Meat Loaf albums return to the UK charts after his death

A week after his death, Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell has re-entered the UK charts at number three - its highest ever placing.

Released in 1977, the operatic rock opus originally failed to chart at all, only starting to sell the following year when Meat Loaf appeared on BBC Two's The Old Grey Whistle Test.

It went on to sell 3.3m copies in the UK alone.

Born Marvin Lee Aday, Meat Loaf died of unknown causes last Friday, aged 74.

His death triggered a surge of affection for his songs, with streams increasing by 2,583%, according to Billboard magazine.

That also propelled his compilation album Hits Out Of Hell into the top five; with 1993's Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell charting at 24.

Bat Out Of Hell's previous chart peak was at number nine, which it achieved both in 1981 and 2013.

The record has now spent 523 weeks - more than 10 years - on the charts. Only three studio albums have surpassed that figure: Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon and (What's The Story) Morning Glory, by Oasis.

Meat Loaf made an impression on the singles chart, too. Bat Out Of Hell's title track was a new entry at 26, with I Would Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) appearing at 32, and Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, reaching number 46.

Under current chart rules, artists are allowed a maximum of three songs in the singles chart, so any subsequent songs have been starred out of the countdown.

We Don't Talk About Bruno - which last week became the first original Disney song to ever reach number one - spent a second week at the top.

Taken from the film Encanto, the song denied Nigerian star Fireboy DML his first ever number one. His collaboration with Ed Sheeran, titled Peru, had been number one in early sales alerts, but slipped behind as the week went on.

The highest new entry was Digga D and Stillbrickin's Pump 101, at number nine.

The song, which samples the 50 Cent / G-Unit classic Stunt 101, is currently the top trending song on YouTube - priming it for a climb into next week's top five.

Elsewhere in the album charts, Years & Years' third album Night Call went straight in at number one.

Now a solo project for singer Olly Alexander, the band started out as a three-piece, winning the BBC Sound Of 2015 before scoring hits with King and Desire.

Celebrating, the latest news, Alexander said: "I'm just really, really proud. Everybody who got this album and streamed it - I can't believe it, thank you so, so, so much! We got Number One baby!"

Runners-up were Leeds rock band Yard Act, whose debut album The Overload landed at number two.

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