New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Greatest Showman soundtrack has stolen the limelight on the UK Albums Chart for most of the year, so it should come as no surprise that the collection leads the way as the UK's biggest album of 2018 so far, according to a new list unveiled today.
The cast recording from the hit musical drama, released by Atlantic Records UK, has now shifted over half a million (503,000) units across physical, download and streaming equivalent sales since its release at the end of 2017. Its 11 consecutive weeks at Number 1 makes it the joint-longest run at the top of the UK Albums Chart in 30 years, along with Adele's 21.
Currently in second place is Ed Sheeran's Divide which, just over a year on from its release, has yet to exit the UK Albums Chart Top 10. The singer-songwriter's third record has shifted just shy of 3 million copies in total, 223,000 of which were accumulated so far in 2018.
Sam Smith's The Thrill Of It All is third with 105,000 combined sales in 2018 (606,000 in total), while Rag'n'Bone Man's phenomenally successful debut Human places fourth with just under 100,000 sales this year (1.1m, in total).
Following her double BRIT Award win in February, Dua Lipa's self-titled debut leads the way for female artists as the fifth biggest album of the year to date, while
Little Mix's Glory Days - the longest reigning Top 40 album for a girl group ever - and Paloma Faith's The Architect place ninth and tenth respectively.
Camila Cabello currently has the biggest debut album released in 2018 so far; her first collection Camila, which features the Number 1 hit Havana, is at 8.
Other popular albums released this year are
George Ezra's chart-topping second album Staying At Tamara's (11) which became the fastest-selling album of the year so far last week, plus Justin Timberlake's Man Of The Woods (14) First Aid Kit's fourth album Ruins (20) and Fall Out Boy's M A N I A (24).
Grime and British rap are represented in the Top 40 year to date chart, with Stormzy's BRIT Award-winning Album of the Year Gang Signs and Prayer at 22 and J Hus'
Common Sense at 29, while US rappers
Eminem (6 with Revival and 15 with Curtain Call),
Post Malone (Stoney, 21),
Migos (Culture II, 31),
Drake (More Life, 33), and
Kendrick Lamar (Damn., 35) also feature.
Elsewhere, two orchestral albums also make the cut: Pete Tong's Ibiza Classics reworked with Jules Buckley and The Heritage Orchestra at 25 and Roy Orbison's A Love So Beautiful with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Number 38.
With a raft of big album releases on their way in the coming weeks from Kylie, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Manic Street Preachers, The
Shires and Arctic Monkeys, and a raft of Record Store Day exclusive releases later this month, it's all to play for as 2018 unfolds.
