Sam Bailey, the U.K. winner of the 2013 season of “The X Factor,” sold close to 73,000 units last week to debut atop the British album chart yesterday (March 30) with her first set “The Power Of Love” (Syco Music/Sony). Australian teenage pop quartet 5 Seconds Of Summer went straight in at No. 1 with their single “She Looks So Perfect” (Capitol/Universal).
Bailey’s album, which includes duets with Nicole Scherzinger and Michael Bolton, follows her Christmas U.K. No. 1 with a cover of Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper.” Her opening sales week is the best for any artist album so far in 2014, beating Pharrell Williams’ 69,000 for “G I R L” (Columbia/Sony).
George Michael’s live album “Symphonica” (Virgin EMI/Universal) fell 1-2 on the new chart, with former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, 66, and 70-year-old Who frontman Roger Daltrey’s rhythm and blues-themed collaboration “Going Back Home” (Chess/Universal) entering at No. 3. It’s the highest-ranking work for either artist outside their two “band” incarnations, and comes after Johnson was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in January 2013 and told by doctors he had some 9-10 months to live.