Evans above

Lee shifts 130,000 DVDs in a week

Lee Evans’s new DVD has become the second fastest-selling stand-up title ever.

The recording of his current XL tour has sold 130,000 copies in the first week of release.

But that’s still 30,000 short of Peter Kay’s record-breaking 160,000 copies for Live At The Albert Halls last year.

However, Evans’s title this week lies at No 5 in the official chart of all DVD sales - one place ahead of Kay’s Live At Manchester Arena. Billy Connolly’s Live In New York is also in the top ten bestsellers, at No 10.

Evans’s DVD was taped at Cardiff International Arena, as part of the tour that has played to more than 250,000 people this year.

The tour also claimed the official Guinness World record for the largest ever stand-up audience  – 10,108 at Manchester’s MEN Arena. However, that record is disputed by Eddie Izzard, who sold more than 13,500 tickets to his Sexie tour at the MEN Arena in 2003, but failed to get the audience verified by Guinness officials.

Last year, Kay also sold more than 145,000 copies of That Peter Kay Thing in its first week of release. Phoenix Nights sold 139,282 copies in a week the previous year, although it was outsold by The Office.

Click here to buy the Lee Evans: XL DVD

Published: 6 Dec 2005

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