The Rolling Stones have scored their first number one album with a new record in over 20 years, just one day after the group’s frontman Sir Mick Jagger became a father for the eighth time at the age of 73.
The band’s first studio record in over a decade, Blue & Lonesome, had 106,000 combined sales in its first week, swiftly knocking last week’s chart toppers Little Mix off the top spot.
The Rolling Stones said: “We are absolutely delighted with the success of Blue & Lonesome in the UK and around the world.”
This new feat means Blue & Lonesome – which has been certified gold by the BPI – is the group’s 12th number one album in the UK, the Official Charts Company said.
The record takes the band “back to their roots” and their “passion for blues music”.
The last time the Rolling Stones reached the top of the charts with a new studio project was more than 20 years ago, with Voodoo Lounge in 1994.
However, in 2010, a remastered reissue of their album Exile On Main St managed to hit the top spot after first winning the accolade in 1972 following its original release.
Their last new studio album was A Bigger Bang in 2005, which reached number two in the charts.
It has been a good week for the group, as Sir Mick’s partner Melanie Hamrick, 29, gave birth to their first child together in New York on Thursday.
Last week’s number one album Glory Days by Little Mix has slipped down into third place, while Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s album Together has landed in the second spot for the third time since it was released in November.
Elvis Presley’s The Wonder Of You is at number four and Olly Murs’s 24 HRS is in fifth place.
Over on the Official Singles Chart, Clean Bandit’s hit track Rockabye has retained its position and is now the band’s longest-running number one single.
It marks the song’s fifth week in the prime position, beating their previous most-successful track Rather Be, which was number one for four weeks in 2014.
