The Circus is the fifth studio album from the British pop band Take That. The album was released on 1 December 2008 – Robbie Williams has hand signed this copy on the front cover in blue ink. 

The album reached number one in Ireland and the UK with The Circus selling 133,000 copies on its first day of release in the UK. In the United Kingdom, the album sold 306,000 copies (going platinum) in the first four days of release, making The Circus the fastest-selling album of the year. The album reached the top of the UK album charts on 7 December 2008 with total first-week sales of 432,490, the third highest opening sales week in UK history. The album debuted at #3 on the Irish Albums Chart and a week later rose to #1. On Friday 19 December 2008, the album had sold 1 million copies sold by its 19th day in UK shops, making it the second fastest album in the UK to reach 1 million copies, behind Oasis’s Be Here Now in 1997. The album stayed on top of the UK albums chart for 5 weeks and became one of the biggest selling albums of 2008 in the UK. The album has been certified double platinum in Europe (including the UK and Ireland) for sales in excess of two million copies, and was the 27th best-selling album worldwide in 2008 according to the IFPI. The album since its release in December 2008 has spent 73 weeks ( 1 year five months and one week) on the UK Top 100 Albums chart.