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Thirty-nine years to the week after Too Much Too Young became the first of their two No.1 singles, The Specials top the album chart for the very first time with Encore.
In early sales flashes, Ian Brown and Busted led the way, but after a week of in-store signings and a social media campaign, Encore prevailed, albeit on sales of 18,199 copies (including 417 from sales-equivalent streams) - the lowest for a No.1 since Ed Sheeran's *** topped 76 weeks ago with 13,975.
The eighth studio album to bear The Specials' name, Encore marks the 40th anniversary of their debut, is the first to feature principal original members Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter since 1980 and is their first charted album of new recordings since In The Studio (N0.34,1984).
It marks their first chart appearance since The Best Of The Specials reached N0.28 in 2008, and is the first Specials album to feature lead vocalist Hall since their second release, More Specials, reached N0.5 in 1980.
Busted's eponymous 2002 debut and 2003 follow-up A Present For Everyone both peaked...