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21st Jun 2016

Rick Astley is No 1 in the UK album charts

And no, this isn't a Rick Roll scam. Honest.

Carl Anka

The man behind internet’s favourite hoodwink has reached number one in the UK album charts.

Rick Astley, the man behind ;Never Gonna Give You Up’, has beaten out stiff competition from Tom Odell and Paul McCartney for top spot with his new album, 50.

Speaking about the feat, Astley said: “It’s amazing, it’s incredible. It’s been a very, very, very long time.”

How long? Around 29 years, as it was 1987 when Astley’s debut album Never Gonna Give You Up reached number one in the charts.

In the decades between Astley’s number ones, Rick has seen his song become of the internet’s favourite trolls.

By now you should be familiar with the “Rick Roll”. Lay a nice trap via hyperlink, embed ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and reap the LOL rewards as people fall for what is now a trick far too old and worn out to catch you, the clever discerning reader who really isn’t going to click here. I mean, why would you?

But now, Rick is back atop of the charts (only just, The Official Charts Company revealed Astley only pipped Odell thanks to physical copies – the gap was just 3,700 sales), we can finally retire the Rick Roll.