Rod Stewart , one of the best-selling British singer-songwriters of all time, set a new record yesterday when his new album, Time , debuted at number one in the UK’s Billboard charts. No musician has ever experienced a longer gap between number one albums — 34 long years.
According to a report in Billboard, his last number one UK album was 1979’s Greatest Hits Vol. I.
He hasn’t had a number one hit with a studio album since 1976’s A Night on the Town. That’s 37 years ago.
Rod Stewart probably didn’t intend to set that kind of record. The 68-year-old rocker seemed to move away from his songwriting roots, going 20 years without putting out an original song.
Time contains 11 original pieces which have obviously been well-received by the fans. Stewart also produced the new album.
“Well, knock me down with a feather. Just goes to show there’s still plenty of songs left in the old violin,” was the Scottish musician’s reaction when he heard that he’d once again topped the charts.
“I’m over the moon, absolutely over the moon. It’s a long time in between but it’s always worth waiting for.”
Stewart wants to say thank you:
#RodNews : “Time” is the official UK #1 album! Rod would like to thank you personally >> thinglink.com/scene/39165398…
— Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) May 19, 2013
Twitter weighs in:
Rod Stewart is at Number 1 in the charts. Because old people don’t know what ‘torrenting’ is.
— sickipediabot (@sickipediabot) May 20, 2013
I’m coming out. I love Rod Stewart. God it feels good to get that off my chest.
—?Twerp? (@Sammm_Taylorrr) May 21, 2013
Just for fun, see if you can find the dinosaurs roaming the earth in the background of this photo of a young Rod Stewart:
[1972 portrait of Rod Stewart by Allen Warren via Wikimedia Commons]
[much older Rod Stewart photo by Mary A Lupo / Shutterstock.com ]
