Elijah Hewson’s rock group knock Olivia Rodrigo off the top spot with their debut album.
image copyrightOfficialCharts.com
Elijah Hewson has proved he can follow in his father Bono’s footsteps after the debut album by his band Inhaler entered the UK chart at number one.
Hewson fronts the Irish band, whose LP Won’t Always Be Like This has knocked Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour off the top spot.
Although Bono’s band U2 have had 10 UK number one albums in total, Inhaler have managed something they did not by going to the summit with their debut.
“We can’t believe our album has gone to number one,” Inhaler said.
“From starting off in small clubs in the UK to where we are today, never did we think during the making of this album that this would be possible for us four chancers,” they told the Official Charts website.
Inhaler finished fifth on the BBC Sound of 2020 list and have now become the first Irish act to top the UK chart with their debut album since The Script in 2008.
It comes 40 years after U2’s debut, 1981’s Boy, which didn’t even make the top 40.
image copyrightGetty Images
While acknowledging the influence of and interest in his famous father, 21-year-old Hewson stressed that his own band had worked hard to prove themselves and build their own fanbase on the way up.
“It has definitely allowed a lot of doors to be opened, but I think those doors shut just as fast because some people may have pre-biases to the band,” he said.
image copyrightGetty Images
“It’s of course really, really handy to be able go to someone like that and ask for advice,” he continued. “But I think we have all discovered that we need to figure things out on their own.
“I am sure a lot of people would have expected us just to take the easy route and use connections and stuff, but we haven’t done that. We did all the grafting.”
image copyrightGetty Images
- Nancy Sinatra had two number one singles in the UK. These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ was a hit in 1966, and Somethin’ Stupid was a duet with her dad Frank Sinatra the following year.
- Julio Iglesias topped the UK singles chart in 1981 with Begin The Beguine – a feat matched by son Enrique Iglesias in 2002 with Hero, which was taken from his number one album Escape.
- Child actor-turned-adult-singer Miley Cyrus followed in the footsteps of her US country singer father Billy Ray Cyrus, who had a number three hit in 1992 with Achy Breaky Heart. His daughter racked up a UK number one album in 2013 with Bangerz, which yielded two chart-topping singles, Wrecking Ball and We Can’t Stop. Her dad enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in 2019 when he teamed up with Lil Nas X for a country-rap mash up of his ubiquitous hit Old Town Road.
- Neneh Cherry is best-known for her 1988 hit Buffalo Stance, which peaked at number three. Thirty-one years later, her daughter Mabel‘s hit Don’t Call Me Up reached the same position – as did her album High Expectations. The apple never falls far from the tree.
Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.