Beyoncé's 4 wins the album chart numbers game

4+21+19 = a unique situation in the artist album chart where, for the first time ever, the titles of three of the top five albums are made up entirely of numbers.

Adele contributes 10 times as much to this numerical novelty as Beyoncé but it is the latter that emerges, with the bigger prize and the smaller number, with 4 ranking one, 21 ranking two and 19 ranking five.

As its title suggests, 4 is Beyoncé’s fourth regular studio album - its release perfectly timed to coincide with Beyoncé’s appearance her critically-acclaimed Glastonbury set, which occupied 90 minutes of BBC2 airtime on Sunday night.

The album made a fast start, and sold 89,211 copies to become Beyoncé ’s second solo number one, eight years to the week after her first solo album, Dangerously In Love, dashed to the summit on first week sales of 113,117.



Despite its big first week and its seniority, Dangerously In Love is not Beyoncé’s biggest selling solo album – that honour falls to her last album, I Am...Sasha Fierce, which opened at number 10 on sales of 38,610, eventually reaching number two, and selling 1,411,189 copies.

Dangerously In Love has sold 1,143,299 copies. Beyoncé’s second solo album, B’day, debuted and peaked at number three, with first week sales of 35,012, and to-date sales of 385,078.

Beyoncé’s incendiary set also created big demand for 4’s second single, Best Thing I Never Had, which debuts at number three (51,365 sales). It is Beyonce’s 16th Top 10 hit away from Destiny’s Child – a tally which doesn’t include 4’s first single, Run The World (Girls), which peaked at number 11 but which rebounds 38-23 (16,002 sales) in the wake of Glastonbury.

Beyonce’s 2006 number four hit Irreplaceable is also propelled into the chart (number 33, 11,693 sales), with most of its sales coming from a ‘live at Glastonbury’ recording benefitting charity. Another song from the new album – The End Of Time (number 62, 4,488 sales) also breaches the Top 75, while popular oldies Halo (number 60, 4,599 sales) and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (number 72, 3,700 sales) also re-emerge.

Number two for the sixth week in a row, and seventh week in all, 21 sold a further 39,553 copies for Adele last week. Now on the chart for a total of 23 weeks – all of the rest were at number one - the album now has cumulative sales of 2,630,625. Meanwhile, 19 remains at number five (22,541 sales) on its 26th straight week in the Top 10, and has sold 1,556,684 copies since its 2008 release.

Last week’s number one, Lady GaGa’s Born This Way retreats to number three (31,449 sales), while Take That’s Progress also slips, falling 3-4 (22,581 sales) even as their tour continues.

Biffy Clyro’s first release since their Many Of Horror single was covered by Matt Cardle, their concert CD/DVD set Revolutions/Live At Wembley debuts at number nine (12,715 sales). It debuts at number four in their native Scotland.

10 years after her last studio album, Trouble In Shangri-La, peaked at number 43, Stevie Nicks secures a more respectable number 14 debut (10,444 sales) with In Your Dreams. It is 63 year old Nicks’ highest charting solo set since The Other Side Of The Mirror reached number three in 1989. Nicks’ profile has been raised by Glee covers of many songs made famous by her band Fleetwood Mac, Eurythmics’ star Dave Stewart’s production of her new album, and Radio 2’s A-listing of In Your Dreams track Secret Love.

Airplay has been a little harder to come by for Little Shocks, the initial single from The Kaiser Chiefs’ fourth album, The Future Is Medieval, which debuts at number 10 (12,469 Sales). The band’s second album, Yours Truly Angry Mob, reached number one; its first (Employment) and third (Off With Their Heads) reached number two.

Elsewhere in the Top 40, there are debuts for Foster The People’s Torches (number 24, 7,295 sales); Gillian Welch’s The Harrow & The Harvest (number 25, 7,129 sales); Limp Bizkit’s Gold Cobra (number 30, 6,371 sales); and Islands: The Essential Ludovico Einaudi (number 34, 5,591 sales).

Beyonce is far from being the only artist to enjoy the Glastonbury effect – albums by Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Chase & Status, Elbow, Plan B, Noah & The Whale, U2 and Pendulum all enjoy upward momentum.

Now That’s What I Call Music! 78 returned to the top of the compilation chart last week, claiming its 10th victory in 11 weeks – but its reign now looks over for good, with its return to number two accompanied by sales of 12,048 – little more than a third of the 34,059 copies that the compilation Clubland 19 sold to debut in pole position. It is the 22nd number one for the Clubland series since it was launched by All Around The World/UMTV nine years ago this very week.