‘Cilla Black can be popping champagne at number one album’, allege legend’s

It re-entered the charts two weeks ago, shortly after her death, and has steadily climbed up to the top spot as fans rushed to snap up their favourite recordings.

She made a posthumous return to the top of the UK music charts with her compilation album The Very Best Of.

It seems unusual, considering her enormous pop success, but the Liverpudlian legend has never actually had a chart-topping album – until now.

Black’s The Very Best Of… was originally released in 2013 to tie in with an ITV programme hosted by O’Grady to celebrate her 50 years in showbusiness, and reached number 37.

Cilla, 72, died at her much-loved Estepona villa in Spain after falling and suffering a stroke on August 1.

Cilla has had six albums in the Top 40 and 11 Top 10 singles – the second highest number for any British Female after Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark, who have had 12.

Cilla Black has finally scored a number-one album – to which she would be “popping the champagne bottle”, her showbiz pals said.

Dan Chalmers, president, Rhino, East West & ADA, UK said: “This number one is a reflection of the special place Cilla Black occupied in the hearts of the British public and a fitting tribute to an icon who shaped popular music and entertainment”.

James Bay secured second spot in the end with his album Chaos and the Calm.

Last week’s number 1 album, Dr. Dre’s Compton, falls to number 5 while most of the rest of the albums by veteran artists show little change from last week.

While many episodes of her BBC TV series have been erased, the Sir Paul McCartney penned theme song Step Inside Love (partly inspired by Cilla herself) remains a timeless beauty.