Green Day’s “American Idiot” (Reprise) beat James Blunt’s “Back To Bedlam” (Atlantic) to the No. 1 slot for 2005 as the Warner Music Group claimed the top two on Billboard’s European Top 100 Albums chart over the past 12 months.
While the English breakthrough artist was outdone across Europe by the U.S. rockers, Blunt’s “Bedlam” debut is set to have notched up the United Kingdom’s bestselling album of the year.
“Idiot,” released in September 2004, did not rise to No. 1 on the weekly sales chart until late January this year, after which it spent six weeks at the peak. After waiting for an extraordinary 11 consecutive weeks at No. 2, Blunt had one week at the European summit in October. On the final weekly European chart of the year, “Bedlam” rises again 6-3 following Christmas sales boosts in various markets: 4-2 in the United Kingdom, 7-4 in Germany, 6-4 in France and 11-10 in Portugal.
Coldplay’s “X&Y” (Parlophone), which led Top 100 Albums for 13 straight weeks from June to September, is No. 3 for the year. U2’s “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” (Universal Island) stands at No. 4, although its three weeks on top of the survey were in December 2004, before it was succeeded by Robbie Williams’ “Greatest Hits” (Chrysalis). Williams’ hits set is at No. 5 for 2005, while his current studio set “Intensive Care” is at No. 12.
Sony BMG’s only top ten entry on the year-end chart is “Il Divo” (Syco Music), the No. 6-ranked debut set by the opera-pop act. The album was released in the United Kingdom in November 2004. Its follow-up “Ancora” this week spends a seventh consecutive week in the pan-European top six, falling 4-6. With sales still strong in many markets, “Ancora” can be expected to figure significantly on the 2006 year-end chart; it just figures on the 2005 tabulation at No. 90.
Universal Music Group International has three of the other four albums in the year-end top ten: 50 Cent’s “The Massacre” (Interscope) at No. 7, Keane’s “Hopes and Fears” (Island) at No. 9 and Gwen Stefani’s “Love.Angel.Music Baby” (Interscope) at No. 10. Reprise’s Michael Bublé registers at No. 8 with “It’s Time.”
The overall label share in the year-end top 20 shows Universal leading with nine titles, followed by EMI with five, and Sony BMG and Warner Music Group with three apiece.
On the 2005 singles scene, it was unavoidably the year of German novelty act Crazy Frog. Its “Axel F” (Mach1), which topped the Eurochart for 11 weeks in the summer, is No. 1 for the year; the follow-up “Popcorn” lands at No. 16. “Don’t Cha” (A&M/Interscope) by Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes, is at No. 2 overall, after a four-week reign on the weekly chart early in the fall.
Perhaps surprisingly, since it never went higher than No. 3 on the weekly Eurochart, pre-teen French singer Ilona Mitrecey’s “Un Monde Parfait” (Scorpio) is at No. 3 for the year. Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” is at No. 4 for 2005 and Akon’s rap smash “Lonely” (SRC/Universal) is at No. 5.
Another novelty single, “Das Kleine Krokodil Schnappi” (Polydor) by Schnappi featuring Joy Gruttman, is No. 6 on the Eurochart for 2005. Canadian Daniel Powter’s long-running “Bad Day” (Warner Bros.) is at No. 7; the track spends a 22nd week in the U.K top 40 this week.
Williams’ “Tripping” is No. 8 overall, while “Numb/Encore” (Warner Bros.) by Jay-Z and Linkin Park is at No. 9. Sugababes’ recent, major hit “Push The Button” (Island) is at No. 10.
On the weekly pan-European albums chart, Robbie Williams’ “Intensive Care” retains No. 1 for a fifth aggregate week. It holds top spot ahead of Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor” (Warner Bros.), which is unmoved from No. 2.
Madonna’s “Hung Up” starts a seventh week at the top of the weekly Eurochart; the single is No. 18 for the year. Elsewhere on this week’s chart, another Crazy Frog hit, “Jingle Bells”/”Last Christmas,” rises 3-2. French veteran Johnny Hallyday’s festive single “Mon Plus Beau Noel” (Mercury) is up 7-3.
The U.K.’s Christmas No. 1 single, “That’s My Goal” (Syco Music/Sony BMG) by Shayne Ward, the winner of British commercial TV channel ITV’s “The X Factor” talent contest, enters the weekly Eurochart at No. 4. It sold 742,000 copies in Britain in just four days after its rush-release there Dec. 21, according to charts compiler the Official U.K. Charts Co.
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