The Greatest Showman has been the film – and album – the UK can’t get enough of this year; and with 21 weeks at Number 1, it should come as no surprise that it’s the UK’s biggest album of 2018 so far, OfficialCharts.com can reveal.
The Motion Picture Cast Recording has seen off some fierce competition from Snow Patrol, Kanye West, James Bay and Manic Street Preachers during its time at the top, and has racked up some impressive sales in the process – 931,000 combining physical, digital download and streaming equivalent sales, according to Official Charts Company data.
The album has performed phenomenally well across all formats throughout the year, helping it stay at the top end of the charts since release. 46% of its total figure is physical CD and vinyl sales, while 33% is streaming and 21% is from downloads.
At the halfway point of the year, The Greatest Showman has a clear lead over its competitors, currently over half a million combined units ahead of the next best-selling album, Ed Sheeran’s Divide (346k) – last year’s biggest record.
George Ezra’s Staying at Tamara’s, which topped the Official Albums Chart in March, is 2018’s third biggest album so far and biggest released this year with sales of 273k, while Dua Lipa’s self-titled debut is fourth on 158k, boosted by recent single IDGAF and two BRIT Award wins. US rapper Post Malone completes the Top 5 with his chart-topping Beerbongs & Bentleys record (152k).
Further down, Arctic Monkeys’ long-awaited sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino – which claimed the fastest-selling vinyl album of the last 25 years upon its May release – goes straight into the Top 10 of the year so far, in eighth place, ahead of Kylie Minogue’s fourteenth studio album Golden at 14. The star scored her sixth Number 1 album and first in eight years back in April.
US singer Camila Cabello claims the biggest debut album of 2018 so far; her first collection Camila is at 15, while British star Anne-Marie ranks at 22 with her first album Speak Your Mind. Both albums landed inside the Official Albums Chart Top 5 in their opening week.
Snow Patrol’s latest album Wildness – which became the band’s highest charting album in 10 years after debuting at 2 in June – is the year’s 23rd biggest album, while Cardi B’s Top 5 debut release Invasion Of Privacy is at Number 31.
Elsewhere, several classic records and greatest hits feature in the year-to-date Top 40 chart. The highest is Eminem’s Curtain Call – The Hits at 17, followed by Oasis’ Time Flies – 1994-2009 at 18 and Fleetwood Mac’s The Very Best Of at 19.
Official Albums Chart 2018 – to end of Q2
1 THE GREATEST SHOWMAN MOTION PICTURE CAST RECORDING
2 DIVIDE ED SHEERAN
3 STAYING AT TAMARA'S GEORGE EZRA
4 DUA LIPA DUA LIPA
5 BEERBONGS & BENTLEYS POST MALONE
6 THE THRILL OF IT ALL SAM SMITH
7 HUMAN RAG'N'BONE MAN
8 TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL & CASINO ARCTIC MONKEYS
9 REVIVAL EMINEM
10 BEAUTIFUL TRAUMA PINK
