# List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1950s

The UK Albums Chart is a record chart based on weekly album sales; during the 1950s, a total of 17 different albums reached number one. The longest run at number one was the original soundtrack of the movie South Pacific, which held on to the top spot for 60 consecutive weeks in the 1950s, and went on to attain another 55 weeks in 1960 and 1961, totalling a record of 115 weeks at number-one in the UK. It was number-one for the entire year in 1959.
The UK Albums Chart canon was modified when chart fans Alan Smith and Keith Badman discovered that charts of albums in the UK dated back to 28 July 1956, not 8 November 1958 as previously thought. The first album chart was a Top 5 published in Record Mirror. The album at number one on this chart was Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Frank Sinatra. From 8 November 1958, a Top 10 album chart was compiled by Melody Maker. Although the Record Mirror chart continued to run after this date, Melody Maker is taken as the canonical source as it had a larger sample. In 1959, from June to August a newspaper strike prevented the album chart from being published and the previous chart was duplicated in these weeks. Nevertheless, the South Pacific soundtrack was number one for the entire duration of 1959.

## Number ones

Key :
| No. | nth album to top the UK Albums Chart |
| re | Return of an album to number one |
| † | Best-selling album of the year |
| ‡ | The album spent a week at number one where it shared the top spot with another album |
| No. | Artist | Album | Record label | Reached number one | Weeks at number one |
| 1956 ||||||
| 1 | Frank Sinatra | Songs for Swingin' Lovers! | Capitol | 22 July 1956 | 2 |
| 2 | Original soundtrack | Carousel † | Capitol | 5 August 1956 | 2 |
| re | Frank Sinatra | Songs for Swingin' Lovers! | Capitol | 19 August 1956 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | Carousel † | Capitol | 26 August 1956 | 4 |
| 3 | Original soundtrack | Oklahoma! | Capitol | 23 September 1956 | 2 |
| 4 | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 7 October 1956 | 2 |
| 5 | Bill Haley & His Comets | Rock 'n' Roll Stage Show | Brunswick | 21 October 1956 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 28 October 1956 | 1 |
| 6 | Elvis Presley | Rock 'N' Roll | His Master's Voice | 4 November 1956 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 11 November 1956 | 14.5$^{[nb2]}$15 ‡ |
| 1957 ||||||
| 7 | Original soundtrack | High Society | Capitol | 10 February 1957 | 1.0$^{[nb2]}$1 ‡ |
| 8 | Frank Sinatra | This Is Sinatra! | Capitol | 24 February 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 3 March 1957 | 1 |
| re | Frank Sinatra | This Is Sinatra! | Capitol | 10 March 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 17 March 1957 | 1 |
| re | Frank Sinatra | This Is Sinatra! | Capitol | 24 March 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 31 March 1957 | 3 |
| re | Frank Sinatra | This Is Sinatra! | Capitol | 21 April 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 28 April 1957 | 5.5$^{[nb3]}$6 ‡ |
| 9 | Nat 'King' Cole | Love Is the Thing | Capitol | 2 June 1957 | 1.0$^{[nb3]}$1 ‡ |
| re | Original soundtrack | Oklahoma! | Capitol | 9 June 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 16 June 1957 | 4 |
| 10 | Tommy Steele | The Tommy Steele Story | Decca | 14 July 1957 | 3 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 4 August 1957 | 3 |
| re | Tommy Steele | The Tommy Steele Story | Decca | 25 August 1957 | 1 |
| 11 | Elvis Presley | Loving You | RCA | 1 September 1957 | 2 |
| 12 | Frank Sinatra | A Swingin' Affair! | Capitol | 15 September 1957 | 7 |
| re | Elvis Presley | Loving You | RCA | 3 November 1957 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I † | Capitol | 10 November 1957 | 11 |
| 1958 ||||||
| 13 | Original soundtrack | Pal Joey | Capitol | 25 January 1958 | 7 |
| re | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 16 March 1958 | 1 |
| re | Original soundtrack | Pal Joey | Capitol | 23 March 1958 | 4 |
| 14 | Original soundtrack | The Duke Wore Jeans | Decca | 20 April 1958 | 2 |
| 15 | Original cast | My Fair Lady † | Philips | 4 May 1958 | 19 |
| 16 | Elvis Presley | King Creole | RCA | 14 September 1958 | 7 |
| 17 | Original soundtrack | South Pacific | RCA Victor | 2 November 1958 | 70 |
| 1959 ||||||
| No new number one – the original soundtrack to South Pacific remained at the top of the chart throughout 1959 † and into 1960 † ||||||

### By artist

Five artists topped the album chart during the 1950s. Original soundtracks and cast recordings are omitted.
| Artist | Number ones | Weeks at number one | Albums |
| Frank Sinatra | 3 | 14 | • Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956, three weeks at number one)  • This Is Sinatra! (1957, four weeks)  • A Swingin' Affair! (1957, seven weeks) |
| Elvis Presley | 3 | 11 | • Rock 'N' Roll (1956, one week at number one)  • Loving You (1957, three weeks)  • King Creole (1958, seven weeks) |
| Tommy Steele | 1 | 4 | • The Tommy Steele Story (1957, four weeks at number one) |
| Nat 'King' Cole | 1 | 1 | • Love Is the Thing (1957, one week at number one) |
| Bill Haley & His Comets | 1 | 1 | • Rock 'n' Roll Stage Show (1957, one week at number one) |

## Christmas number ones

In the UK, Christmas number-one albums are those that are at the top of the UK Albums Chart on Christmas Day. Typically, this will refer to the album that was announced as number one on the Sunday before 25 December—when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday itself, the official number one is considered by the OCC to be the one announced on that day's chart. During the 1950s, the following albums were Christmas number ones.
| Year | Artist | Album | Record label | Weeks at number one |
| 1956 | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 48 |
| 1957 | Original soundtrack | The King and I | Capitol | 48 |
| 1958 | Original soundtrack | South Pacific | RCA Victor | 115 |
| 1959 | Original soundtrack | South Pacific | RCA Victor | 115 |

## Comparison to Record Mirror album chart

From 8 November 1958, Melody Maker is regarded as the canonical source. Record Mirror continued to compile an album chart with the following differences:
| Dates | Melody Maker | Record Mirror |
| 8 November – 27 December 1958 | Original soundtrack – South Pacific (8 weeks) | Elvis Presley – King Creole (1 week) Original cast – My Fair Lady (4 weeks) Original soundtrack – South Pacific (3 weeks) |