Avenged Sevenfold score first Number 1 UK album with Hail To The King

US rockers Avenged Sevenfold clock up their highest charting album to date, going straight in at Number 1 with Hail To The King. Plus: Naughty Boy, Bob Dylan and Franz Ferdinand score big new entries!

Congratulations to Avenged Sevenfold, who have today scored their first ever Number 1 UK album with Hail To The King.

The Orange County rockers - M. Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates (guitars), Johnny Christ (bass) and Arin Ilejay (drums) – have ended Britain’s Got Talent duo Richard And Adam’s four-week-stand at Number 1 with their debut album The Impossible Dream (down three places to Number 4 today). Hail To The King is Avenged Sevenfold’s sixth studio album, and their highest charting full-length to date in the UK; its predecessor, Nightmare, peaked at Number 5 in 2010.

“It has been a hell of a ride thus far and having our first Number 1 album in the UK is a monumental achievement for our fans and us,” guitarist Zacky Vengeance tells OfficialCharts.com. “I remember playing the 100 Club to prove to our fans we were willing to start from the ground up again to earn your respect.  Thank you for putting heavy metal back on the throne.  We look forward to growing old with you.”

The band have fought off tough competition from Naughty Boy’s debut album, Hotel Cabana (Number 2), to top the Official Albums Chart. According to Official Charts Company sales data, just over a thousand copies separate this week’s top two albums, making it the second closest albums battle this year. (Back in June, there were just 225 copies between Mumford And Sons’ Babel and Michael Buble’s To Be Loved.)

“This is a tremendous achievement, and it's been a long time coming,” says Alexander Milas, Team Rock Radio host and Editor-In-Chief of British music magazine Metal Hammer, who have been following the band’s career for the last decade. “We've watched Avenged Sevenfold's dogged ascent for years, and their tireless efforts have created the kind of fan base that money and clever marketing just can't buy.

“Just a few months after Black Sabbath themselves hit the top of the Official Albums Chart, this is nothing less than a landmark, historic turning point,” he adds. “This isn't just a hugely well-deserved triumph for the band though; in an age of market-driven A&R, it's proof positive that rock and metal is here to stay. A long-ignored segment of the record-buying public has spoken. Avenged Sevenfold's victory is a victory for us all.”

Rising producer Shahid Khan, AKA Naughty Boy, produced and co-wrote the biggest selling album of 2012 – Emeli Sande’s Our Version Of Events – and today the man who is known as “music’s equivalent of Banksy” has achieved a Number 2 album in his own right.

Hotel Cabana features the Number 1 single La La La FT Sam Smith, which is arguably the tune of summer 2013, and the fourth biggest selling track of the year. Naughty Boy has recently been working with X Factor winner James Arthur, Lily Allen, and with William Orbit on Britney Spears’ as-yet-untitled comeback album. You can watch an interview with him talking about his amazing rise from obscurity as a pizza delivery man to the hottest producer of the last few years below:

The deluxe edition of Ellie Goulding’s second album Halcyon, retitled Halcyon Days, climbs 23 places to Number 3, while Bob Dylan’s new rarities collection, Another Self Portrait: 1969-1971, debuts at Number 5.

New Entries and High Climbers

In addition to Avenged Sevenfold (Number 1), Naughty Boy (2) and Bob Dylan (5),there are three other new entries on this week’s Official Albums Chart.

Franz Ferdinand’s long-awaited album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is new in at Number 6 today. It is the Scottish band’s fourth Top 10 album to date. Also scoring his fourth Top10 album is Newton Faulkner. The Surrey singer / songwriter debuts at Number 10 with Studio Zoo. The album was recorded over a five week period earlier this summer in Faulkner’s home studio in East London, and the whole process was streamed live online for fans to watch.

One And All (29) sees Fisherman's Friends clock up their second Top 40 album and a new Official Albums Chart record, too. The nautical group from Port Isaac, Cornwall can boast the oldest band member to score a Top 40 album in British history with Peter Rowe, who is 79 years young.

“I retired as a fisherman in the late ‘80s and settled into the quiet life,” he told OfficialCharts.com. “But singing with the guys keeps me young and I look forward to celebrating my 80th Birthday with the guys next month.”

And finally, Stereophonics’ Best Of collection,  Decade In The Sun, re-enters at 21, while Andre Rieu’s live album, Rieu Royale, makes its Top 40 debut at Number 40.

The Official Albums Chart Top 10 is as follows. Click here to see the Official Albums Chart Top 100 in full after 7pm.

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