Mistletoe and grime: Stormzy beats Cliff Richard’s Christmas album to No 1

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 Richards 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 – a metric that encompasses streams and sales – separated the two records, with This Is What I Mean moving 27,800 units compared to 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 on the chart. Richard achieved seven No 1 album placements throughout 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 placement since The Album, which peaked at No 1 in April 1993. Appearing on This Morning, Richard said 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.”

This Is What I Mean is Stormzy’s first album in three years but the London rapper has remained in the public eye for much of the interim, continuing to publish 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, an initiative aiming to boost off-pitch diversity in football.

This Is What I Mean has been noted for its muted tone, with Guardian critic Alexis Petridis describing the album 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, told the Guardian 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.” Stormzy will support This Is What I Mean with a show at the O2 arena, London, on 11 December and a headline show at Victoria Park, dubbed This Is What We Mean Day, on 18 August as part of London’s All Points East festival.