Simultaneous – Skin Back Alley

Kate Bush has become the first female artist in British chart history to have eight albums in the UK Top 40 at the same time.

The record was previously held by Madonna, who had 3 albums in the Top 40 simultaneously in 1987.

Bush has seen album sales rocket with the advent of her Before The Dawn residency at London’s Eventim Hammersmith Apollo this week.

Eight of Bush’s 11 entries in the Top 75 in this week’s Official UK Albums Chart have made it into the Top 40, including Hounds Of Love, The Kick Inside, 50 Words For Snow and Lionheart, reports the UK’s Official Charts Company. In terms of record breaking, that means that Bush is now third only to Elvis, who had 12 LPs in the the charts after his death in 1977, and The Beatles, 11 of whose 2009 reissues achieved the same feat.