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George Michael returns to No.1, making UK chart history
The reissue of the late George Michael’s 1990 masterpiece Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 has gone straight to No.1 in the UK charts, 27 years after the album was first released.
The record sold over 56,000 copies – the biggest first week sales for a reissue in UK chart history. It matches the success of the original release, which also went straight to No.1 in the UK album charts before going on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide.
George personally oversaw the remastering of the album, which includes his legendary MTV Unplugged set from 1996 and the previously unreleased track ‘Fantasy’ featuring Nile Rodgers.
The album was released following the broadcast of the film George Michael: Freedom on Channel 4 earlier this month, which George had also been personally guiding before he passed away on December 25th last year.
David Austin, George Michael’s manager, long-term collaborator and close friend since childhood, said, “for three years George, myself and his loyal team have worked relentlessly alongside our amazing team at Sony and together we have carefully crafted our beautiful LWP/MTV Unplugged campaign and film Freedom. It’s no great secret that George was a perfectionist and it shows, he was over everything from its inception to its finish and it’s a blessing and rare gift to be guided by such genius. That, along with exceptional teamwork and the overwhelming love for George from the public, has made everything come together. We are all so incredibly proud to have the No.1 album in the UK.”
George Michael was one of the most successful UK artists of all time. Alongside Andrew Ridgeley in Wham! and then as a solo artist, he had record sales of more than 115 million worldwide.
