The Cure land their first number one album in 32 YEARS with Songs Of A Lost World - with frontman Robert Smith calling its success 'enormously uplifting'

The Cure announced in September that they would be releasing their new album Songs Of A Lost World on November 1, their first in 16 years.

And this week, the rock band celebrated a huge win as they scored first number one album in 32 years, the Official Charts confirmed.

The rock legends, whose current line-up comprises of Robert Smith, 65, Simon Gallup, 64, Roger O'Donnell, 69, Perry Bamonte, 64, Jason Cooper, 57, and Reeves Gabrels, 68, last topped the Official Albums Chart with their 1992 record Wish.

Upon hearing the exciting news, The Cure's frontman Robert told the Official Charts that he is grateful to everyone who has bought the album and supported them over the years.

He said: 'It is enormously uplifting, genuinely heartwarming to experience such a wonderful reaction to the release of the new Cure album.'

'To everyone who has bought it, listened to it, loved it, believed in us over the years - THANK YOU!'

Songs Of A Lost World also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, the week's biggest seller on wax, and the Official Record Store Chart, proving the most popular LP of the past seven days in independent UK record shops.

In September, the band announced that they would be releasing a new album, their first in 16 years, and revealed to fans at the time that the opening track of the new LP was available to stream.

The band - whose last album was 2008's 4:13 Dream - have been performing their new song 'Alone' during their 90-date world tour.

Taking to X at the time, the rock band announced the exciting news to fans by saying: 'The new album arriving Nov 1st Pre-order now & listen to 'Alone'.

Fans then flocked to the comment section to express their excitement over the latest single and the prospect of a new album.

One fan wrote: 'It's so beautiful, I'm already speechless and there's still the rest to come'; 'I've been listening to Alone on a loop & thank you!';

'Alone is amazing, thank you very much. My bank account, on the other hand, does not thank you.'

Reflecting on the song, frontman Robert Smith said in a statement: 'It's the track that unlocked the record.'

'As soon as we had that piece of music recorded I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus.'

He admitted he had been finding it difficult to settle on 'the right opening line' for the first song of the album, and in the end, it was Dregs by poet Ernest Dowson which helped everything fall into place.

He added: 'I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while,'

'Working with the simple idea of 'being alone', always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be... '

'As soon as we finished recording I remembered the poem Dregs by the English poet Ernest Dowson.'

He added: 'And that was the moment when I knew the song - and the album - were real.'

The cover art for the new album features Bagatelle, a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat, while Cure's longtime collaborator Andy Vella handled the artwork and design.

The tracks were recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and as well as a single LP and CD, the new album will also be available as a Miles Showell Abbey Road half-speed master 2LP.

While a marble-coloured LP, double cassette, and a deluxe CD package with a Blu-ray including an instrumental version of the collection will be available too.

Initially formed in 1978, The Cure has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has headlined Glastonbury Festival four times.

They were also inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 and are considered to be one of the most influential bands to ever come out of the UK.