Sir Elton John hits number one with his album ‘lockdown’
Image credit: independent.ie
With his Covid-enforced surprise release, The Lockdown Sessions, pop icon Sir Elton John has achieved his ninth UK number one record. The album features collaborations with Dua Lipa, Stevie Nicks, Gorillaz, and Lil Nas X, and was recorded after his final tour was postponed due to the pandemic.
Many duets were recorded over Zoom, while others were recorded in the studio under strict safety guidelines.
Sir Elton claims that he ended up singing with performers who were “separated by glass screens.”
The singer is even donning a bejewelled Elton John face mask on the album cover. Sir Elton, 74, said he appreciated being pushed out of his comfort zone and collaborating with unexpected people.
Sir Elton John became the first artist to top the UK singles chart in six decades when the song reached number one two weeks ago. It also helped catapult the album to success, with 31,000 sales beating out new releases by Lana Del Rey, Duran Duran, and Biffy Clyro.
Blue Banisters, Del Rey’s second album of the year, came in second. The record was the week’s best-selling vinyl, with better ratings than its companion piece Chemtrails Over the Country Club.
Future Past by Duran Duran debuted at number three, giving it the band’s highest-charting album since Astronaut in 2004, while Biffy Clyro’s The Myth of Happily Ever After debuted at number four.
Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres, which was number one last week, has plummeted to number five. Adele reigned supreme on the singles chart for a second week, with her post-divorce hymn Easy On Me selling an astonishing 103,000 copies.
That’s around half of the song’s first week total, when it shattered streaming records by receiving 24 million plays in just seven days.
Cold Heart by Elton John and Dua Lipa was at number two, followed by Ed Sheeran’s Shivers at number three and Nigerian musician Ckay’s TikTok smash Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah) at number four. Heat Waves, a sleeper hit by Glass Animals, has risen to number five, matching its previous high on the charts precisely a year after its release.