James Blunt scores first number one album in 19 years after Celebrity Traitors boost
James Blunt scores first number one album in 19 years after Celebrity Traitors boost
Carla FericFri, November 13, 2026 at 6:00 PM UTC
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James Blunt made it to the final three on the recent series of ‘Celebrity Traitors’ (BBC/Studio Lambert)
Airplane Mode has taken James Blunt back to the top of the UK charts, giving the 52-year-old singer his first number one record in 19 years, according to the Official Charts Company.
The 12-track album, his eighth studio release, came out on Friday amid the hype surrounding his appearance on the BBC reality game show The Celebrity Traitors.
Blunt made it to the final three before being banished by fellow Faithfuls Sebastian “Bash” Croft and Romesh Ranganathan during the nail-biting finale.
He previously admitted he signed up for the show to promote his new music rather than play the game to make it to the end.
The singer told the Official Charts Company: “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to every single person who has gone out there and downloaded, or bought, or streamed my album.
'Airplane Mode' is the singer’s first number one album in 19 years (Atlantic Records)
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”
The chart victory follows a light-hearted promotional campaign during which Blunt vowed to legally change his name to Ryan Air if the album topped the charts, as a nod to the budget airline.
His last album to achieve a UK number one was All The Lost Souls in 2007.
The singer’s 2005 release Back To Bedlam spent 10 weeks at the summit.
Elsewhere on the albums chart, Royal Blood sit at two with Dead Company.
Olivia Rodrigo is at three with her chart-topping record You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love.
Skepta is at four with The Fork And Knife – his first solo LP in seven years.
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Rounding off the top five are rock group Kings Of Leon with their self-produced studio record O My Beloved.
Over on the UK singles chart, Welsh singer-songwriter Jamie Miller has secured a fourth consecutive week at the summit with “Babydoll”.
Ashe is closely behind at two with “Stop The Wedding!”
They are joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae, whose single “Housewife” has placed third.
Sienna Spiro is in fourth place with “Great Expectation”.
Completing the top five is US singer-songwriter Sombr with “My Body Isn’t Ready”.
As the Christmas season approaches, Wham! have made their annual return to the Top 40 with “Last Christmas”.
Mariah Carey’s pop favourite “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has soared to number 36.
US singer Rodrigo’s first festive track “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” has entered the charts at number eight.
The track was inspired by The Waitresses’ 1981 song “Christmas Wrapping”.
It sparked controversy after its release last week, with fans noting similarities to Robbie Williams’ 2012 single “Candy”.
However, the former Take That star defended Rodrigo, saying he thinks a lot of plagiarism accusations in the music industry are “absolute bollocks”.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
