This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
What are the two facts which everyone knows about Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro? One is that they are named after pen with a picture of Cliff Richard on it (a Cliffy Biro if you will) and the other is that one of their songs was once transformed into the winning single for X Factor 2010 winner Matt Cardle to their obvious discomfort.
Today we can add a third, the fact that for the first time ever they have a Number One record in the shape of their sixth studio album Opposites which storms to the top of the Official UK Album Chart this week, deposing the Les Mis soundtrack after a fortnight. In fairness they have been due one for a while, watching 2007 album Puzzle reach Number 2 and 2009 release Only Revolutions peak at Number 3. The album is host to recent hit single Black Chandelier which charted at Number 14 three weeks ago.
The other surprise new arrival in the album chart this week is a stunning return for one of the most charted albums of all time. Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours has been such a hardly perennial over the years that up to last week it could boast a grand total of 493 weeks on the album chart, just edging out runners-up Queen's Greatest Hits and Bat Out Of Hell. Originally charting in February 1977, the album topped the charts almost a year after release, spending a single week at Number One in January 1978. Its last significant chart run of note came in 2011 when it climbed to Number 16, the best chart run since its 1970s heydey. This week the classic collection goes even further, storming to Number 3 following a new series of deluxe re-issues that have been timed you will note not to mark the 36th anniversary of its release, but rather 35 years since it topped the charts. Whilst I'm normally not a fan of such history-busting moves, given the relative ease with which albums can fly up the charts at the present moment, it would have been cute, to say the least, to see the likes of Don't Stop and Go Your Own Way back at the very top for a special anniversary.
Rumours is one of those duly famous albums which never spawned many large hit singles, at least at the time. Of the four tracks released as singles, the only one to make the Top 30 was Dreams which reached Number 24 in summer 1977 and which is possibly more famous on these shores thanks to a cover by The Corrs which climbed to Number 6 in 1998. The only Rumours track to have ever been near the summit of the UK charts is Don't Stop which formed part of The Official BBC Comic Relief Medley as performed by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band and which spent a fortnight at the top in December 2009.
Those scanning the lower end of the singles chart this week may be rather puzzled by the dramatic proliferation of seemingly random Justin Bieber tracks littering the tail of the rankings. All becomes clear when you note that the third new entry to this week's Top 5 is Believe - Acoustic which sees our bowl-cutted doe-eyed hero get all deep and meaningful with new electronics-free implementations of his classics.
Over on the singles chart, the Bingo Players and Far East Movement spend a comfortable second week at Number One with Get Up (Rattle), their greatest competition coming from Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Wanz with last week's hot tip Thrift Shop.
In a quiet week for new releases, the biggest brand new hit is Rewind which charts at Number 10 for Devlin featuring Diane Birch. It is the rapper's follow-up to his memorable take on Jimi Hendrix Watchtower which made Number 7 in September last year and thus his second Top 10 hit in a row. The co-credit for American singer-songwriter Diane Birch is due to the track's sampling of the chorus from her own song of the same name which featured on her 2009 debut Bible Belt.