Elton John earns his ninth Number One album with ‘Diamonds‘, currently topping the UK album charts. The record was originally released in 2017 as a collection of the artist’s greatest hits and recently gained enough chart units to climb charts thanks to the release of new limited editions across multiple formats. The album is currently on its 347th week charting, and hasn’t left the UK’s top 100 since its release. The number of weeks charting has also earned Elton John the title for the longest charting album ever in the UK top 40.
In an exclusive interview with Official Charts, Elton John said:
“I’m so happy to have a UK Number 1 album with Diamonds. It came out in 2017, which feels like a lifetime ago. This is the first time it’s topped the charts since its release. I’m blessed that so many incredible things have happened with my career during that time. I’m overjoyed and want to sincerely thank all my incredible fans for their constant love and support.”
‘Diamonds‘ is Elton John‘s ninth album to achieve the number one position. In 1973, ‘Don’t Shoot Me I’m the Only Piano Player’ became Elton’s first record to achieve the number one position, spending six weeks topping charts and an overall of 42 on the UK top 100. Afterwards, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, ‘Caribou’ and ‘Elton John’s Greatest Hits’ reached number one consecutively between 1973 and 1974. In 1989 and 1990, two new albums achieved the position: ‘Sleeping with the Past‘ and ‘The Very Best of Elton John’. It would take the artist another 22 years before earning another number one album with ‘Good Morning to the Night‘ in 2012 and again, in 2021, with ‘The Lockdown Session‘.
‘Diamonds‘ surpasses by far any other album by Elton John in terms of chart longevity with 375 weeks, significantly more than Elton’s biggest charting albums. It was also named the twelfth biggest album of 2024 by Official Charts. Out of its impressive amount of weeks spent on charts, 84 weeks were spent in the top 10 and 266 in the top twenty. These numbers are a reflection of the impact and longevity throughout generations of Elton John’s incredible career, success and above all talent.
Since his debut in 1971, the Middlesex-born singer and songwriter spent 809 weeks charting in the single’s top 75 and 1434 in the top 75 album. Furthermore, his tour ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’, which spans between 2018 and 2024, is the third highest grossing tour of all time.
The album is a collection of Elton’s greatest hits, some of which are remastered. Multiple versions of the album have been released so far, and the most recent also includes the record for the first time ever on cassette. Thanks to this latest limited edition, ‘Diamonds‘ is currently number one on Vinyl Charts as well as Record Store Charts.
