Most decades with a Top 5 album in the UK

Sir Cliff Richard (UK, b. Harry Webb, India) has achieved at least one Top 5 entry on the UK’s Official Albums Chart for eight decades in a row (1950s-2020s). The singer’s debut album, the live-in-the-studio recording Cliff, kicked off the sequence by peaking at No.4 in 1959, quickly followed by his first studio album, Cliff Sings, which went to No.2 in the same year. On the Official Albums Chart of 12 November 2020, his 30th Top 5 album, Music… The Air that I Breathe, debuted at No.3 as the eternally youthful star became the first act to extend their UK chart record of Top 5 entries into an eighth decade.

Sir Cliff, who beat Elvis Presley to the accolade, had the two aforementioned Top 5 albums in the ‘50s, nine in the ‘60s (including a sequence of seven consecutively in 1960-63), four in the ‘70s, six in the ‘80s (including four in a row in 1980-82), three in the ‘90s, one in the ‘00s (Reunited, by Cliff Richard & The Shadows) and four in the ‘10s before Music… arrived in the ‘20s.

Sir Cliff, who celebrated his 80th birthday on 14 October 2020, would also take the title if only studio albums were counted. He’s had a total of 17 Top 5 studio albums since 1959.

Cliff is also the only act in the UK to have a No.1 single in five consecutive decades (1950s-1990s).