Time on Stewart’s side as album tops UK charts

Rod Stewart said he was “over the moon” as he celebrated his 15th No 1 with a champagne toast.

The 68-year-old star said he was “very proud” to be back at the top of the British charts for the first time in 34 years with self-penned album Time.

It is the veteran singer’s seventh No 1 album in Britain and the gapbetween his new release and Stewart’s last chart-topping album represents the longest hiatus between No 1 albums in the UK charts for any British act.

Speaking at a rehearsal studio in London, he said: “I’m over the moon, absolutely over the moon. It’s a long time in between but it’s always worth waiting for.”

Stewart, who released a best-selling autobiography last year added: “I’ve lived a wonderful life and when I was putting the book together it inspired many of the songs.

“If there’s anything that God gave — and some people may disagree — he gave me a tremendous vehicle in my voice. It’s just very unique, so I was just lucky to be given this voice.”

Twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stewart has sold an estimated 150m records worldwide since his career started in the early 1960s.

He was made CBE in 2007 and will embark on a global tour next month.

Asked what keeps him going after achieving so much, he said: “The music business and my children — I’ve got lots of kids, I still play football and I don’t smoke which is a very important thing.”

Stewart’s last No 1 came with Greatest Hits Vol 1 back in 1979, but his last studio album to top the charts was A Night On The Town in 1976.

The first time Stewart — known for the hits ‘Maggie May’ and ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ — topped the album charts was in 1971 with Every Picture Tells A Story, but his last No 1 in the UK was in 1983 with the single ‘Baby Jane’.

Stewart was not the only 70s star to make a top 10 comeback this week. Abba’s Agnetha Faltskog came in at No 6 with her album A, her highest-charting solo record in the UK.