US pop princess Taylor Swift secures first UK Number 1 album

22-year-old American sweetheart Taylor Swift finally conquers the UK albums market as fourth time lucky offering Red goes all the way to the top of the Official Albums Chart.

The singer, whose previous two albums Fearless and Speak Now peaked at Number 5 and 6 respectively, enlisted master of poppets Max Martin to oversee her lead single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, which along with a string of swiftly released album tracks, including the Martin-produced I Knew You Were Trouble, helped the former country singer to her first Official UK Number 1 album.

Swift says the album’s title was inspired by the “crazy, insane and intense relationships” she’s had over the past two years. “All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red,” she told US magazine Entrainment Weekly. “You know, there’s nothing in between. There’s nothing beige about any of those feelings."

Emeli Sandé finishes the week at Number 2 with the deluxe version of Our Version Of Events, while last week’s Number 1 Jake Bugg drops two to Number 3 with his self-titled debut album. Helped by a string of Top 10 hits, pop rockers Lawson enter the Official Albums Chart at Number 4 with debut album Chapman Square, while previous chart-toppers Mumford & Sons fall three places to Number 5 with Babel.

New Entries

In addition to Taylor Swift and Lawson, there are six new entries on this week’s Official Albums Chart. Just missing out of the Top 5 is Dappy, whose debut album Bad Intentions finishes the week at Number 6, while Daniel O’Donell follows suit at Number 7 with new compilation Songs From The Movies And More.

At Number 13 is House Of Gold & Bones – Part 1, the fourth album from American metal rockers Stone Sour, while hip-hopper Kendrick Lamar is at 16 with Good Kid M.A.A.D City. UK folk singer Kate Rusby is at Number 22 with 20, and Steve Hackett rounds off this week’s new entries with Genesis Revisited II coming in at Number 24.

The Official Albums Chart Top 10 is as follows:

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