Amy Winehouse’s posthumous album tops UK album chart

London: Amy Winehouse’s posthumous album ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’ has topped the album chart in UK. The singer’s posthumous collection featuring original tracks and covers was released last Monday. Producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson had compiled the 12 songs together after listening to thousands of hours of vocals by the singer, many of them from sessions for her hit albums ‘Frank’ and ‘Back To Black’. Some of the proceeds from the album will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which had been set up in her name. Winehouse displaced Olly Murs, the 2009 X Factor finalist, who topped the chart from The Official UK Charts Company last weekend with ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’. Murs slipped to number four, with Michael Buble’s ‘Christmas’ remaining at number two, and ‘Heaven’ by Rebecca Ferguson entering the chart at number three while Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’ slipped from three to five. The Official Charts Company revealed that Winehouse’s album had sold more than 194,000 copies giving her the biggest weekly sales tally of her career. The sales also gave the singer one of the biggest first week album sales of the year, behind only Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ (215,000), Coldplay’s ‘Mylo Xyloto’ (208,343) and Adele’s ‘21’ (208,090). Winehouse’s mother Janis Winehouse felt that her daughter’s album becoming number one showed that she still meant something to people. “It’s such amazing news that Amy’s album has gone to number one, and just goes to show what she still means to people,” the Telegraph quoted Winehouse as saying. “It’s especially good for the foundation and knowing that every sale will go to help a deserving cause makes the news all the more special. I’m so proud of my daughter and so happy that she is still touching people. She’s forever in my heart,” she said. Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said that the album doing so well spoke volumes about what the singer meant to her British music fans and was a fitting tribute to her. “For Amy’s posthumous album to soar to the top of the Official Albums Chart in what is such a competitive time of year is an impressive achievement and a fitting tribute. It shows just what she meant to British music fans,” Talbot said. Meanwhile, Gennaro Castaldo of retailers HMV revealed that although they expected her posthumous album to go straight in at number one yet the level of sales that it had achieved was remarkable. “We fully expected Lioness: Hidden Treasures to go straight in at number one, but to do so achieving such a level of sales is truly remarkable. We can see this album vying to be at the top of the Official Charts all the way through Christmas,” Castaldo said. ANI