Sam Smith makes Official Charts history with In The Lonely Hour

The success of the soul star's debut album shows few signs of slowing as it sets a new Official Chart record.

Sam Smith’s chart success shows no signs of slowing, as the soul star’s album In The Lonely Hour enters the Official Charts history books today (September 4).

This week sees the singer-songwriter’s debut record notch up a record-breaking 67th consecutive week in the Official Albums Chart Top 10 – the longest unbroken run ever for a debut album. The LP hasn’t left the Top 10 since its release in May 2014, where it debuted at Number 1 with opening week sales of 101,000.

The chart record was previously held by Emeli Sande, whose debut Our Version Of Events tallied 66 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 between February 2012 and May 2013. Prior to Emeli, the record was held for almost 50 years by The Beatles’ Please Please Me (62 weeks).

“What can I even say to this? I am completely and utterly moved and overwhelmed at this achievement," Sam told Official Charts. "I am forever thankful to my team but most importantly to the British public for making this happen and buying my album. This moment is one to tell the grandkids and maybe their grandkids."

The feat is the latest in a long list of impressive accolades for Sam’s In The Lonely Hour. During its record-breaking stint in the Top 10, the album has enjoyed six separate spells at Number 1 (eight weeks in total), spawned four Top 10 singles including the Numbers 1s Money On My Mind and Stay With Me, and was the only album to sell one million in both the UK and US last year. To date, sales for In The Lonely Hour stand at 8.5million worldwide.

MORE: See Sam Smith's full, week-by-week Official Chart history

Earlier this year, the record was the first Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart following the inclusion of streaming into the chart, and most recently joined The Beatles in the history books for logging nearly a whole year inside the Top 5.

Martin Talbot, chief executive, Official Charts Company added: "This is a fantastic achievement by Sam, adding to the string of records he has already broken in his short career so far. It is hard to believe that it is just 18 months since he first arrived as a solo artist in his own right."