Lionel Richie Tops UK Album Chart After Scoring With Glastonbury Crowds

Veteran singer Lionel Richie is sitting at the top of the UK album chart for the first time in almost a quarter of a century. Richie was widely praised after drawing the biggest crowd at last weeks Glastonbury festival, where he put on a performance that rolled back the years. Richie was hailed as the biggest success of the weekend at Glastonbury, winning more rave reviews than Kanye West did bad ones. Over 100,000 people crammed the space in front of Glastonbury’s famous Pyramid stage to hear Lionel perform hit songs like “Easy Like Sunday Morning” and “Dancing on the Ceiling.”

The Official Charts Company reports that Lionel Richie & The Commodores’ The Definitive Collection has shot to the top of the charts, climbing 103 places to claim the top spot. Richie has not had a UK No. 1 since Back To Front in 1992. In one of a series of historical coincidences, Richie will be the last artist to claim the No. 1 slot on the traditional Sunday rundown. In the future, UK chart announcements will now be made on a Friday, to tie in with a new global music release day.

According to the Independent, Richie was overwhelmed by the reaction of fans and Glastonbury, and by his move back to the top of the UK chart.

“I was overwhelmed performing at Glastonbury in front of all those people, and for the fans to make the album No 1 is unbelievable. The UK has always been a special place for me.”

Richie took to Twitter to thank his UK fans for helping him to claim the No. 1 spot.

Thank you to all my fans who helped me reach number 1 in the official UK album chart! #lovemyfans https://t.co/NJy4cQokDH

— Lionel Richie (@LionelRichie) July 5, 2015

In another of those delicious ironies, Richie knocked Florence + The Machine, Friday’s Glastonbury headline act, off the top of the chart. James Bay, another Pyramid stage act, holds the No. 3 spot. In total, half of the acts in this week’s UK Top 40 album chart are by bands who appeared at Glastonbury.

Richie is one of the best selling artists of all time. During his time with the Commodores and as a solo artist, 66-year-old Richie sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Over the course of his career, Richie won four Grammys and a Golden Globe. In 1986, Richie won an Oscar for best original song for “Say You, Say Me,” another chart topper which appeared in the film White Nights, but was not included on the soundtrack.

Unlike Lionel Richie, appearing as a Glastonbury headliner did not provide a boost in sales for Kanye West.