Cliff Richard has become the first artist to reach the Top 5 of the UK album chart across eight consecutive decades. His new album Music … The Air That I Breathe reaches No 3 this week, continuing a run that stretches back to his 1959 album Cliff, recorded as Cliff Richard and the Drifters, which reached No 4. He scored his first No 1 album two years later with 21 Today, and has topped the chart six more times since.
After 2011’s Soulicious, Richard released little original music for a number of years and focused on rock’n’roll cover versions, but returned in 2018 with an album of new songs, Rise Up, which also reached the UK Top 5. He said the title was inspired by his battle with the BBC over the reporting of a police search of his Berkshire apartment in 2014, which did not result in an arrest or charge. “After the bad period I went through in my life, I’ve managed to rise up out of what seemed like a quagmire,” he said.
Music … The Air That I Breathe features two new songs alongside covers including the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun, and duets with artists including Bonnie Tyler and Albert Hammond.
This week’s album chart is topped by Ariana Grande’s new album Positions, with the title track topping the singles chart for a second week. Sam Smith’s new album Love Goes reaches No 2, with Bruce Springsteen dropping from No 1 to No 4, and Sheffield arena rockers Bring Me the Horizon entering at No 5.
At No 9, Lewis Capaldi notches his 77th consecutive week in the Top 10 since his album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent was released in May 2019. That unbroken stretch is now beaten only by Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, Ed Sheeran’s X, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Adele’s 21.
