Take That - The Circus - third fastest mover of all time

By shifting 432,000 copies in a week, their new record The Circus has become easily the fastest-selling album of the year in the UK. And it’s the third-quickest mover of all time.

Only Oasis's "Be here now" and Coldplay’s X&Y have sold more — meaning Take That now rank above Dido, Arctic Monkeys, Michael Jackson and a little-known former boyband singer named Robbie Williams.

And here’s another example of how staggering their latest sales figures are — The Circus has shifted more units than the combined sales of the next five artists in this week’s chart — global music giants The Killers, Leona Lewis, Britney Spears, Kings of Leon and, erm, Rhydian.

But forget all the stats. Today proves Take That are now a British institution and true pop royalty.

The first time around, when they were all oiled chests, skimpy clobber and silly dance moves, it wasn’t cool for lads to like them.

But now it’s uncool not to like the re-formed manband.

What’s more, while most groups on the comeback trail claim they’re not in it for the filthy lucre, Take That really mean it.

A pal of the band said: “They’ve been offered lots of big-money gigs over Christmas and New Year but said no to spend time with their families instead."

“They’re going to make some time to get together as a foursome before the end of the year too — and have a proper old-school celebration.”

Gary said: “We set out to make a record each of us was really proud of and we did that."

“To then have it fly off the shelves like it did this week has been just amazing.”