The Specials have climbed to the top of the charts with their first album of new material in 37 years.
The latest release from the band – who are pioneers of the ska scene in the UK – has made it to No 1 in the album charts.
Encore is their first No 1 album, and it is the first time they have topped the charts since their classic track Ghost Town in 1981, and 39 years since their single Too Much Too Young became a No 1.
The band was formed in 1977 in Coventry and has undergone numerous changes since then, including being renamed Special AKA in the early 1980s.
Quoted by the Official Charts Company, the Specials said: “Recording the album has been one of the most amazing trips of our lives.
“What can we say? It couldn’t have been better timing. A real thanks to the fans who have stayed with us for all this time. We all share in this, thank you.”
The band made a name with their ska and rocksteady style, and for providing a musical backdrop to economic recession, urban decay and societal fracture in the early 1980s.
After a week of intense promotion and signings with Specials fans, they have narrowly beaten their chart competition to top spot, by just over 1,000 sales.
Miranda Sawyer, who interviewed the band for the Observer on Sunday, described the new album in her article as “strong musically, with an unexpectedly broader palette that takes in disco, funk and oompah as well as reggae.”
She also said that the lyrics “take on the personal and the political, the US and the UK, though more ambiguously than the Specials’ original precision attacks.”
According to the Official Charts Company, Busted’s latest album Half Way There came second in a week of resurgent bands.
The Greatest Showman cast recording remains in the album charts at No 3, having spent 28 non-consecutive weeks at the top since its release, with another veteran performer Ian Brown making it to No 4 with Ripples.
London Rapper Fredo’s release Third Avenue came fifth in the album charts. Ariana Grande remains at the top of the singles chart for the third week in a row with 7 Rings. Ava Max is at No 2 with Sweet But Pyscho.
Sam Smith and Normani’s Dancing With a Stranger is No 3, and Calvin Harris and Rag’n’Bone Man claimed No 4 with Giant. Mabel secured her first top-five single with Don’t Call Me Up.
