Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ debuts at No. 1, his first chart-topper

Elsewhere, Little Mix scored their 13th top 40 hit with Love Yourself, a duet with USA singer Jason Derulo, which entered the chart at 34; while Craig David’s career comeback continues apace, as the grime collaboration When The Bassline Drops, featuring Big Narstie, climbs 21 places to Number 15. Not Station to Station (#3), not Diamond Dogs (#5) not Young Americans (#9), not even Let’s Dance (#4). If only the circumstances had been different.

Blackstar, whose lyrics ponder life and mortality, sold nearly 150,000 copies in all formats, giving Bowie his 10th No. 1 album and knocking Adele’s 25 off the top spot.

“Blackstar”, which was released last week – two days before to his death at 69 – earned more than 174,000 pure album sales. It’s the best sales week for Bowie since Nielsen began electronically tracking music purchases in 1991.

Details on Canadian sales will be available soon. The closest he ever came was No. 2 on the chart for his last album “The Next Day” in 2013.

Bowie’s music “is the soundtrack of our lives”, said fan Louise Gilmour, 27, her face covered in Ziggy Stardust-style make-up. Blackstar also becomes The Starman’s 9th UK Number 1 album.

News of Bowie’s death at 69, two days after the release of his final album, was confirmed on January 10.

The album is the first posthumous No. 1 album since Michael Jackson’s This Is It topped the chart on November 14, 2009, several months after the singer died. Justin Bieber’s goal went down a spot to No. 3. Billboard also showed that on January 11, the day after Bowie’s death, a mind boggling 51 million Vevo views were received on that day and also ended the record Adele had set late a year ago when she released her album, 25. And finally, Fetty Wap’s self-titled album dropped down from 8-10 with 29,000 units sold.