Ben Howard scores first Number 1 album with I Forget Where We Were

Ben Howard has scored his first Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.

The London-born singer/songwriter enters at the top with his second studio album I Forget Where We Were, beating the peak of his 2012 debut Every Kingdom, which reached Number 4.

Heavy metal band Slipknot take second place on this week’s chart with their fifth album .5: The Gray Chapter. The record - the band's first in six years and first since drummer Joey Jordison left in 2013 and bassist Paul Gray died in 2010 - marks their fourth to enter the UK Top 10.

Meanwhile, Neil Diamond is new at Number 4 with his 32nd album Melody Road, and Status Quo complete the Top 5 with Aquostic (Stripped Bare). The record - which marks the rock band’s 31st LP and first completely acoustic collection - is on track to be their highest charting album in 18 years, since 1996’s Don’t Stop: The 30th Anniversary Album.

New Entries and high climbers

After performing on last week’s Strictly Come Dancing, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett’s Cheek To Cheek leaps 39 places to Number 12, while Maroon 5’s V shifts from 42 to 15 following their appearance on The X Factor.

Nicole Scherzinger scores her second UK Top 20 album with Big Fat Lie at 17, Madonna’s True Blue returns to the chart at Number 21, and Mark Lanegan’s Phantom Radio lands at 22.

Elsewhere, Scott Walker & Sunn O’s Soused (30), Aretha Franklin’s Great Diva Classics (32) and Billy Idol’s Kings & Queens Of The Underground (35) all enter this week’s Top 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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