In a remarkable milestone, British pop icon Robbie Williams has secured his 16th number one album in the UK, surpassing the record held by the legendary Beatles. Williams’ latest release, “Britpop,” debuted at the top of the charts last week, cementing his status as the artist with the most number one albums in British chart history.
“This is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable,” Williams told BBC News. “I’ve 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’s orbiting Venus.”
The singer-songwriter’s triumph is a testament to his enduring popularity and resilience. Williams’ solo career, which launched in 1997 with the album “Life Thru a Lens,” has been marked by both incredible highs and personal challenges. The 1990s saw the artist grapple with substance abuse and mental health issues, but he has since found a renewed sense of purpose and balance in his life.
“I’m going to take this week, at least, to remind myself of how lucky I am,” Williams said. “Because for a while, I didn’t get to do that because of mental illness or whatever. But now I am firmly in a place where the garden is blossoming, and I’m just surveying the pastures.”
The cover art of “Britpop” pays homage to the early days of Williams’ career, featuring a recreation of the famous Mick Huson photograph taken at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995, when the artist had bleached blonde hair and a missing tooth – an incident that ultimately led to his departure from the boy band Take That.
“Britpop” has been widely praised by critics, with The Guardian describing it as “a wayward yet winning time-machine trip to the 90s,” while Rolling Stone awarded it four stars, noting that Williams sounded “liberated” and “unrepentantly mad” as he “delivered some of his best songs in years.”
With this latest achievement, Williams has surpassed the 23 number one albums held by The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, cementing his place in British music history. However, the singer remains grounded, crediting his family for keeping him humble in the face of such remarkable success.
“A couple of weeks ago, I was with my American in-laws,” he told BBC News. “And I said, to my mother-in-law, ‘You know, Gwen, if I get the next number one album, I’ve had more number one albums than anyone ever.’ And my daughter Teddy, under her breath, turned to the side and went, ‘In the UK.'”
