George Michael album tops UK charts again after 27 years

LONDON - AFP

George Michael’s chart-topping 1990 album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” returned straight to number one in the British charts on Oct. 27, 10 months after the British pop star’s death at theage of 53.

The remastered record sold over 56,000 copies to come first in the charts in the largest first-week sales for a re-released album in charts history.

The album was reissued to coincide with a new documentary about the star’s rise to fame.
Its instant appeal matches the success of the original release, Michael’s second solo album after he left the duo Wham!, which also shot straight to number one in September 1990.

It went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide.

Michael, who was found dead on Christmas Day last year, personally oversaw the remastering of the record prior to his death.

It includes an “MTV Unplugged” set from 1996 and a previously unreleased track, “Fantasy,” featuring Nile Rodgers.

The album was released following the airing earlier this month on British TV of the film “George Michael: Freedom”, which the singer had also been personally guiding before he died.

David Austin, Michael’s manager, long-term collaborator and close friend since childhood, said the team behind the efforts were “incredibly proud” to have immediately topped the charts.

“It’s no great secret that George was a perfectionist and it shows, he was over everything from its inception to its finish and it’s a blessing and rare gift to be guided by such genius,” he added in a statement.

Michael, one of the most successful British artists ever, enjoyed album sales of more than 115 million, alongside Andrew Ridgeley in the band Wham! and then as a solo artist.