Michael Jackson’s The Essential Leads Four Hits Collections in UK Top 10
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Michael Jackson in Monza, 1992
Michael Jackson in Monza, 1992
The Essential Michael Jackson sits at No. 2 on the Official Albums Chart this week. It has not moved since last week. This is its 277th week on the ranking, and it is one of four hits collections in the Top 10.
Only one record sits above it: Pylon by beabadoobee, which enters at the top as her second consecutive chart-topper after This Is How Tomorrow Moves, according to the Official Charts Company. The chart is dated 25 September to 1 October.
The Top 10 at a Glance
- Pylon, beabadoobee: new entry
- The Essential, Michael Jackson: non-mover
- You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, Olivia Rodrigo: non-mover
- Visitor, Sienna Spiro: non-mover
- The Art of Loving, Olivia Dean: up two places
- Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, Roger Taylor: new entry
- 50 Years – Don’t Stop, Fleetwood Mac: up two places
- Time Flies… 1994-2009, Oasis: down three places
- The Highlights, The Weeknd: up one place
- The Great Divide, Noah Kahan: up three places
In the list, a non-mover holds the position it had the previous week, and a new entry is a title in its first week on the chart. A re-entry, the other label the chart uses, marks a title returning after dropping out; there are none in the Top 10 this week.
Read by format, the list splits in two. Six entries are current albums of new material. Four are hits collections, from Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Oasis and The Weeknd.
The Four Hits Collections, Ranked by Chart Weeks
Chart weeks measure staying power. Ranked by that tally, the order almost inverts this week’s positions: the highest-placed collection has the shortest run.
- Oasis, Time Flies… 1994-2009: 681 weeks. The set gathers every UK single the band released across those years, 27 in all. It includes “Whatever” and “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down”, neither of which had appeared on an Oasis studio album. It first charted in June 2010 on Big Brother and has reached No. 1. This week it slips from 5.
- Fleetwood Mac, 50 Years – Don’t Stop: 410 weeks. Released on Rhino in November 2018, it spans the band’s history from 1967 to 2013. It marked 50 years since the band formed and came as three CDs, a five-LP set and a condensed single CD. Its peak is No. 3. It climbs from 9.
- The Weeknd, The Highlights: 294 weeks. It arrived in February 2021 on Republic Records and XO, ahead of his Super Bowl LV halftime show, and peaked one place below the top. It was his second greatest hits album and the first released worldwide, following After Hours. It rises from 10.
- Michael Jackson, The Essential: the shortest run of the four. The two-disc set came out on Legacy Recordings in July 2005, with 38 songs running from the Jackson 5 years onward. It belongs to Sony Music’s The Essential series. It is the only one of the four to hold its position this week.
The gap between release date and chart weeks is the interesting reading. The Essential is the oldest of the four by five years, yet it has spent the fewest weeks on the chart. That suggests a run built in bursts rather than one long stay.
What Moved Michael Jackson
The latest burst began in spring. The release of the biopic Michael sent The Essential back to the top on the chart of 8 May, its first week at No. 1 since 2009, when it spent seven weeks at the summit following his death, the Official Charts Company reported. It finished ahead of KNEECAP’s FENIAN, which took a career-best runner-up spot that week.
The same week, 1982’s Thriller climbed two places to No. 6, and 1987’s Bad returned to the Top 10 for the first time in 14 years at No. 8.
Billboard reported that the compilation held No. 1 for a second week on the chart dated 15 May, ahead of Westlife’s 25 – The Ultimate Collection, with Thriller in the top five. It linked the run to strong streaming and physical sales across Jackson’s catalogue after the film.
Four months later, the collection is still in the top two. The Official Charts Company lists its label as Epic/Legacy Recordings.
The Studio Albums Around It
The new-material half of the Top 10 has its own long runs. Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving is in its 52nd week on the chart and has reached No. 1. Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide is in its 22nd week and has also topped the chart.
Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love is in its 15th week, with a No. 1 peak of its own. Sienna Spiro’s Visitor, in its 12th week, peaked as runner-up.
Only two of the six are brand new this week. That leaves eight of the Top 10 as returning titles.
More Catalogue Below the Top 10
The pattern continues further down. Katy Perry’s The Ones That Got the Plays, which Billboard described as a collection of her greatest hits, rises from 14 to 11. Billboard first reported it at No. 13 on the chart of 15 May, and this is its 20th week. Ed Sheeran’s Tour Collection moves from 15 to 12, in its 104th week.
Oasis have a second catalogue title in the Top 20: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? drops from 12 to 14 in its 768th week. Linkin Park’s Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023) holds at 16.
David Bowie adds another. The Shel Talmy Recordings, a compilation of his 1965 work with producer Shel Talmy, enters at No. 17 and becomes his 72nd Top 40 album, according to the Official Charts Company.
The Rest of the New Entries
At the top, Pylon extends beabadoobee’s chart record. Her earlier albums Fake It Flowers and Beatopia both reached the Top 10 before This Is How Tomorrow Moves gave her a first No. 1.
The new releases that did reach the upper chart are spread across genres. Queen’s Roger Taylor places Violence Insane in a Beautiful World at No. 6, only his second solo Top 10 album, after Outsider peaked at No. 3 in 2021.
Miley Cyrus enters at 13 with Bass Persuades. Beck’s Ride Lonesome enters at 15, his eighth Top 20 album. Echo & the Bunnymen’s Apples for Isaac, the band’s first studio album in 12 years, enters at 19.
Lower down, Liverpool four-piece The Cheap Thrills reach the Top 40 for the first time with their debut, Keep Cheap, which also tops the Official Album Downloads Chart. The four-piece is Lewis, Anton, Terry and Callum.
Long runs are not only a UK story. Earlier this month, BestMusic.News tracked how Ella Langley’s Dandelion returned to the top of the Billboard 200 for its third week in first place.
Why Hits Collections Hold Their Positions
The chart’s own method explains part of it. The Official Albums Chart is compiled from sales of CDs, downloads and vinyl alongside audio and video streams.
The Official Charts Company’s own report on this week’s chart leads with the new entries, and none of the four collections features in it. The debuts take the headlines; the week counts build further down the page.
A hits collection puts an artist’s best-known songs on one release. Listening that might otherwise spread across a whole catalogue can count toward a single title. When a film, a tour or an anniversary sends listeners back to an artist, a collection is where much of that listening can land.
This week’s ranking shows it plainly: one new album at the top, and four collections spanning 16 years of release dates still inside the Top 10.
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