Stormzy beats Cliff’s Christmas album to No 1 after late rush

Stormzy’s third album, This Is What I Mean, has debuted at No 1 on the UK albums chart, beating Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff to the top spot in a photo finish.

It was reported this week that Richard was hot on the grime kingpin’s heels with his first Christmas record in 19 years; ultimately, it was a “last minute surge”, according to the Official Charts Company, that clinched Stormzy’s win. A relatively small margin of chart units – which encompasses streams and sales – separated the two records, with This Is What I Mean moving 27,800 units compared with Christmas With Cliff’s 24,300.

This Is What I Mean, which was released on 25 November, is Stormzy’s third consecutive No 1 album. His debut, Gang Signs & Prayer, was the first grime album to hit No 1. Richard had seven No 1 albums in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and reached No 3 with 2020’s Music … The Air That I Breathe. Christmas With Cliff’s No 2 finish is his highest spot since The Album, which reached No 1 in 1993.

Richard told This Morning this week that he didn’t “know Stormzy at all”. He added: “Next year is my 65th year and here I am in the charts with the most popular artist of the decade and I am able to still compete. So I am just really happy about it.”

Stormzy’s album may be his first in three years but the London rapper has remained in the public eye, publishing books through his Penguin Random House imprint Merky Books, funding a scholarship for black British students at Cambridge University and working with major brands on Merky FC, aiming to boost off-pitch diversity in football.

The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis described This Is What I Mean in a four-star review as “noticeably more introverted and personal” than its predecessors. Gary Younge, one of the few journalists to have interviewed Stormzy in the past few years, said last month that This Is What I Mean is “not just another album” for the grime superstar, but “a statement about his freedom as an artist”.