'The Greatest Showman' Overtakes 'Saturday Night Fever' As Longest Number One Soundtrack Album In 50 Years

An impressive feat for a film that didn't exactly get glowing reviews.

‘The Greatest Showman’ has officially become the UK’s longest-running number one film soundtrack since the 1960s.

On Friday, it was announced that the the accompanying album to the film ‘The Greatest Showman’ had racked up its 19th non-consecutive week at number one.

This means it has officially overtaken the classic disco soundtrack to ‘Saturday Night Fever’, which spent 18 weeks at number one upon its release in 1978.

Open Image Modal
Hugh Jackman leads 'The Greatest Showman'
20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

While ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack is already the biggest-selling album of 2018, it still has a long way of toppling the record for longest-serving number one soundtrack album.

The album that accompanied ‘The Sound Of Music’ spent a hefty 70 non-consecutive weeks as the UK’s number one album in a three-year period between 1965 and 1968, while the ‘South Pacific’ soundtrack did even better, sitting at the top of the charts for 115 weeks between 1958 and 1961.

Earlier this year, the soundtrack to ‘The Greatest Showman’ became the first album in 30 years to achieve 11 consecutive weeks at the top of the UK albums charts, with new releases from the likes of Kanye West, Snow Patrol, James Bay, Manic Street Preachers and J Cole all having to settle for the number two spot, at the expense of the Hugh Jackman-led soundtrack.

Open Image Modal
Keala Settle performs 'This Is Me' in the film's most memorable scene
Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The film also made its impact on the UK singles chart, with signature tune ‘This Is Me’, performed by Keala Settle, peaking at number three.

Zac Efron and Zendaya’s duet ‘Rewrite The Stars’ and opening number ‘The Greatest Show’ also both made the top 20, at 16 and 20 respectively.