Robbie Williams breaks The Beatles’ record for number one album in the UK, with a peak at number 16 | Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams has scored his 16th number one album in the UK, surpassing the mark set by The Beatles in 2000 to become the all-time chart-topping record holder.

Britpop, Williams’ tribute to mid-’90s zeitgeist guitar music, went straight to number one in its first week of release. All but one of his studio albums have now reached the top — with the exception of 2009’s Reality Killed the Video Star, which boy band JLS holds — as well as three greatest hits compilations and the soundtrack to the biopic Better Man. The other two No. 1 albums that Williams recorded as a member of Take That are not counted in this list.

Clearly eager to break the record, Williams pushed back the Britpop release date from its originally scheduled October date after realizing it would compete with – and inevitably lose to – Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl. With Britpop lined up for a February 6 release, it suddenly brought the release forward to the relatively uncompetitive week of January 16.

He has described Britpop as “the album I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995”. The Guardian’s chief pop critic Alexis Petridis praised it, writing: “There’s a swagger and brilliance in the tunes that transforms these songs beyond the realm of convention, and the results are hugely enjoyable.”

The Beatles set the previous record with their greatest hits album No. 1, one of four chart-topping albums released since the band’s breakup. They came close to adding more first place on numerous occasions, reaching second or third place a total of 10 times.

Pop music fans will debate whether Williams was truly “greater” than the Beatles, although he certainly reached his record faster: 29 years versus the 37 years it took the Beatles to reach their 15th No. 1.

The Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift each have 14 No. 1 spots, while Elvis Presley has 13 and Bruce Springsteen and Madonna have 12.

Presley remains the record holder for number one singles in the UK with 21 songs. Williams has seven songs, the last of which was in 2012 with Kandi.

He beats off competition from last week’s chart-topper Olivia Dean, whose album The Art of Loving spent its 17th week in the top five. And from American pop singer Madison Beer, whose album Locket ranked third.

On the singles chart, British rapper Dave took fourth place on the singles chart, for his collaboration with Tim Raindance.