Sir Elton John’s Diamonds collection of greatest hits has reached number one on the UK charts after 374 weeks. The 51-track album includes songs like Tiny Dancer, I’m Still Standing, and Rocket Man. It is the star’s ninth number-one album. The chart-topper originally released in 2017 has remained there ever since, swiftly moving up this week after receiving a sales boost for its release as a super deluxe edition on Blu-ray, cassette, and diamond-effect vinyl.
The Disney+ documentary Never Too Late, which premiered in December 2021, has also contributed to the surge in Sir Elton John’s streaming numbers. Produced and co-directed by David Furnish, the film includes previously unseen footage tracing the singer’s journey from jobbing session musician to global superstar. It also details his addiction struggles, journey to fatherhood, and the conclusion of his farewell tour in 2023. The documentary made the Bafta longlist for Best Documentary last week.
Sir Elton’s career-best collection of songs, Diamonds, originally marked the 50th anniversary of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin. The double album has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the UK, but this number had never been enough to place it higher than two on the charts. Since the rise to number one, Diamonds, which has spent more consecutive weeks inside the Top 40 than any album in chart history, has also set the record for helping Sir Elton accumulate his ninth number one album.
The album’s ascent to the top was helped because of a quiet week of new releases with no new music entering the Top 10. Sir Elton’s first greatest hits album topped the charts in 1973, while his previous number-one albums span six decades. Canadian star The Weeknd’s Highlights was the second-biggest album of 2024, three years after its debut, while Queen’s Greatest Hits and Abba’s Gold have also spent more than 1,000 weeks on the album chart, benefitting from how music streaming is incorporated into the chart calculations
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