although it was not an immediate big seller at the time and therefore does not appear in this list, "bat out of hell" by meat loaf has since gone on to become one of the uk's best-selling albums. released in the uk in february 1978, the album has only ever spent four weeks in the top ten of the album chart, two of them in 1981 in the wake of meat loaf's follow-up album "dead ringer", and the other two in 2013 following "bat out of hell"s repackaging and re-release along with the "hits out of hell" dvd. on both occasions the album peaked at number nine. however, "bat out of hell" sold consistently for several years following its release, and has spent more than 500 weeks on the uk album chart, a total that, for a studio album, is bettered only by fleetwood mac's "rumours". as of february 2014 "bat out of hell" is the 19th best-selling album of all time in the uk, and the third best-selling album released during the 1970s, behind "rumours" and "the dark side of the moon" and ahead of "bridge over troubled water" in fourth place.