Kings of Leon scores its first No. 1 on Billboard’s European Albums chart with “Come Around Sundown” (Hand Me Down/Sony Music Entertainment), while “Love The Way You Lie” (Interscope/Universal) by Eminem featuring Rihanna tops the European Hot 100 Singles for a fifth week.
The Kings of Leon title opens at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Austria, No. 3 in Portugal and Denmark and No. 10 in Sweden. Out-of-the-box U.K. sales of 183,000 for “Sundown” are the highest artist total of the year there, and compare with 220,000 for “Only By The Night” in 2008. That title moves back 37-23 on the U.K. chart and is certified five-times platinum there for shipments of 1.5 million units. “Night” debuted at No. 4 Europe-wide and moved up to the band’s previous European peak of No. 2 in its second week.
Robbie Williams falls to No. 2 after debuting atop the pan-European survey last week with “In and Out of Consciousness — Greatest Hits 1990-2010” (Virgin/EMI). Falls of 1-4 in Germany and 1-2 in the United Kingdom and Austria are offset by debuts of No. 3 in Italy and No. 4 in Sweden, and a 4-2 climb in Denmark.
The second of three newcomers in the European Albums top 10 is Shakira’s “Sale El Sol” (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment), in at No. 3 after arriving at No. 1 in Portugal, No. 2 in France, No. 3 in Austria, No. 6 in Germany and No. 10 in Holland. The former Europe-wide chart-topper “Going Back” (Atlantic/Warner Music) by Phil Collins falls to No. 4, now holding its best rankings of No. 8 in Holland and the Czech Republic.
Also on the way down are Linkin Park’s “A Thousand Suns” (Warner Bros./Warner Music), 3-5 overall, and Eminem’s “Recovery” (Interscope/Universal), 5-6. “Suns” stands at No. 7 in Portugal, Austria and the Czech Republic and “Recovery” has its highest standing of No. 10 in Austria. But its single “Love The Way You Lie” keeps its Hot 100 Singles supremacy despite falling 1-2 in Spain and Austria. It holds at No. 4 in France.
Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” (Capitol/EMI), which led the collective chart for two weeks in September, rebounds 14-7 after jumping 13-5 in the United Kingdom and 13-6 in Ireland. Santana’s “Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time” (Arista/Sony Music Entertainment) and Eric Clapton’s “Clapton” (Reprise/Warner Music) fall 6-8 and 4-9 respectively overall, Santana falling 3-8 in Portugal and Clapton holding at No. 6 in the Czech Republic and No. 9 in Holland.
There’s a new entry at No. 10 on European Albums for German rock quartet Frei.Wild’s “Gegengift” (Rookies & Kings) after debuts of No. 2 in Germany and No. 15 in Austria.
