Antony & the Johnsons’ “The Crying Light” (Rough Trade) makes a dramatic debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s European Top 100 Albums chart, as Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” (Virgin/EMI) scores a fourth week atop Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.
“The Crying Light,” easily the highest charting of the U.S.-based act’s three albums, makes a series of eye-catching debuts across the region. It’s in at No. 2 in Spain and Sweden, No. 3 in Denmark, No. 4 in France, Holland and Norway, No. 9 in Italy and No. 18 in the United Kingdom, the latter with sales of 10,000 units. It also climbs 2-1 in the Belgian region of Flanders.
“Light” is the follow-up to 2005’s “I Am A Bird Now,” which won the U.K.’s Mercury Music Prize for the group led by New Yorker Antony Hegarty. It qualified for the prize because Hegarty was born in the U.K.
Duffy’s “Rockferry” (A&M/Universal), now in its 47th week on Top 100 Albums, bounces back again, 4-2, helped by climbs of 7-1 in Greece and 19-6 in France. But Pink’s “Funhouse” (LaFace/Sony Music), which reached the pan-European summit last week, falls back to No. 3, even though it stays at No. 2 in Switzerland and improves 15-11 in the United Kingdom.
Also in decline on the composite chart are Kings of Leon’s “Only By The Night” (Hand Me Down/Sony Music), 2-4, as it holds at No. 2 in the United Kingdom; Seal’s “Soul” (Warner Bros), 3-5, despite remaining at No. 1 in France and Wallony and climbing 7-5 in Switzerland; and Amy Macdonald’s “This Is The Life” (Vertigo/Universal), 5-6, despite a huge 86-10 leap in Italy.
A new name enters the pan-European winners’ enclosure, as London indie rock trio White Lies arrives at No. 7 on Top 100 Albums with “To Lose My Life” (Fiction/Polydor). Fuelled by U.K. media enthusiasm, the debut set sells close to 29,000 in a slow U.K. sales week to open at No. 1 there.
Beyoncé is steady at No. 8 on the pan-European album index with “I Am… Sasha Fierce” (Columbia/Sony Music), as is German classical crossover quintet Adoro’s self-titled set on Soda at No. 9. Beyoncé is down 1-2 in Ireland but up 8-7 in the United Kingdom and 10-9 in Poland, while Adoro spends a second week at No. 1 in Germany.
AC/DC’s “Black Ice” (Columbia/Sony Music), newly recognized by trade body IFPI with a double Platinum Europe award for European shipments of two million units, is off 6-10 on the overall chart.
Perry’s single leads the Eurochart again after climbing 2-1 in Wallony and holding at No. 1 in Switzerland. “Hot N Cold” is down 1-3 in Germany and Austria, 2-3 in Flanders, 3-5 in Denmark, 4-8 in Italy and 15-18 in the United Kingdom, but climbs 13-10 in France and rests at No. 2 in Norway.
But Perry’s supremacy is under threat from U.K. singer-songwriter James Morrison’s single featuring Nelly Furtado, “Broken Strings” (Polydor/Universal), which is up 7-2 on the Eurochart. The track, which reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom two weeks ago, now debuts at No. 1 in Germany and No. 2 in Austria and climbs 3-2 in Ireland and 5-4 in Switzerland. Morrison’s sophomore album “Songs For You, Truths For Me” races 13-1 in Ireland.
