“Seriously: quit reading this right now and go buy it! Hands down, this is one of the three or four best power pop albums I've heard…You’ll be in heaven listening to The Stanleys. The raw, angst-ridden sound influenced largely by the Irish Troubles, Inflammable Material veered from spiky anthems like Suspect Device and White Noise to a remarkably mature take on Bob Marley’s Johnny Was that shone a light on the vibrant quartet. Well it is!” - I Don’t Hear A Single (UK) Exploding out of Belfast and breathing new life into a flagging punk scene, Stiff Little Fingers fronted by raw-throated firebrand Jake Burns saw their debut album Inflammable Material album reach the UK Top 20 on its release in 1979. I’d heard for a few months that this release was gonna be something special, a true Power Pop album. “Every one of these 11 songs gets you singing along to the chorus, each hooks you and starts the feet tapping. In the meantime, I’d like to hear ‘The Stanleys’ four or five more times. “If there’s a better pure power pop album that’s been released in 2017, I’d like to hear it. All rights reserved.#92 in John M Borack's book 'Shake Some Action 2.0 - 200 GREATEST POWER POP ALBUMS 1970-2017' (Released Nov 18). WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT Every Number 1 debut album on the Official Chart since 2000 DATE* The eponymous album by Warrington band Viola Beach entered at Number 1 six months after they were tragically killed in a car crash, and US rapper Pop Smoke landed the first ever posthumous Number 1 debut by a solo artist with 2020's Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon.Īt least one debut album has topped the Official Albums Chart every year since 2000, except in 2018, when three Motion Picture Cast Recording albums from hit films dominated the chart for much of the year: The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and A Star Is Born. Other notable debuts in recent years include Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, which made her the youngest ever female solo artist to land a Number 1 album when it debuted at the top in April 2019. Swift had relocated from Pennsylvania to Tennessee in 2004, at fourteen years old, to pursue a career as a country singer-songwriter. MORE: Every Number 1 album by a female solo artist Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on Octoby Big Machine Records in the US and Canada, and Mainternationally. Other huge debuts over the past 20 years include Dido's No Angel, a seven-week Number 1 in 2001 Justin Timberlake's first record away from NSync, Justified, also logged seven weeks at the summit in 2003 Beyoncé's debut Dangerously In Love was a five-week chart-topper that same year and Leona Lewis's world-conquering debut Spirit - a seven-week Number 1 in 2007. In that same year, debut albums from Coldplay, Ronan Keating and Craig David all hit Number 1. The first new album of the 2000s to reach Number 1 was Richard Ashcroft's Alone With Everybody, the musician's first solo record outside of The Verve. MORE: Every Official UK Number 1 album ever The following year saw the launch of British singer-songwriter Sam Smith, whose first collection In The Lonely Hour debuted at Number 1 in June 2014 and notched up eight weeks at the top over the space of nine months.

Lewis's stint at the top is the longest for a debut album in seven years, since Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events, a record which proved an unstoppable force in 2012/2013. One of the biggest and most recent is Lewis Capaldi, whose debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent debuted at Number 1 in May 2019 and recently clocked up an entire year in the Top 10, including 10 weeks at the summit.

The last 20 years has seen scores of new acts launched, many to huge international appeal.

More often than not, a long and fruitful career in music begins with a successful debut album.

Debut album