The Courteeners’ debut album makes historic 15-year journey to number one

Manchester indie band The Courteeners have scored their first ever number one album, setting a new chart record in the process.

The band’s classic 2007 debut, St Jude, becomes the album with the longest gap between release and topping the chart, at 14 years, 9 months and 7 days.

They beat the likes of Taylor Swift and SZA thanks to a deluxe reissue, packed with rarities and b-sides.

They’re one of only three bands to do this with a re-issued album.

The Courteeners join The Rolling Stones (Goats Head Soup, Exile On Main St.) and The Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) as the only groups to have achieved the feat.

“It feels like a vindication,” frontman Liam Fray said.

“When we started, we went under the radar a bit [so] never in our wildest dreams did we think would be here 15 years later.

“I want to try and be a bit more ‘rock star’ about it, but I just can’t. I just feel blessed to be having this chat with you. It feels really cool.”

Containing the top 20 singles What Took You So Long and Not 19 Forever, St Jude originally charted at number four, and was named The Guardian’s debut album of the year in 2007.

They will celebrate the achievement with a massive hometown show at Heaton Park on Friday 9 June, where they will perform the album in full.

You can read a full interview with Liam Fray below.

Meanwhile, in the singles chart, Miley Cyrus claims the third number one of her career.

Flowers, widely rumoured to be about her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, achieved 92,000 chart sales, and 9.9 million streams in the last seven days – the highest figures since Harry Styles’ As It Was last year.

The slow-burning pop anthem also became the fastest song in Spotify history to reach 100 million streams, and the first to do so in under a week.

Shakira’s savage break-up song – in which she accuses her ex-partner Gerard Pique of cheating on her – is another new entry at number 31.

The unusually-titled BZRP Music Sessions #53 is a collaboration with Argentine DJ Bizarrap – and becomes Shakira’s first UK Top 40 single in nine years.

Fifteen years later, what does St Jude mean to you?

Those songs are so personal and so of that time. The majority of the words were written with the idea of me playing to 50 people in a pub who weren’t listening. None of these were supposed to be singles on the radio, or played 15 years later to thousands of people. No chance.

It was just me, writing to keep myself occupied when I was stood in a shop, bored, selling polo shirts.

The album’s really rooted in Manchester. What inspired you?

I worked in the Fred Perry shop in Manchester and we were very quiet in the week, so, I just filled my notebook and watched the characters passing by. It was the same on the bus from Fallowfield to Manchester: Every person that got on, I’d be jotting down what they were wearing, and how they were talking to their friends. I was obsessed with these characters.

But the whole thing is about growing up and coming of age, more than it is about Manchester.

What was it like revisiting the songs for the deluxe version?

We did an acoustic version of the album for the 10-year anniversary and that was hard because I was like, ‘Jesus, my voice is incredibly high on these songs!’

But I feel more at ease with them now. Or more at ease, maybe, with who I was as an 18-year-old, being envious of other bands.

Which bands did you envy?

Oh God, all of them! There were big bands that would come into Manchester, like the Long Blondes or The Cribs. They were so far out of my sphere, they might as well have been the Beatles and The Stones, because I just had an acoustic guitar and seven songs.

But it wasn’t like I was obsessed with being in a band. I never even thought we would be a band. Then all of a sudden, I played a couple of gigs in the City of Manchester and out of nowhere, 50 people became 200 and it snowballed.

When the album first came out, early sales figures put you at number one, then it ended up at number four. Do you remember who took it from you?

I think it was the Rolling Stones, wasn’t it? No Duffy. Duffy!

That’s right!

It was funny because Duffy was on the same tiny label as us, so the idea of them trying to push us above Duffy in the top 10 was an absolute no-go!

I’m not saying she didn’t deserve it obviously, because that’s a great record. But it’s funny that the person who beat us to number one was in the same office.

Did they have to hide the champagne from you?

Oh no, there was plenty of champagne drunk, don’t worry about that.

Do you feel like the album’s reputation has grown over the last 15 years?

I think so. Those first couple of years were tough because we knew we were connecting but we were a bit more maligned than other bands. Certain things were written about us, and we were slightly looked down upon. And I always thought, how does that make the people who buy the record feel? Are you maligning them as well? Are they not allowed to like what they like?

It’s a really dangerous thing in this country where musicians are, apparently, there to be taken down. It was brutal when we came out but the power has been taken away from the tastemakers somewhat. And that can only be a good thing because, let’s face it, what do they know?

The longevity of the record proves them wrong, much more than a number one would have in 2007.

Exactly. And I think, because we weren’t shoved down people’s throats, we were allowed to breathe and grow at our own rate.

You’re celebrating with your third sold-out show at Heaton Park. What’s in store?

We’re going to basically do everything off St. Jude and then almost a greatest hits. If I think about Heaton Park, the scale of it it just blows my mind, so I tend to put it off until the morning of the gig.

I’ll just enjoy the next couple of months, play a bit of golf, watch the football, do a bit of cooking. And then I’ll be like, ‘Oh crap, we’d best deal with this now’.

But it’ll just be such a celebration. It’s a testament to all those people that have supported us.