Fifty Shades keeps Tallis Scholars in Classical charts

9 October 2012, 11:21

The Tallis Scholars currently hold two places in the UK Classical Charts thanks to the success of Fifty Shades Of Grey.

The success of EMI's 'Fifty Shades Of Grey: The Classical Album' has landed The Tallis Scholars and the music of Jean Mouton in the official UK classical charts - twice.

They currently hold the no. 1 spot in the compilations chart thanks to their inclusion on the tie-in compilation, but they also appear at no. 7 in the specialist classical chart and no. 20 in the classical artists chart with their disc of music by French composer Jean Mouton.

Tallis' 'Spem in alum' features prominently in the E.L. James novel Fifty Shades Of Grey, which has now gone on to sell over five million copies. It is thought that the effect of the book on popular culture has permeated deeply into classical music as well.

Steve Smith, producer of the Tallis Scholars records, commented: "This must be another benevolent effect of the “Fifty Shades” phenomenon. Many of those who downloaded 'Spem in alium' as a single track then went on to buy all the album of music by Thomas Tallis."

Co-incidentally, the Mouton record features a track called 'Lament for Anna', which also happens to be the name of the main character in Fifty Shades Of Grey.