| Specialist Classical Albums Chart number ones |
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| Specialist Classical Albums Chart Official Charts Company |
This is a list of the number-one albums of the Specialist Classical Albums Chart during the 2020s.
| Contents |
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As of 1 February 2025 [update] , Ten artists have spent six or more weeks at the top of the Specialist Classical Albums Chart so far during the 2020s. The totals below include only credited performances.
| Artist | Number-one albums | Weeks at number one |
|---|---|---|
| Ludovico Einaudi | 2 | 43 |
| Víkingur Ólafsson | 4 | 24 |
| Poor Clares of Arundel | 2 | 22 |
| Max Richter | 4 | 22 |
| Sheku Kanneh-Mason | 2 | 20 |
| Simon Rattle | 3 | 16 |
| Choir of King's College, Cambridge | 3 | 9 |
| John Wilson | 7 | 8 |
| Lang Lang | 2 | 8 |
| Chad Lawson | 1 | 6 |
As of 1 February 2025 [update] , Twenty six record labels have released chart-topping albums so far during the 2020s.
| Record label | Number-one albums | Weeks at number one |
|---|---|---|
| Decca | 32 | 139 |
| Deutsche Grammophon | 17 | 45 |
| Hyperion | 16 | 16 |
| Chandos | 10 | 11 |
| Warner Classics | 3 | 8 |
| Sony Classical | 6 | 6 |
| Delphian | 2 | 4 |
| Harmonia Mundi | 4 | 4 |
| Opera Rara | 1 | 2 |
| VCM | 1 | 1 |
| BMG | 2 | 2 |
| Pentatone | 2 | 2 |
| Naxos | 1 | 1 |
| King's College Cambridge | 2 | 4 |
| Erato | 2 | 2 |
| Linn | 1 | 1 |
| ECM | 1 | 2 |
| Classic FM | 1 | 1 |
| NoneSuch | 1 | 1 |
| Asthmatic Kitty | 1 | 1 |
| Silva Classics | 1 | 1 |
| Orange Mountain Music | 1 | 1 |
| LSO Live | 1 | 1 |
| Signum | 1 | 1 |
| ECM New Series | 1 | 1 |
| BR Klassik | 1 | 1 |
The UK Classical Charts are three record charts based on classical music in the United Kingdom: the Classical Artist Albums Chart, the Classical Compilation Albums Chart and the Specialist Classical Albums Chart. The charts are commercial monitoring and marketing devices used by the UK music industry to measure its effectiveness in promoting and selling albums, nominally in the field of classical music. All three charts are compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC). The measurements are made by collating the returns of sales from a number of well-known music stores on a regular basis, and this enables a ranking to be established. Most classical artist album sales in the UK are from crossover artists. For an album to be classified as classical in the charts, it has to have 60% of the playing time dedicated to "classical or traditional music". Only albums that entirely classical or traditional music qualify for inclusion in the Specialist Classical Albums Chart.
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays. It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on UKChartsPlus as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed, this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums only including this data. As of 2021, Since 1983, the OCC generally provides a public charts for hits and weeks up to the Top 100. Business customers can require additional chart placings.
The Official Classical Singles Chart was a record chart based on downloads and streaming of classical music in the United Kingdom. Each week's chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) and was first published on Monday afternoon on their official website. The chart ran for 140 weeks from 2012 to 2015, during which time a total of 23 singles by 22 artists reached number one. The most successful artist was the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, who topped the chart with three singles for a total of 54 weeks, while the most successful record label was Decca Records, which spent 89 weeks at number one with six singles. Einaudi's track "I Giorni" from his album of the same name spent 51 weeks at number one, longer than any other single. In January 2013, following the release of Einaudi's album In a Time Lapse, singles by the pianist accounted for 13 of the Top 20 on the Official Classical Singles Chart. Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, described him as one of the chart's "biggest and most consistent stars".
