Rod Stewart Tops U.K. Album Chart

NO SPARING THE ROD: Rod Stewart’s Capitol Records debut Time entered the U.K. album chart at #1 yesterday, the first chart-topping studio album in his home country in 37 years, the longest gap ever in Britain. Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” (Columbia) spent its fourth week at #1, with another 114k in sales for a total of 606k. Stewart’s last #1 album in the U.K. was a 1979 greatest hits compilation, but he hasn’t led the field with a studio release since A Night on the Town in 1976. Gabrielle Aplin, the 20-year-old British singer/songwriter who topped the singles chart with her cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “The Power of Love” last December, opened at #2 with her first Parlophone/EMI album, English Rain. Vampire Weekend’s XL album, Modern Vampires of the City, completed the top three newcomers at #3. Ex-ABBA member Agnetha Faltskog’s first album in almost a decade, A (Polydor/Universal) debuts at #6. Passenger’s “Let Her Go” (Nettwerk) and Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack” finish #2-3 in the singles tally. (5/20p)