The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.
David Bowie
Hunky Dory
At No.35, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, is David Bowie with Hunky Dory.
A second encounter…
…along my musical round and a catch up on chart performance awaits for this former slow-burner of an album from David, which I’d first met during my previous year.
Since it’s sporadic performance in sales last time,..
…it seems that this album is finally getting the recognition it rightly deserves. Due in part to the eventual release of the track “Life On Mars” as a single during the previous summer of 1973.
By now, Bowie is so fully ensconced into the contemporary music buying public’s subconscious that he’s virtually impossible to ignore, with striking images of his now well known characters adorning not only bedroom walls, but also widespread countless record shops, and other established retail walls and windows to the world.
On top of that, he is also continuing to currently have a healthy relationship in the corresponding singles chart, with two singles, something old and something new, currently in this week’s Top 10.
The Album,..
…since I’d last left it, and itself just about to leave the chart after that week of my first birthday last year, came back once again in March to begin a four-week run that would see it through until the end of that month; after which, it disappeared for the month of April before first returning for a quick week in mid-May, and then making a real significant return to welcome in the summer month of June; and that was where this album finally began to get some long awaited acceptance, acknowledgement and appreciation.
As June turned to July, the LP eventually began a real climb up the chart from the lowly end of the Top 50, and soon it threatened to break into the Top 10.
By the end of July, and going into August, it crashed through that barrier and sat at No.4.
Two weeks further in, and David had reached the Top 3; a position which this album is still to better. After slipping a couple of places the following week, it hit the same peak once more at the end of that month.
For the rest of September and a big chunk of October, the album remained securely in the Top 10 before stepping back to Top 20 territory for a month, and then settling comfortably in the mid-chart, through the rest of autumn, into this winter and New Year of 1974, which is where I meet it once again.
From here,..
…it stays true to form for the next few weeks, before it takes it’s fifth leave of absence after the 16th of March; ending a substantial run which has seen it complete an impressive and well-deserved continuous run of 42 weeks.
That means that by that point, the album will have now notched up a noteworthy year and 2 weeks of non-consecutive chart presence; and it still has some way to go.
This therefore means that, once again, I will be meeting up with this iconic album when we both arrive at one of my future birthdays.
Side 1
Side 2
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