Meat Loaf tops chart for best-selling debut albums in UK history

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By Mark SavageBBC Music Correspondent the best-selling debut album in CD history UK harts, it has been revealed.

The record, a campy mix of hard rock and Broadway pizzazz, sold over 3.5 million copies in the UK, spending 530 weeks in the top 100.

It beat James Blunt's Back To Bedlam, which is the biggest debut by a British artist and second on the overall list, compiled to mark National Scrapbook Day.

Blunt is followed by Spirit by Leona Lewis and The Fame of Lady Gaga.

The top 10 also includes successful debut albums from Dido, the Spice Girls, Alanis Morissette and Coldplay, while Ed Sheeran, Adele and Oasis are also on the full list.

The top 20 will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday, with an extended program featuring the top 40 available on BBC Sounds.

"Bat Out Of Hell hitting number one might come as a surprise to some," presenter Steve Wright said. which reached a whole new audience following the sad passing of Meat Loaf earlier this year."

Styled like an OTT rock opera, the album contains greetings like You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth and Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, as well than the nine-minute title track.