UK album release: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

David Bowie’s breakthrough album, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, was released in the UK on 16 June 1972.

The album sold 8,000 copies in its first week, and the following week entered the top ten.

Its success was bolstered further by a performance of ‘Starman’ on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops, which was broadcast on 6 July.

The Top Of The Pops performance catapulted Bowie into primetime, making him a household name and converting a legion of new fans. The single peaked at number 10 in the charts, and helped the Ziggy album reach number five.

The ‘Starman’ performance made a deep impression on a number of viewers who would later become famous musicians, each of whom owed a degree of debt to Bowie. They included Boy George, Adam Ant, Mick Jones of the Clash, Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp, and Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen.

For some years it was commonly believed that the album was released on 6 June. However, in 2015 the official David Bowie website uncovered archive evidence that it was actually issued ten days later.

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars spent two years on the UK charts. By the end of 1972 it had sold 95,968 copies in Britain, and was certified gold shortly afterwards. It peaked at number five on the UK charts in February 1973.

It returned to the UK chart in January 1981, during the New Romantic movement and in the wake of the success of ‘Ashes To Ashes’.