Tom Jones is crowned on the U.K. albums chart this week with Surrounded By Time (EMI), and he sets a chart record in the process.
The legendary Welsh singer becomes the oldest male artist to hit No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, at age 80 years and 10 months. And he becomes the oldest artist to achieve the feat with a collection of new material, eclipsing Bob Dylan, who led the chart at 79 years old in June 2020 with Rough And Rowdy Ways.
The late Dame Vera Lynn is the overall record-holder with her greatest hits collection We’ll Meet Again – The Very Best Of, which ruled the chart in 2009 when the “Forces’ Sweetheart” was 92.
Surrounded By Time is Jones’ fourth leader in the U.K. and his first since 1999’s Reload. He also becomes the first Welsh soloist to top the national chart in nearly a decade, since Marina and The Diamonds’ Electra Heart, in 2012.
In a slow week for new releases, the next highest debut is an album familiar to many, John Lennon’s 1971 solo debut LP, Plastic Ono Band (Apple Corps). The classic set enjoys a reissue rollout in various computations, blasting it to No. 11 on the weekly chart.
Further down the list, a campaign for The Who’s third studio album The Who Sell Out sends the recording to No. 15, and a reissue of ska band The Selecter’s 1980 album Too Much Pressure (Chyrsalis) arrives at No. 24.
Veteran alt-rock outfit Dinosaur Jr. snag their fifth Top 40 album with Sweep It Into Space (Jagjaguwar), new at No. 29, while Icelandic blues group Kaleo enter the chart at No. 34 with Surface Sounds (Atlantic), and British rockers Field Music earn a third Top 40 album with Flat White Moon (Memphis Industries). It’s new at No. 36.
Meanwhile, Lil Nas X bags a fifth successive week atop the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (Lil Nas X). “Montero” racks-up another 7.4 million streams over the past seven days, the OCC reports, to lead an unchanged top three with Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” (Def Jam) featuring Caesar and Giveon at No. 2 and Joel Corry, Raye and David Guetta’s “Bed” (Asylum/Perfect Havoc) at No. 3.
