Olly Murs (album)

The possibility of an album was first rumoured when Murs finished second place on the sixth series of ITV talent competition, The X Factor. In February 2010, it was announced that Murs had been signed to a 50/50-record deal between Epic Records and Syco Music.^[6] Murs has collaborated with John Shanks, Ed Sheeran, Eg White,^[7] Roy Stride, Trevor Horn, Wayne Hector, Matty Benbrook,^[8] Phil Thornalley, Martin Brammer, Preston, Mark Taylor^[9] and Chris Difford^[1] on the album. Professor Green was due to appear on the album, however, the duet fell through before recording was completed. "Heart on My Sleeve" is a cover of the song originally recorded by American Idol finalist Michael Johns. Murs performed "Thinking of Me" live on The X Factor on 21 November 2010.^[10]

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Ruth Harrison of Female First gives the most positive review of the album, saying "Olly has actually engaged his brain, put pen to paper and written tracks that are true to himself and his sound...this album proves that Olly is an artist in his own right".^[11] A review by Fraser McAlpine on the BBC Music website gave a heading of 'X Factor runner-up reveals a debut almost as good as his taste in hats.'^[12] Hermione Hoby from The Guardian gave a negative review of Olly Murs, saying "the album chugs along with vacant cheer through a series of reggae-inflected songs that don't always make the most of Murs's soulful voice. Other than the slightly awkward stab at scat-singing on "Please Don't Let Me Go" [...] there's not much here to grab the attention."^[13]

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number two on 5 December 2010, selling 108,000 copies in its first week.^[14] The album was kept off the top spot by the third week sales of Take That's Progress which sold over 174,000 copies.^[15] In the following three weeks the album sold upwards of 100,000 in each week, making it the fastest selling debut album of 2010 in the UK.^[14] On 8 April 2011, the album was certified two-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 600,000 copies in the UK.^[16] As of December 2014, the album had sold 815,971 copies in the UK.^[17] In Ireland, the album debuted at number eleven.^[18] It has since been certified gold by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) for shipments of 7,500 copies.

Notes

• ^{^a} signifies an additional record producer

On 21 November 2010 a UK tour was announced for 2011 to promote the album.^[29]