Paul Heaton scores first solo UK number one album with 'Jenius'
Quick Look
- English singer-songwriter Paul Heaton achieved his first solo UK number one album with 'Jenius', his sixth chart-topping overall.
- The album topped the UK charts by selling the most vinyl copies in the past week.
- Dolly Parton, who died earlier in the week at age 80, had three singles in the UK top 40, including '9 to 5' at number 12.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Paul Heaton rose to fame in the 1980s as part of the band The Housemartins, alongside Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim). He has previously achieved UK number one albums with The Beautiful South and in collaboration with Jacqui Abbott.
English singer-songwriter Paul Heaton has scored his first solo UK number one album, his sixth overall.
Heaton's latest chart-topping LP - titled Jenius - follows his three with the Beautiful South and two more alongside former bandmate Jacqui Abbott.
The former Housemartins musician reached the top on Friday, in part, by shifting more vinyl copies than any other album over the past seven days.
Dolly Parton, who died earlier this week, aged 80, has three singles in the top 40, including 9 to 5, which landed at number 12 in this week's UK chart, having previously peaked at 47 in 1981.
Elsewhere on Friday, Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's Rein Me In extended its record as the longest-running number one single in UK chart history.
In a four-star review, external, the Times noted how Heaton's "casually funny" and "deceptively piercing" latest album "again confirms his gift for dissecting human weakness with an unsentimental but humane eye".
Victoria Segal wrote that the Ian Broudie-produced record was full of "stylistically playful songs" - like One Eye Open and Favourite Kind of Idiot - which "weave through the personal and political".
Heaton, who rose to fame as part of Hull band The Housemartins in the 1980s - alongside pre-Fatboy Slim Norman Cook - this week told the BBC he was planning on putting money behind the bar at dozens of pubs to celebrate his 65th birthday next year.
The singer made a similar gesture in 2022 when he opened £1,000 tabs at 60 pubs.
Fellow singer Brandon Flowers' pivot from the glamorous indie rock 'n' roll of The Killers to Parton's own brand of country music saw him land behind Heaton at number three, with his new album Thrasher.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Paul Heaton will fund pub tabs at dozens of pubs for his 65th birthday next year
Very likely · Within months
Open Questions
- What specific pubs will benefit from Heaton's planned birthday tabs?
- How many vinyl copies of 'Jenius' were sold to secure the number one position?
- What are the exact chart positions of Dolly Parton's three singles in the UK top 40?
