According to Official Guinness Records,
On the Official Albums Chart dated 26 September 2015, In the Lonely Hour (2014) by Sam Smith (UK) recorded its 69th consecutive week inside the Top 10 - the longest unbroken Top 10 run in the UK chart by a debut album. In the Lonely Hour has spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No.1 and has sold in excess of 1.75 million copies in the UK alone.The previous record stood at 66 weeks and was held by Emeli Sandé's Our Version of Events (25 February 2012 to 26 May 2013). Sandé took the record from The Beatles, whose debut album Please Please Me spent 62 consecutive weeks inside the Official Albums Chart Top 10 between 6 April 1963 and 6 June 1964.
The Capitol-released In the Lonely Hour made its UK chart debut - at No.1 - on 7 June 2014 and has enjoyed six separate runs at the top (a UK chart record for a male solo artist). In 69 weeks, it spent eight weeks at No.1, 11 weeks at No.2, 14 weeks at No.3, 16 weeks at No.4, 10 weeks at No.5, four weeks at No.6, three weeks at No.7 (its chart position on 26 September 2015), one week at No.8 and two weeks at No.9. The album's full chart run is: 1 (7 June 2014)-1 (14 June 2014)-3-3-2-5-4-4-3-4-3-2-4-5-1 (13 September 2014)-1 (20 September 2014)-3-3-2-3-3-6-3-5-4-3-4-4-2-2-2-3-1 (17 January 2015)-3-4-4-4-1 (21 February 2015)-2-1 (7 March 2015)-2-1 (21 March 2015;8th and final week at No.1)-2-2-3-4-4-4-8-3-2-5-5-7-5-9-9-6-7-4-5-4-5-5-6-6-5-4-7.
In the Lonely Hour dropped out of the Top 10 (to No.11) on 3 October 2015, but returned to the Top 10 (at No.10) on 10 October before climbing to No.7 on 17 October, in its 72nd week on the chart.
A double-disc version of In the Lonely Hour, titled the 'Drowning Shadows' edition, will be released in November 2015, which is expected to keep the album in the Top 10 as sales of the new edition will be added to the single-disc version.
Other records in sight... With 71 non-consecutive Top 10 weeks as of 17 October 2015, In the Lonely Hour is just three weeks shy of the 74 non-consecutive Top 10 weeks accumulated by Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells between 25 August 1973 and 20 September 1975 - the male solo album with the most Top 10 weeks on the Official Albums Chart. Furthermore, it is five weeks shy of the 76 non-consecutive Top 10 weeks achieved by Adele's 21 between 5 February 2011 and 26 August 2012 - the solo album (male or female) with the most Top 10 weeks on the Official Albums Chart. Overall, the non-soundtrack album with the most UK Top 10 weeks is Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel - 135. The same album has a record 105 Top 5 weeks to its credit. 21 is also the solo album (male or female) with the most Top 5 weeks on the Official Albums Chart - 61. As of 17 October 2015, In the Lonely Hour had racked up 59 non-consecutive Top 5 weeks, eclipsing The Beatles' 56 non-consecutive Top 5 weeks (including 30 consecutive weeks at No.1) in the UK chart with Please Please Me between 13 April 1963 and 9 May 1964.
In the Lonely Hour has produced five singles to date (26 September 2015): "Lay Me Down" (UK chart peak of No.15), "Money on My Mind" (No.1), "Stay with Me" (No.1), "I'm Not the Only One" (No.3) and "Like I Can" (No.9). A re-recorded version of Smith's debut single "Lay Me Down", featuring John Legend and released in aid of Comic Relief, debuted at No.1 on 21 March 2015.
In 2014, In the Lonely Hour was the only album to sell one million copies on both sides of the Atlantic. As of September 2015, it had sold 8.5 million copies worldwide, according to the Official Charts Company.
In the same week In the Lonely Hour took the record from Our Version of Events (12 September 2015), it was confirmed that Smith had recorded the theme song for the next James Bond film, Spectre, called "Writing's on the Wall". It's the first Bond theme recorded by a British male solo artist since Tom Jones' "Thunderball" in 1966, although Paul McCartney penned "Live and Let Die" for the 1973 film of the same name and performed the song with his band Wings. "Writing's on the Wall" debuted at No.1 on 17 October 2015. Spectre is scheduled for release on 26 October 2015.
For a complete list of 2015 records, please visit 2015 Guinness Records in United Kingdom.