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