Robbie Williams Beats The Beatles' Chart Record As Britpop Reaches Number One
It’s official – Robbie Williams now has more UK number one albums to his name than any artist in history.
On Friday evening, the Official Charts Company announced that Robbie had beaten the record previously held by The Beatles with the release of his 13th studio album Britpop.
Britpop has become the Angels singer’s 16th number one, thanks to a combination of his studio albums, greatest hits collections and soundtrack releases.
Last year, he matched The Beatles’ record of 15 UK number one albums after the companion album to the musical biopic Better Man reached the top spot.
Robbie previously described Britpop as the album that he “wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995”.
He recalled: “It was the peak of Britpop and a golden age for British Music. I’ve worked with some of my heroes on this album; it’s raw, there are more guitars and it’s an album that’s even more upbeat and anthemic than usual.
“There’s some ‘Brit’ in there and there’s certainly some ‘pop’ too – I’m immensely proud of this as a body of work.”
Britpop was originally supposed to be released in October 2025, but he pushed the release back by several months to avoid clashing with Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl.
“It’s because of Taylor Swift,” he told The Guardian of the decision to delay the album’s release. “I could pretend it’s not, but it is. It’s selfish. I want a 16th No 1 album.”
While the album was initially postponed to 6 February, he surprise released digitally on Friday 16 January, followed by the deluxe version days later.
Britpop was preceded by lead single Rocket, featuring Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes.
The album also features contributions from Jesse & Joy and Gary Barlow, who is listed as the co-writer of a song named after Morrissey.