Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ has landed the Number One album spot in the UK Album Charts this Christmas and guitarist, singer and songwriter David Gilmour has celebrated. The classic record has been reissued with new digital and physical editions for its 50th anniversary and on Friday it was announced that it has topped the Official Albums Chart this Christmas.
The record had also topped the charts when it was originally released in 1975, and the success of the reocrd means that Pink Floyd are now the artist with the longest span between their first and last Number One albums, with it having been over 50 years since their first one.
David Gilmour celebrated on Friday and wrote on Instagram, “Raising a glass to the wonderful news that Wish You Were Here is the UK’s Christmas Number 1 album.”
It is Pink Floyd’s second Number One album of the year, with their other one being ‘Pink Floyd At Pompeii – MCMLXXII’, the live album of a 1971 show that was released as a concert film in 1972, and then re-released earlier this year with newly mixed audio.
While it is the band’s first Number One album around Christmas time, they have had a Number One single at Christmas in 1979 with ‘Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2′. ‘Wish You Were Here’ tops the charts this year ahead of albums from Olivia Dean, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Fender, and Michael Bublé.
The Top 10 on the Official Album Charts this Christmas:
1. Pink Floyd – ‘Wish You Were Here’
2. Olivia Dean – ‘The Art Of Loving’
3. Taylor Swift – ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’
4. Michael Bublé – ‘Christmas’
5. Sabrina Carpenter – ‘Man’s Best Friend’
6. Sam Fender – ‘People Watching’
7. Fleetwood Mac – ‘Rumours’
8. The Weeknd – ‘The Highlights’
9. Fleetwood Mac – ’50 Years – Don’t Stop’
10. Oasis – ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’
To celebrate the re-release of ‘Wish You Were Here’, Pink Floyd have launced multiple pop-up stories across the UK, Europe and the US, where they are selling an exclusive edition of the Brain Damage fanzine.
In the singles chart, Kylie Minogue got her first ever Christmas Number One with ‘XMAS’, making her the first female solo artist to top the chart in four different decades. She successfully topped the charts over festive classics from Wham! and Mariah Carey, and got the eighth Number One single of her career.
