Meat Loaf‘s Bat Out Of Hell has been crowned as the U.K.’s biggest debut album of all time.

As part of the 2022 National Album Day celebrations, the late performer’s 1977 debut has been announced by BBC Radio 2 as the biggest debut album of all time in the U.K., using Official Charts data in partnership with National Album Day based on sales and streams combined.

Bat Out Of Hell reached the Top 10 for the first time in 2013 and peaked nine years later at No. 3 in January, 2022, following the demise of Meat Loaf.

The album has spent a total of 530 weeks in the Official Albums Chart Top 100 in the 45 years since its release.

Taking the No. 2 rank, and the biggest debut album by a British artist, is James Blunt‘s 2004 chart-topping debut Back To Bedlam. Reacting to the news, Blunt said, “Are you sure? There must have been some kind of mistake.”

Leona Lewis follows at No. 3, scoring the biggest debut for a female artist with her 2007 album, Spirit.

She is closely followed by Lady Gaga‘s The Fame at No. 4, which sports two No. 1 singles in “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.”

Dido‘s 1999 album No Angel is ranked fifth. It took 20 months for the album to finally reach Number 1 in February 2001 before spending seven weeks at the top.

Spice Girls come in at No. 6 with their 1996 album Spice, the biggest debut for a group.

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