Snow Patrol have been honoured as the first recipients of the Official Charts Hall Of Fame Award.
The new accolade from the Official Charts Company is set to be presented annually to the UK’s official biggest single and album of the year.
Kicking off this month’s 70 years of the Official Albums Chart celebrations, the award is reserved for overall victors on the end-of-year Official Albums Chart and Official Singles Chart.
Its presentation coincides with the 20th anniversary of Snow Patrol’s fourth LP Eyes Open (2,575,730 sales, OCC), which spent three weeks at No.1 and became the UK’s biggest album of 2006. It also spawned the hit singles You’re All I Have (393,637 sales), Open Your Eyes (572,891) and Chasing Cars (4,311,229).
The record has spent 35 weeks in the Official Albums Chart Top 10, and nearly three years inside the Top 100, to date.
The Official Charts Hall Of Fame Award exists to honour albums that have left an enduring mark on the UK’s musical landscape, and Eyes Open embodies everything this recognition stands for
Becca Monahan & Chris Austin, Official Charts Company
Accepting the band’s Official Charts Hall Of Fame Award, Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody said: “Thank you very much, this is great! My mum will be delighted! I love this record, it means so much to me. It gave us access to the world - a world which we never thought we would occupy.
“We started in 1994 and didn’t have a hit until 2004. We had 10 years of no success, and then Final Straw was very successful. Then Eyes Open was extremely successful. It was very new to us, that type of success; playing the bigger shows, getting on the radio. Being in the charts was very exciting to us.
“It’s an album that still seems to live and breathe, and also change and shift. The album is an artifact that'll never change, but the songs change, shift and evolve over time with the way we play them.”
A special 20th anniversary reissue of Eyes Open will be released on July 24, the same week the Official Albums Chart celebrates its 70th anniversary on July 22.
Becca Monahan and Chris Austin, OCC interim co-MDs, added: “The Official Charts Hall Of Fame Award exists to honour albums that have left an enduring mark on the UK’s musical landscape, and Eyes Open embodies everything this recognition stands for. From its incredible chart success to its lasting cultural impact, it remains one of the defining albums of the 21st century.
“As we mark 70 years of the Official Albums Chart, there could be no more fitting first inductees into the Official Charts Hall of Fame than Gary, Nathan and Johnny. Eyes Open's influence, longevity and continued connection with fans make it a truly worthy recipient of this inaugural honour. Congratulations to the band and all involved.”
The award coincides with Snow Patrol announcing a new global recording deal with BMG, covering the release of future studio recordings, earlier this week.
