u2019m not sure yet, we\u2019ll see if that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Williams and The Beatles in the all-time list are\u00a0The Rolling Stones<\/a>\u00a0(14),\u00a0Taylor Swift<\/a>\u00a0(14),\u00a0Elvis Presley<\/a>\u00a0(13),\u00a0Madonna<\/a>\u00a0(12) and\u00a0Bruce Springsteen<\/a>\u00a0(12).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

During his very intimate show in London last autumn<\/a>, Williams confirmed that he had delayed the release of \u2018BRITPOP\u2019 to avoid a clash with\u00a0Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2019s \u2018The Life Of A Showgirl<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the truth: I want 16 Number One albums,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cTaylor then decided to put her album out the same weekend as me. I was like, \u2018For fuck\u2019s sake!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018BRITPOP\u2019\u00a0contains\u00a0the singles\u00a0\u2018Pretty Face\u2019<\/a>,\u00a0\u2018Rocket\u2019<\/a>,\u00a0\u2018Spies\u2019<\/a>\u00a0and \u2018Human\u2019,\u00a0as well as\u00a0a song about being Morrissey\u2019s stalker<\/a>. Williams wrote the latter cut with his former\u00a0Take That <\/a>bandmate\u00a0Gary Barlow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The singer will embark on a run of\u00a0small UK dates next month, dubbed the \u2018Long \u201990s\u2019 tour<\/a>. The brief stint includes a stop at London\u2019s O2 Brixton Academy on February 8.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a three-star review of \u2018BRITPOP\u2019<\/a>,\u00a0NME described the album as \u201ca love letter to the \u201990s and a bid to live forever\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s\u00a0standing\u00a0firm. Rather than neck a\u00a0BuzzBall\u00a0on a Lime Bike and do his take on\u00a0\u2018Brat\u2019<\/a>, Robbie knows his game and has done a record for himself,\u201d it added. \u201cAn album to be remembered for? Probably not, but it\u2019s bold, it\u2019s a laugh, and he\u2019s done it his way. That\u2019s what makes him Robbie. For that alone, he\u2019ll live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robbie Williams\u00a0has topped\u00a0The Beatles\u2019\u00a0all-time record\u00a0for the most UK Number One albums with his new record \u2018BRITPOP\u2019. The pop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,1581,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-388028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-pop","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}