Manchester has been revealed as being the top destination in the UK for launching chart-topping groups.
The city in the north of England is the birthplace of some of the best music groups the UK has to offer such as Oasis, The Smiths, New Order and Take That.
Now, official findings by the record label association BPI to mark National Album Day have revealed that Manchester has produced the most chart-topping LPs per person.
Since the chart launched in 195, the analysis reveals that 35 studio albums by bands from the north-west city have reached number one on the UK’s Official Albums Chart, spending 90 weeks at the top spot in total. These include seven Oasis releases and albums by The Smiths and Take That.
Dr. Jo Twist OBE, CEO of BPI, and Kim Bayley, CEO of ERA, which jointly organise National Album Day, said: “The excitement surrounding the news of Oasis’s first tour in a decade and a half is a welcome reminder that, when it comes to world-conquering bands, the UK is in a class of its own.
“The Gallagher brothers’ reunion provides a perfect backdrop to this year’s National Album Day whose timely theme is Great British Groups. And it seems only fitting that new research we have carried out in the run-up to the event has revealed their home city of Manchester is the most successful destination in the UK for producing chart-topping groups.”
Oxford was found to be the UK’s second top location for groups with top spot studio albums largely because of Radiohead who have topped the Official Albums Chart with six releases along with Supergrass who has secured the number one once and Foals who reached it in 2019.
Liverpool bagged third place with The Beatles securing 11 studio albums at number one in the charts running from their 1963 debut.
The UK’s top cities and towns for chart-topping groups are:
1. Manchester
2. Oxford
3. Liverpool
4. Wigan
5. Worthing
6. Salford
7. Sheffield
8. Basildon
9. Stockport
10. London