Take That album becomes century’s fastest seller
Although Take That’s new single ‘The Flood’ has been beaten to the UK number one by Rihanna’s ‘Only Girl (In The World)’, you won’t find them complaining. It seems that the band is simply happy to be back together once again, and with ‘Progress’ becoming the fastest-selling album of the century so far, their popularity is hardly on the wane.
Ever since Robbie Williams repaired his relationship with Gary Barlow in early 2010, the Take That hype machine has been shifting up through the gears in preparation for the release of new material. On Sunday 14th November, the band appeared as guests on the X Factor with a performance that drew rave reviews from critics and public alike, as well as the show’s panel of judges. This followed the airing of a new Take That documentary on UK channel ITV1 the previous day, which featured previously unseen footage of the band, as well as their thoughts on the ups and downs of their careers so far.
After recently stating how happy he was to be reunited with his former colleagues, it seems that Robbie Williams isn’t particularly bothered by the success or failure of their new material. In a recent interview with ITN News, Robbie said, “You know, number two, number one, number three, who cares?” So it’s unlikely that he’ll be too disappointed that Rihanna’s latest single has beaten ‘The Flood’ into second place, despite being released three weeks ago.
However, even if their failure to top the singles chart has left the band a little dejected, they’ll certainly take heart from the performance of their new album. After becoming the biggest pre-order release of the year so far, ‘Progress’ finally went on sale the day after band’s X Factor appearance, and quickly began breaking first day sales records. The Official Charts Company confirm that the album has shifted a staggering 235,000 copies in its first 24 hours on sale, making it the biggest first day seller since Oasis sold 424,000 copies of ‘Be Here Now’ on 21st August 1997.
With Take That hysteria gathering speed once again, it seems that this could be the beginning of a glorious new era for Williams, Barlow and co. Bookmaker Ladbrokes have already slashed the odds of ‘Progress’ becoming the Christmas number one album to 2/5, and online retailer Amazon have confirmed that demand for the album has eclipsed every media release of the last decade. With the band converting a new breed of followers as well as reenergising their old fan base, you can bet that the Take That rebirth will continue to go from strength to strength for some time to come.
