Olympics pushes Emeli Sande to top album spot

Published on 01/09/2012 00:00

Emeli Sande’s appearances at the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies have helped her to overtake Adele with the biggest selling album of the year so far.

Her debut release Our Version Of Events saw its sales swell by a third during London 2012, 
compared to the previous month.

Sande, 25, has now surpassed Adele’s record-breaking 21, selling 3,200 more copies during 2012, according to new figures from the Official Charts ­Company.

Sande has seen her career soar since winning the Critics’ Choice Award at this year’s Brits.

Her album has sold almost 660,000 copies since its release at the end of February, according to figures published at officialcharts.com.

She appeared at both Olympic ceremonies, notably performing Abide With Me at Danny Boyle’s opening celebration.

Managing director of the Official Charts Company, Martin Talbot, said: “At a time when it is as hard as ever for new artists to break through, it is fantastic that Emeli Sande now has the official biggest selling album of 2012 so far.

“It is also apt that Emeli should take over from the inaugural Brits Critics’ Choice Award winner, Adele. Yet another British female singing star has been born.”

Sande, who also headlined a gig at Edinburgh Castle on 13 June, spent four years studying medicine at Glasgow University, specialising in neuroscience.

She said that her fourth single, My Kind of Love was inspired by patients she met during her time spent in hospital wards.