The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, which was based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Singles Chart were faring in Scotland has not been published since 11 December 2020. The OCC began publishing the albums chart through their website on the same date.
History In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Radio & Record News and Record Business magazines compiled Scottish charts which were broadcast on Independent Local Radio stations such as Radio Clyde and Radio Forth; these showed particular favour for hard rock, punk and new wave while soul and other "black" styles would fare less well; for example, on 23 June 1978, Radio & Record News placed Heatwave at number 15 UK-wide but number 40 in Scotland, the O'Jays at number 21 UK-wide but not in the Scottish Top 40 and Bob Marley at number 26 UK-wide but not in the Scottish Top 40, but AC/DC at number 38 UK-wide and number 20 in Scotland, the Clash at number 62 UK-wide and number 22 in Scotland, and the Vibrators at number 65 UK-wide but number 39 in Scotland.Radio & Record News UK-wide and Scottish charts for 23 June 1978.
In the late 1980s, as frustration in Scotland at perceived isolation from the Thatcher government grew, pressure was applied for the creation of an official Scottish chart; Brian Guthri of the Scottish Record Industry Association claimed that the official UK charts did not pick up many sales by Scottish acts as they were not polling enough shops in Scotland, citing Win's "You've Got the Power" (the theme song from McEwan's Lager adverts) as an example"Scots plan break away music chart", The Stage and Television Today, 23 March 1989 and a month of research determined significant differences from the UK charts, with indie acts selling particularly well."Scotland gets own hit parade" (sic), The Stage and Television Today, 11 May 1989 That autumn, the SRIA voted to set up its own chart, suggesting that the balance of 75 chart return shops in Greater London to 45 in Scotland was unfair."SRIA hits back at 'English bias'", The Stage and Television Today, 19 October 1989 Although a Scottish chart had been broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland beforehand,See for example listings in the Newcastle Journal, 4 May 1990 the first official Scottish Gallup charts were published on 17 March 1991; notably, they placed Scottish band the Silencers at number 6 in the album chart (only number 39 UK-wide) and The Simpsons Sing the Blues album higher than the Inspector Morse soundtrack, which was 11 places higher UK-wide. The launch of this chart was heralded by Neil Ross of the Scottish Record Industry Association, who again suggested that the UK charts were disproportionately slanted towards sales in London and the south of England, while music manager Bruce Findlay suggested that Scotland could potentially produce a music TV show with as much international appeal as the then-popular DEF II series Rapido."Putting Scotland on the map", The Stage and Television Today, 18 April 1991 From 20 September 1991, a short weekly TV programme based around the Scottish chart was broadcast by BBC1 Scotland on Friday nights, hosted by Nicky Campbell, then of Radio 1"New Series", The Stage and Television Today, 19 September 1991 and the chart continued to be broadcast on Monday nights on BBC Radio ScotlandSee many listings in the Perthshire Advertiser up to May 1993 although it was dropped, along with other night-time music programmes on that station, during the last year of Gallup's contract."Newsfile", Music Week, 29 May 1993 Frankie Miller's song "Caledonia", included in Tennant's adverts which were only shown in Scotland and Northern Ireland, topped the Scottish chart while only being a minor UK-wide hit.Perthshire Advertiser, 10 April 1992 An unofficial Scottish Network Chart was also taken by Scottish commercial stations, including Radio Tay, in the early 1990s.See many listings in the Perthshire Advertiser from 18 January 1991 to 14 October 1994, with two further listings in November 1996.
Archives on the Official Charts Company website go back to February 1994, when Millward Brown took over as chart compilers and the number of retailers sampled throughout the UK increased. After this relaunch, Scottish Television launched a show based around the official Scottish chart, called Chart Bite."Television News: It'll be an even later night for the South Bank Show in Scotland", The Stage and Television Today, 10 February 1994
How the UK and Scottish charts were compiled diverged several times from 1994. Whereas digital downloads were incorporated into the UK singles chart from April 2005 and albums from April 2006, the Scottish charts remained physical sales only until the week ending 10 October 2009 when digital sales were included. This brought how the two charts were compiled in line for almost five years until the week ending 6 July 2014, when streaming was included in the UK singles chart and later in the UK album chart for the week ending 1 March 2015. The Scottish charts remained compiled of digital and physical sales only until the week ending 20 November 2020, when the singles chart was discontinued and only physical sales are counted for the album chart. The final number one single was "Always" by Scottish band the Snuts.
Number ones
1994 Date Single Artist Album Artist 27 February "Without You" Mariah Carey Music Box Mariah Carey 6 March 13 March "Doop" Doop Hit the Highway The Proclaimers 20 March Vauxhall and I Morrissey 27 March Energy Rush: 7th Heaven Various artists 3 April "Everything Changes" Take That Our Town – The Greatest Hits Deacon Blue 10 April 17 April "The Real Thing" Tony Di Bart 24 April "Love Is All Around" Wet Wet Wet I Say I Say I Say Erasure 1 May 8 May 15 May 22 May 29 May Top Gear Various artists 5 June 12 June 19 June 26 June 3 July 10 July Dance Zone – Level Two 17 July End of Part One: Their Greatest Hits Wet Wet Wet 24 July 31 July 7 August Now That's What I Call Music! 28 Various artists 14 August 21 August 28 August 4 September Definitely Maybe Oasis 11 September "Saturday Night" Whigfield The Best Rock Album in the World... Ever! Various artists 18 September 25 September 2 October Monster R.E.M. 9 October "Sure" Take That 16 October Cross Road Bon Jovi 23 October "Saturday Night" Whigfield 30 October "Baby Come Back" Pato Banton featuring Ali and Robin Campbell 6 November The Greatest Hits INXS 13 November Cross Road Bon Jovi 20 November "Another Night" (MC Sar &) The Real McCoy Now That's What I Call Music! 29 Various artists 27 November "Love Spreads" The Stone Roses 4 December "Stay Another Day" East 17 11 December 18 December Carry On up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South The Beautiful South 25 December
1995 Date Single Artist Album Artist 1 January "Cotton Eye Joe" Rednex Carry On up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South The Beautiful South 8 January 15 January 22 January 29 January The Best Punk Album in the World...Ever! Various artists 5 February "Think Twice" Celine Dion Good News from the Next World Simple Minds 12 February The Colour of My Love Celine Dion 19 February 26 February 5 March Greatest Hits Bruce Springsteen 12 March Medusa Annie Lennox 19 March "Love Can Build a Bridge" Cher, Chrissie Hynde & Neneh Cherry with Eric Clapton Elastica Elastica 26 March "Don't Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)" The Outhere Brothers The Colour of My Love Celine Dion 2 April "Back for Good" Take That Greatest Hits Bruce Springsteen 9 April 16 April Picture This Wet Wet Wet 23 April Now That's What I Call Music! 30 Various artists 30 April "Some Might Say" Oasis 7 May Nobody Else Take That 14 May "Unchained Melody" / "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" Robson & Jerome 21 May Stanley Road Paul Weller 28 May On a Dance Tip 2 Various artists 4 June Pulse Pink Floyd 11 June "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" U2 18 June "Unchained Melody" / "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" Robson & Jerome HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I Michael Jackson 25 June These Days Bon Jovi 2 July Pride: The Very Best of Scotland Various artists 9 July "Boom Boom Boom" The Outhere Brothers 16 July 23 July 30 July "Never Forget" Take That 6 August Now That's What I Call Music! 31 13 August 20 August "Roll with It" Oasis 27 August "Country House" Blur 3 September "I'll Be There for You" The Rembrandts The Charlatans The Charlatans 10 September "Stayin' Alive" N-Trance featuring Ricardo da Force Help Various artists 17 September The Great Escape Blur 24 September "Fairground" Simply Red 1 October Heartbeat: Forever Yours Various artists 8 October (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 15 October Life Simply Red 22 October "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" Meat Loaf (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 29 October "Gangsta's Paradise" Coolio featuring L.V. 5 November "I Believe" / "Up on the Roof" Robson & Jerome Different Class Pulp 12 November (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 19 November Robson & Jerome Robson & Jerome 26 November 3 December 10 December "Free as a Bird" The Beatles 17 December "Earth Song" Michael Jackson 24 December "Wonderwall" The Mike Flowers Pops 31 December "Earth Song" Michael Jackson (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis
1996 Date Single Artist Album Artist 7 January "Earth Song" Michael Jackson (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 14 January "Jesus to a Child" George Michael 21 January "Spaceman" Babylon Zoo 28 January 4 February 11 February 18 February "Children" Robert Miles Expecting to Fly The Bluetones 25 February "Don't Look Back in Anger" Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 3 March "How Deep Is Your Love" Take That 10 March 17 March "Children" Robert Miles Falling into You Celine Dion 24 March Now That's What I Call Music! 33 Various artists 31 March "The X-Files" Mark Snow Greatest Hits Take That 7 April "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" Gina G 14 April 21 April 28 April Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette 5 May 12 May Older George Michael 19 May 26 May 2 June "Killing Me Softly" Fugees 9 June Load Metallica 16 June Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette 23 June 30 June Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House Crowded House 7 July 14 July 21 July "Wannabe" Spice Girls 28 July Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette 4 August "Freedom" Robbie Williams 11 August "Wannabe" Spice Girls 18 August Now That's What I Call Music! 34 Various artists 25 August 1 September "One to Another" The Charlatans 8 September "Flava" Peter Andre 15 September "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Deep Blue Something New Adventures in Hi-Fi R.E.M. 22 September K Kula Shaker 29 September 6 October 13 October "Words" Boyzone Long Distance Runrig 20 October "Say You'll Be There" Spice Girls 27 October Blue Is the Colour The Beautiful South 3 November "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" / "Saturday Night at the Movies" / "You'll Never Walk Alone" Robson & Jerome A Different Beat Boyzone 10 November Spice Spice Girls 17 November "Breathe" The Prodigy Take Two Robson & Jerome 24 November 1 December "One and One" Robert Miles featuring Maria Nayler Now That's What I Call Music! 35 Various artists 8 December "A Different Beat" Boyzone Spice Spice Girls 15 December "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" / "Throw These Guns Away" Dunblane 22 December "2 Become 1" Spice Girls 29 December
1997