Rod Stewart & Jools Holland finished at No.1 with Swing Fever for physical sales in the first quarter of the year, Music Week can reveal.
According to figures from the Official Charts Company, the veterans’ collaborative album finished ahead of Liam Gallagher & John Squire’s LP in terms of overall sales for physical formats.
Swing Fever (East West/Rhino) amassed 42,773 physical sales in Q1, just ahead of the self-titled album from Liam Gallagher & John Squire (42,239). The Swing Fever LP has total sales to date across both pure sales and streams of 48,814.
Speaking exclusively to Official Charts, Rod Stewart says: “Are we happy about this, Jools? Totally unexpected!”
Jools Holland adds: “I’m so happy, this has never happened to me before. I’m absolutely delighted, thank you so much!”
The key element for Swing Fever’s Q1 success was the CD edition with 39,442 sales on the format in the first quarter, which is on a par with Pink’s Trustfall LP in Q1 2023 for compact disc sales.
It comes amid signs of a CD revival after years of decline for the format. According to the Q1 market figures from the BPI, CD sales were down 2.3% year-on-year, but that was a much slower rate of decline than the 11% fall in Q1 2023.
A covers album featuring songs from the big band era, Swing Fever would become the 11th Number 1 album – and first in nearly five years – for Stewart, while Holland would celebrate his first-ever chart-topping LP in the UK.
"I started making this album in Los Angeles, Rod Stewart says, It wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it to. It was a bit too white-polite, if you know what I mean. I needed someone with a bit of edge, and this man came to mind. I knew all about his background."
Jools Holland: I’ve been following him for years. Rod has one of the greatest voices of all time. No matter what it was, or what style he sings, it all becomes one style, which is the Rod Stewart style. The only other person who could do that was Ray Charles — it didn’t matter what he sang, it became his. Frank Sinatra was similar. I’ve been listening to Rod play for years, but the more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I love him.
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The 78 years old, the singer doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as he recently discussed his collaboration with Jools Holland on their new swing album Swing Fever. While excited about the project, the icon admitted it was going to be a “difficult sell” to fans.
Swing Fever Tracklisting
Lullaby Of Broadway
Oh Marie
Sentimental Journey
Pennies From Heaven
Night Train
Love Is The Sweetest Thing
Them There Eyes
Good Rockin’ Tonight
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Frankie And Johnny
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
Almost Like Being In Love
Tennessee Waltz
Given his years in the music industry, Stewart knows the problems that come with a new album, getting it just right, and then selling it to the masses. Speaking about Swing Fever, the songwriter said, “Having Jools and Rod on the bill is a good ticket. But the record is going to be a difficult sell because it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but once you listen, you get hooked. There isn’t one track on it where you won’t want to get up and dance.
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ABout Train Models
Jool recently told Vulture: "I remember a mutual acquaintance telling me about it a few years ago. One of the first pieces of advice Rod gave me was, “You’ve also got a model railway? Where is it located?” Well, it’s a shed in my house. “How big is it?” It’s probably 12 by 15 feet. “That’s not big enough, Jools. You’ve got to put it in the biggest room you’ve got. If you have an elderly relative, kick them out.” But he was right. What happens is the biggest space you use, the happier and the more content you feel."
: I didn’t make anyone in my family homeless, of course. But building a big space to put it in was the advice I followed. It makes all the difference. It was a vast expense. I constructed a building. My wife asked what I was doing. “Well, Rod told me to do this. He knows about these things, so we’re going to build this for the trains.”
Rod Stewart: A model railroad is never finished. Mine got moved all the way from Los Angeles to England. My dear wife persuaded me to do it. She said, “You’re going to be miserable without your model railroad to work on. You need to build things.” I was nervous. I didn’t think it would make it, but it did. It took 18 months to get it over and rebuild it.
