The North West city, which is currently hosting the annual Beyond The Music festival and conference and whose music exports include not only the Gallagher brothers but many other bands such as The Smiths, Simply Red and Take That, has scored more No.1 studio albums with its groups on the Official Albums Chart than any other UK city or major town (with populations above 100,000) on a per-capita basis.
Thirty-five studio releases by Manchester groups have topped the countdown since the chart launched in 1956, spending 90 weeks at No.1 in total. These include seven studio albums by Oasis, led by the 10-week chart-topper (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, as well as their debut Definitely Maybe, which last month returned to No.1 via a 30th anniversary reissue.
Commenting on the city’s album successes, Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “It is great to officially see – despite many of us feeling this for some time – that Manchester produces the most chart-topping bands in the UK for our size. Manchester has such a wide genre of styles, from the rock’n’roll of Buzzcocks and Oasis to the indie of The Smiths and dance of New Order and Chemical Brothers, highlighting the city as a bastion of creativity. Music is one of the city’s greatest exports and a true reflection of its people.”
The research has been carried out ahead of this year’s National Album Day, which will take place on Saturday, 19th October with a theme of Great British Groups. The annual event is organised by the BPI, the representative voice for the UK’s world leading record labels and music companies, and ERA, the UK’s digital entertainment and retail association representing music retailers and digital services. It is presented in association with official broadcast partner BBC Radio 2 and sees the music community come together each year to celebrate and promote the art of the album and encourage album listening, especially among younger fans.
Based on Official Charts data, the research looks at the UK cities and towns whose groups have achieved the most No.1 studio albums on the weekly Official Albums Chart. The top cities and towns are ranked on a per-capita basis, according to Office for National Statistics 2022 population estimates, to ensure the biggest locations are not given an unfair advantage because of their superior population sizes. The town or city assigned is where each group was formed, rather than where the members were born or grew up, while greatest hits albums, live sets and other compilations are excluded from the calculations.
Seven Oasis studio chart-toppers seal Manchester’s status as UK’s top destination for groups
What the analysis reveals is the rich tapestry of successful groups from across the entire UK with their success underpinned by the investment and support of their record labels. There have been No.1 studio albums by groups from every nation and region of the UK. However, no city or major town can match Manchester whose status as the UK’s hottest place for chart-topping groups is not only down to Oasis but the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Doves, Simply Red and Take That who were all formed in the city and have headed the Official Albums Chart multiple times. Besides all seven of Oasis’s studio albums having topped the chart, three releases by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds also reached No.1. Other Manchester groups to hit No.1 include the Bee Gees, James, The Smiths and Swing Out Sister.
UK’s top cities and towns for chart-topping groups
Pos. Town/city
1. Manchester
2. Oxford
3. Liverpool
4. Wigan
5. Worthing
6. Salford
7. Sheffield
8. Basildon
9. Stockport
10. London
The above ranks UK cities and major towns (populations above 100,000) according to the number of chart-topping studio albums on the Official Albums Chart achieved by groups formed in each location. The figures are presented on a per-capita basis according to Office for National Statistics 2022 population estimates.
Source: National Album Day based on Official Charts data (up to chart week 38 2024).
Oxford is the UK’s second top location for groups with No.1 studio albums largely because of Radiohead who have topped the Official Albums Chart with six releases. This sequence began with OK Computer, which reached No.1 in 1997, two years after fellow Oxonians Supergrass led the chart for the only time with I Should Coco. Another Oxford band, Foals, reached No. 1 in 2019 with Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2.
Just over 30 miles from Manchester, fellow North West city Liverpool is the third most successful UK city or town for groups with its showing inevitability led by The Beatles. Eleven studio albums by the Fab Four have reached No.1, a sequence running from their 1963 debut Please Please Me to their 1970 finale Let It Be. They are by far the main contributors to the 179 weeks spent at No.1 by Liverpool groups with studio albums, with the total also including chart-toppers by Atomic Kitten (including debut Right Now), The Farm (Spartacus), Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Welcome To The Pleasuredome) and The Wombats (Fix Yourself, Not The World).
Besides Liverpool and Manchester, the North West’s stronghold as a breeding ground for world-class groups is highlighted by places in the Top 10 for Salford, Stockport and Wigan. Salford’s successes includes a pair of No.1 albums by New Order (including Technique), as well as studio sets by Black Grape (It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah) and The Ting Tings (We Started Nothing). Stockport’s status is secured by a trio of chart-toppers by Blossoms (including debut Blossoms), while Wigan makes the cut as a result of two studio No.1s apiece from The Lathums (including debut How Beautiful Life Can Be) and The Verve (including the 12-week chart-topper Urban Hymns).
Sheffield in South Yorkshire also finishes in the Top 10 with 17 studio releases by groups from the city having topped the Official Albums Chart. Six of these are by Arctic Monkeys, beginning with their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, while other Sheffield groups who have scored No.1 albums include 1980s stars ABC (The Lexicon Of Love), The Human League (Dare) and Thompson Twins (Into The Gap), Britpop heroes Pulp (including Different Class) and rock bands Bring Me The Horizon (including Amo) and Def Leppard (including Hysteria).
With locations in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and South Yorkshire making up 60% of the biggest cities and towns for producing successful groups, the research highlights the north of the UK’s wealth for music and the arts generally. This is further highlighted by cities such as Glasgow, which is home to chart-topping groups including Simple Minds and Travis, as well as Hull (The Beautiful South) and Leeds (Kaiser Chiefs). It is one reason why the BPI, on behalf of its record label members, put forward plans to open a specialist creative school in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The school, which was approved by the Department for Education last year, is inspired by the world-famous BRIT School in Croydon and and will be aimed at young people from across the region looking to pursue a career in the arts.
On the English south coast, Worthing owes its status among the elite locations for UK groups to rock duo Royal Blood whose first four studio albums all reached No.1, the most recent Back To The Water Below in 2023. The West Sussex town is joined in the Top 10 by Basildon, Essex, home of album chart-toppers Depeche Mode (including Songs Of Faith And Devotion) and Yazoo (You And Me Both), who were formed by Vince Clarke with Alison Moyet after he left the electronic music pioneers.
More chart-topping studio albums have come from London groups than any other UK region
UK’s top nations and regions for chart-topping groups
Pos. Nation/region
1. London
2. North West England
3. Yorkshire and the Humber
4. Wales
5. South East England
6. West Midlands
7. Scotland
8. South West England
9. East of England
10. Northern Ireland
The above ranks UK nations and regions according to the number of chart-topping studio albums on the Official Albums Chart achieved by groups formed in each location. The figures are presented on a per-capita basis according to Office for National Statistics 2022 population estimates.
Source: National Album Day based on Official Charts data (up to chart week 38 2024).
On a per-capita basis, London ranks as the UK’s 10th biggest city or town for producing chart-topping groups, although in pure numbers there have been more No.1s by groups formed in the capital than from anywhere else. More than 170 studio albums by groups from the city have topped the Official Albums Chart, stretching from The Shadows (The Shadows) in 1961 to D-Block Europe (Rolling Stone), The Last Dinner Party (Prelude To Ecstasy) and The Libertines (All Quiet On The Eastern Front), who all reached No.1 in 2024.
London also beats North West England as the top UK nation or region for successful groups with its extensive list of chart-topping albums including 11 studio sets by The Rolling Stones, the first in 1964 (The Rolling Stones), the most recent last year (Hackney Diamonds). Other groups formed in London with multiple studio album chart-toppers include Blur, Coldplay, Florence + The Machine, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen and Spice Girls.
Besides the many chart-topping studio albums from Liverpool and Manchester, the North West’s status as the second-biggest nation or region for UK groups is also down to No.1s from artists such as Bury’s Elbow and the Wilmslow band The 1975.
Yorkshire and the Humber claims third place on the nation and region rankings with 17 No.1 albums by Sheffield groups such as Arctic Monkeys and Pulp joined by chart-toppers from artists such as Embrace from Bailiff Bridge, Hull’s The Beautiful South, Leeds bands Alt-J and Kaiser Chiefs, and York’s Shed Seven who have been announced as 2024 NAD champions.
More than 20 studio albums by Scottish groups have reached No.1, ranging from The Bay City Rollers in the 1970s and Big Country, Deacon Blue, Simple Minds, Texas and Wet Wet Wet in the 1980s and 1990s to 21st Century chart-toppers from artists including Biffy Clyro, Franz Ferdinand, The Snuts and Travis.
Welsh groups have been behind 14 No.1 studio albums, eight of which are by Stereophonics (including the five-week chart-topper Just Enough Education To Perform) and two each by Catatonia and Manic Street Preachers. Meanwhile, three studio albums by groups from Northern Ireland have topped the chart, two each by Ash and Snow Patrol.
Among other English regions, 40 chart-toppers have been achieved by groups from the South East, ranging from Radiohead with six studio chart-toppers and Genesis with five to the Isle of Wight’s double BRIT winners Wet Leg whose self-titled debut reached No.1 in 2022. In the South West, Muse from Teignmouth, Devon lead the way with seven of their studio albums having reached No.1 (including the quadruple-platinum Black Holes & Revelations). In total, groups from the region claim 15 chart-toppers.
Twenty-two albums by groups from the West Midlands have topped the Official Albums Chart, including multiple No.1s for artists including Black Sabbath, ELO, Slade and UB40. East Midlands groups have been behind nine studio albums that have headed the chart, including two by London Grammar and seven by Leicester’s Kasabian. Their most recent, Happenings, reached No.1 in July.
With six chart-topping studio albums, including the five-times platinum The Fat Of The Land, The Prodigy from Braintree, Essex are the biggest contributors to the 16 No.1s achieved by groups from the East of England. The North East’s chart-toppers include legendary Newcastle group Lindisfarne (Fog On The Tyne).
