Most simultaneous UK Top 40 albums by a solo female

On the UK albums chart dated 6 September 2014, Kate Bush (UK) had eight Top 40 entries: The Whole Story (No.6), Hounds of Love (No.9), 50 Words for Snow (No.20), The Kick Inside (No.24), The Sensual World (No.26), The Dreaming (No.37), Never for Ever (No.38) and Lionheart (No.40). Bush's chart spike coincided with the start of her 22-night "Before the Dawn" residency at London's Hammersmith Apollo, her first live shows in 35 years. Most simultaneous UK Top 40 albums (all acts): 12 - Elvis Presley (10 September 1977); 11 - The Beatles (19 September 2009); 9 - Michael Jackson (18 July 2009, 25 July 2009, 1 August 2009); 8 - Jim Reeves (24 September 1964); 8 - Elvis Presley (17 September 1977, 24 September 1977; 1 October 1977); 8 - Michael Jackson (11 July 2009); 8 - Kate Bush (6 September 2014).

With 11 simultaneous Top 50 albums (Aerial was at No.43, Director's Cut at No.44 and The Red Shoes at No.49 on 6 September 2014), Bush is third behind Elvis Presley (13 on 10 September 1977) and The Beatles (12 on 19 September 2009) for the most simultaneous Top 50 albums on the UK chart.

Only three women have achieved three simultaneous Top 20 albums: Joan Baez (10 consecutive weeks from 10 July 1965 to 11 September 1965 when the chart was a Top 20), Amy Winehouse (6 August 2011) and Kate Bush (6 September 2014).

Kate Bush comfortably comes out on top for the most simultaneous albums by a female in both the Top 40 (8) and the Top 75 (11; the official portion of the UK chart). Amy Winehouse, Madonna and Diana Ross all achieved three simultaneous Top 40 albums. Madonna is the only other female to have achieved more than three simultaneous Top 75 albums, with four on both 11 March 1995 and 18 March 1995.

The albums that made up her record-breaking appearance on the UK albums chart on 6 September 2014 - which represented her entire career output of 10 studio albums - were released in the following years: The Whole Story (compilation album, released 1986), Hounds of Love (1985), 50 Words for Snow (2011), The Kick Inside (1978), The Sensual World (1989), The Dreaming (1982), Never for Ever (1980), Lionheart (1978), Aerial (2005), Director's Cut (2011) and The Red Shoes (1993).

Trivia: All 80,000 tickets for her 22-date residency at the Hammersmith Apollo sold out in 15 minutes - that's an average of 5,333.33 tickets per minute or 88.88 tickets per second!

The Apollo dates came more than 35 years after her one and only tour, "The Tour of Life" or "The Kate Bush Tour" (2 April - 13 May 1979), which primarily featured performances of songs from her first two studio albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart. The final dates on that 28-date tour were at the Apollo (then called the Hammersmith Odeon). A remarkable 35 years 105 days elapsed between the end of "The Tour of Life" and the start of "Before the Dawn" (on 26 August 2014).