Amy Winehouse tops UK album charts with one of biggest first sales weeks

Her posthumous collection Lioness: Hidden Treasures, which features original tracks and covers, was released last Monday and hit the top spot last night.

Producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson pulled the 12 songs together after listening to thousands of hours of vocals by the singer, many of them from sessions for her hit albums Frank and Back to Black.

An inquest found the 27-year-old star was more than five times the legal drink-drive limit when she was found dead in her home in Camden, north London on July 23.

Some of the proceeds from the album will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

The Official UK Charts Company said Winehouse’s album had sold more than 194,000 copies to give her the biggest weekly sales tally of her career.

This also gave the singer one of the biggest first week album sales of the year, behind only Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (215,000), Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto (208,343) and Adele’s 21 (208,090).

Winehouse’s mother Janis said: “It’s such amazing news that Amy’s album has gone to number one, and just goes to show what she still means to people.

“It’s especially good for the foundation and knowing that every sale will go to help a deserving cause makes the news all the more special. I’m so proud of my daughter and so happy that she is still touching people.”

Winehouse displaced Olly Murs, the 2009 X Factor finalist, who topped the chart last weekend with In Case You Didn’t Know.

He slipped to four, with Michael Buble’s Christmas remaining at number two, and Heaven by Rebecca Ferguson entering the chart at three. Rihanna’s Talk That Talk slipped from three to five.

Murs moved up a place in the singles chart to take the number one spot with Dance With Me Tonight. The X Factor 2011 finalists, joined by One Direction and JLS, slipped a place to number two with their cover of the 1970s Rose Royce classic Wishing On A Star.

Dedication To My Ex (Miss That) by Lloyd featuring Andre 3000 and Lil Wayne entered at number three, while We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris and Good Feeling by Flo Rida dropped to four and five.

Sixth place saw new entry, 5 O’Clock by T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen, while Paradise by Coldplay moved up from 12 to seven.