“It looks like Christmas has come early!” Sam Ryder celebrates his number one album as he becomes the first UK male solo artist to top the charts with a debut release in three years
Sam Ryder said after his debut album There’s Nothing But Space, Man! – topped the UK charts.
The 33-year-old singer eventually secured first place after finishing second in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and hitting number two on the official singles chart earlier this year with his uplifting pop song Space Man.
It is the first debut album by a British male solo artist to reach number one in more than three years.
Delighted: Sam Ryder, 33, said after his debut album “It looks like Christmas came early” – There’s Nothing But Space, Man! – topped the UK charts
Sam, who struggled with health issues during the album’s promotion, told the Official Charts Company: “It looks like Christmas came early as we hit a number one record together. Thank you all. If you knew how many people worked so hard on this, it would blow your mind. This is pure collaboration.
“It would not have been possible without so many fabulous, amazing, optimistic legends. I love you peace.’
The album’s success caps a mammoth year of triumphs for the Essex singer, who rose to fame as Britain’s Eurovision Song Contest hopeful and missed out on the top spot for Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra.
Success: The singer took first place after coming second at this year’s Eurovision and his song Space Man was number two on the official singles chart earlier in the year
New Heights: It is the first debut album by a British male solo artist to have reached number one in more than three years
He appeared at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, appeared at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium and sang a rendition of Queen’s Somebody To Love with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Foo Fighters and was hired to host his own BBC One New Year’s Eve TV special along with guests of honor Mel C and Sigrid.
Sam – who caused chaos on Thursday when he flouted TV regulations during an appearance to talk about his single on This Morning – fended off competition from US singer SZA’s long-awaited sophomore studio album SOS, das auf Finished second.
Now hitting the singles charts, Last Christmas by Wham! secured the top spot with 11.4 million streams according to the Official Charts Company.
Originally released in 1984, the track once held the record for best-selling single never to reach number one in the UK and was published by Band Aids Do They Know It’s Christmas?
It peaked at the top spot for the first time on New Year’s Day 2021, breaking a chart record at the time for the longest time it has taken a track to top the singles chart now held by Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill.
Altogether, six of the top 10 songs on the charts this week are Christmas carols, including Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ and Michael Buble’s cover of ‘It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas’.
Born to perform: The album’s success caps a mammoth year of triumphs for the singer, who represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest and finished second to Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra (who featured Barclaycard on stage at the Jingle earlier this month Bell Ball by Capital).