Blossoms Beat The Beatles and Johnny Marr to Claim Fifth Number One Album
Blossoms have beaten The Beatles and Johnny Marr to the top of the UK Albums Chart, securing their fifth Number One album with 'Songs From The Wedding Cake'.
The Stockport five-piece have another reason to celebrate in a year marking the tenth anniversary of their self-titled debut. Their sixth studio album, released on 2 October, has gone straight to Number One, holding off The Beatles' reissued 1965 masterpiece 'Rubber Soul' and Johnny Marr's fifth solo album, 'The Age of Everything'.
The achievement is particularly impressive considering the competition. At the beginning of the week, The Beatles appeared to be heading for another Number One, with 'Rubber Soul' leading the midweek chart and Blossoms sitting directly behind them. Johnny Marr occupied third place, creating an unlikely chart battle between three generations of British guitar music.
By Friday, however, Blossoms had overtaken the Fab Four, with 'Songs From The Wedding Cake' becoming their fifth UK chart-topper in ten years.
Five Number Ones in Ten Years
'Songs From The Wedding Cake' joins 'Blossoms' (2016), 'Foolish Loving Spaces' (2020), 'Ribbon Around the Bomb' (2022) and 'Gary' (2024) at the summit of the Official Albums Chart.
Remarkably, five of Blossoms' six studio albums have now reached Number One. Their only album to miss the top spot, 2018's 'Cool Like You', still reached Number Four and produced some of their most enduring songs, including 'I Can't Stand It', 'There's a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)' and 'How Long Will This Last?'.
For a band who emerged from Stockport during the mid-2010s indie revival, it is an extraordinary record of consistency. Their debut arrived in a musical landscape where British guitar bands were facing increasing competition from streaming-driven pop, hip-hop and electronic music. Blossoms, however, built an audience that has remained remarkably loyal throughout their career.
Ten years later, Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Joe Donovan and Myles Kellock are still recording together, preparing for increasingly ambitious live shows and producing albums that regularly reach the top of the charts.
Reacting to their latest achievement, Blossoms told the Official Charts Company they were "made up", thanking everybody who had bought, listened to or recommended the album. They also acknowledged that continuing to reach Number One a decade after their debut was not something they took for granted.
What makes this achievement especially satisfying is that 'Songs From The Wedding Cake' does not sound like a band desperately attempting to recreate its early success. As explored in our review of 'Songs From The Wedding Cake', Blossoms have continued to develop their sound while retaining the melodic instincts that made them so appealing in the first place. Their latest record finds Ogden exploring marriage, domestic life and the peculiar routines of growing older, bringing a different perspective to a band now entering its second decade.
Stockport Between Liverpool and Manchester
There was something particularly enjoyable about the identity of the competition. The Beatles, the most influential band to emerge from Liverpool, were attempting to reclaim the top spot with an album originally released more than sixty years ago. Meanwhile, Johnny Marr, whose guitar playing with The Smiths helped define an entire generation of British music, was releasing another chapter of his solo career.
And there, geographically and musically, sat Blossoms.
Speaking to NME ahead of the final chart announcement, Tom Ogden joked: "Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle."
It was a fitting description of the battle. Blossoms have never hidden their admiration for the music that came before them, drawing inspiration from the melodic songwriting of The Beatles, the guitar music associated with Manchester and the colourful British pop tradition that runs through several generations.
Their relationship with Marr is particularly interesting. Although the two artists belong to different generations, Blossoms have developed their own connection with the music of The Smiths, most famously through their concerts with Rick Astley celebrating the Manchester band's catalogue.
Marr, meanwhile, achieved his second solo Top Five album, with 'The Age of Everything' entering the chart at Number Five. The record follows 2022's 'Fever Dreams Pts 1-4' in securing the former Smiths guitarist a place among the UK's five biggest albums.
As explored in our review of Johnny Marr's 'The Age of Everything', Marr remains far more interested in creating new music than simply revisiting his remarkable past. His latest album explores the contradictions of modern life, with songs such as 'It's Time' and 'All In A Life' demonstrating the creativity that continues to define his solo career.
For Blossoms to find themselves competing directly against a musician whose guitar playing helped shape the musical landscape they inherited made the achievement particularly memorable.
The Beatles were hardly left empty-handed either. 'Rubber Soul' finished at Number Two on the overall Albums Chart but claimed the top position on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, selling more copies on vinyl than any other album during the week. Blossoms, meanwhile, topped the Official Record Store Chart, another indication of the dedicated audience they have built over the past decade.
'Songs From The Wedding Cake'
Blossoms' latest Number One is also one of their most personal records to date.
Produced by Shawn Lee and recorded entirely to tape, 'Songs From The Wedding Cake' explores marriage, growing older and finding humour in the ordinary routines of everyday life. It also represents a significant change behind the scenes, becoming their first studio album without long-time producer James Skelly, who helped establish the band's sound alongside Rich Turvey.
Its title comes from Stockport Town Hall, affectionately nicknamed the Wedding Cake, where Ogden married Katie Donovan, the sister of drummer Joe, in 2021. The record finds the frontman drawing inspiration from everything from domestic arguments and car insurance to watching the Kardashians and the less glamorous realities of married life.
Speaking to NME about the album, Ogden described an increasing appreciation for what he calls the "extraordinary ordinary", explaining how the peculiar details of marriage had become the foundation for his latest songs.
Musically, the album moves between disco, indie-pop, acoustic warmth and more expansive arrangements. Rick Astley, Declan McKenna and Inhaler's Elijah Hewson contribute to the record, adding another dimension to a band who have become increasingly comfortable inviting outside musicians into their world.
There is a genuine progression between Blossoms' earliest records and 'Songs From The Wedding Cake'. Where songs such as 'Charlemagne' captured the uncertainty and excitement of young relationships, their latest material considers what happens when those relationships become part of the everyday. The subjects have changed because the people writing about them have grown older.
That development makes their continued chart success particularly interesting. Blossoms have not spent ten years releasing variations of their debut album. They have experimented with different producers, embraced collaborations and allowed their songwriting to reflect the lives they are now living.
For Blossoms, however, the biggest achievement is their consistency.
When 'Charlemagne' helped introduce the band to audiences in 2015, few would have predicted that the same five musicians would still be together more than a decade later, celebrating their fifth Number One album.
They have moved through synth-pop, disco, increasingly reflective songwriting and ambitious collaborations without losing the chemistry that made their debut so immediately appealing. Even more impressively, they have managed to grow older alongside their audience without allowing the band to become trapped by nostalgia.
Beating The Beatles to Number One makes for a wonderful headline, particularly for five musicians who grew up surrounded by the history of Liverpool and Manchester music. But the more impressive statistic is that Blossoms have now topped the UK Albums Chart five times across ten years. Their sixth album has arrived, their audience is still there, and five lads from Stockport have beaten The Beatles and Johnny Marr to Number One. Not bad for a band from the other side of the A6.