For a certain generation of readers, it will be Astley who? Yet, everyone remembers his recurring hit ‘Never Gonna Give You up’ and his eponymous album. Very much from the Stock, Aitken, Waterman generation of music.

And now – nearly thirty years later – Rick Astley beats fellow legend Sir Paul McCartney to the album Number One spot.

Rick Astley certainly enjoyed some fellow 80s praise:

“Elton John’s sent a few texts over the last couple of days and just called me now to celebrate and said ‘just make sure you enjoy it.’

“He’s one of those people I’ve always respected… so it was a nice moment to get that congratulations.”

The music of the 80s has never stopped being so popular. Bars and nightclubs around Europe maintain this popularity of a genre of music often described as ‘cheese’. And, of course, any resurgence some decades later will appreciate further music as Rick Astley, himself, emphasises and celebrates:

“It’s amazing, it’s incredible, it’s been a very very VERY long time since this happened before! I’m ecstatic, I couldn’t be happier”.

Astley continued with modern-day ambition from potential earnings of his new album:

“I’d like to be the owner of a nice little beach restaurant that has a jazz trio every night. As the owner, I could get up and sing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I’d wear a velvet jacket, with a different colour for every night of the week and always have a nice cocktail in my hand. That’s where I’d want to be in 25 years’ time.”

How very 80s of him! Music, indeed, does travel in circles, and, as Rick Astley returns to a generation of music fans whom has never forgotten him, younger music fans will be able to link this modern resurgence back to the music they hear every day from the 80s.

Let’s look back at ‘Never Gonna Give You Up':