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Friday, September 9, 2016 1:00pm ET by  
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Ward Thomas become the first UK country act to score a No.1 album: "This is completely crazy!"

Ward Thomas land straight in at Number 1 on this week’s Official Albums Chart – and make UK chart history in the process.

Cartwheels is the second studio album from twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas, and is the first album by a country act from the UK to reach the top spot. The previous best was logged by The Shires in 2015 - their debut album Brave reached Number 10.

Ward Thomas told OfficialCharts.com of their achievement: "We literally don’t know how to find the words. This is completely crazy. We were just hoping for Top 40 and then here we are now! It’s been a crazy week and it’s been super tense. Thank you so much everyone for supporting us and supporting a great genre. We can’t express our appreciation for the amount of support we’ve had. It hasn’t really hit us yet and we really can’t believe it.” 

Cartwheels is also Ward Thomas' first Top 40 album; their debut album, 2014's From Where We Stand, reached Number 41.

The next new entry is this week's runner-up - The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Songs, a new greatest hits collection by The Carpenters which was released alongside an ITV documentary. Meanwhile, Jamie T's fourth studio album Trick lands at Number 3, becoming his fourth Top 5 album in a row.

Rounding out this week's Top 5 are last week's Number 1 Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway by Barbra Streisand and new entry Growing Over Life by Wretch 32, his second Top 5 album.  

A Day To Remember have achieved their first UK Top 40 album at 6 with Bad Vibrations, closely followed by Foreverland, the first studio album in six years from The Divine Comedy (7). Sophie Ellis-Bextor bags her fifth Top 20 as Familia closes the week at Number 12.

Travis Scott's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight is brand new at Number 19, followed by King Creosote's Astronaut Meets Appleman (25) and Izzy Bizu's debut album Moment of Madness, which lands at 28.

Finally, another three new entries round out this week's Top 40: Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday release Messenger of the Gods sits at 31, Wedding Present's Going Going debuts at Number 35 and Angel Olsen makes her Top 40 debut with My Woman bowing out at Number 40.

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Watch Ward Thomas in action below:

 

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