Madonna achieves supremacy on both of Billboard’s pan-European sales surveys, debuting at No. 1 on European Top 100 Albums with “Confessions On A Dance Floor” (Warner Bros.) and starting a second week atop Eurochart Hot 100 Singles with “Hung Up.”
First-week sales of the album in the United Kingdom, where it’s Madonna’s ninth No. 1 album, are a career-best 217,000 units. The set also enters in pole position in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Finland. It’s also up 113-1 in France and enters at No. 3 in Ireland.
The single, meanwhile, continues to lead the way in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Spain and France. It also enters at No. 1 in Sweden, but falls to No. 2 in Denmark. U.K. second-week sales are 31 units shy of 60,000, for a two-week total of 165,000 copies.
Madonna’s arrival on Top 100 Albums sends Robbie Williams’ “Intensive Care” (Chrysalis) down to No. 2, while Il Divo’s sophomore album “Ancora” (Syco Music/Sony BMG) holds firm at No. 3 in its second week. While it falls 1-5 in the United Kingdom and 1-2 in Spain and Finland, “Ancora” enjoys a good week in Portugal, moving 16-4, rising 5-4 in Ireland and now debuting at No. 4 in Sweden.
Next to arrive on the pan-European album list, at No. 9, is Green Day’s live album “Bullet in a Bubble” (Reprise). That’s after a No. 6 start in the United Kingdom (on sales of 53,000), No. 5 in Austria, No. 7 in Germany and No. 8 in Italy.
1990s boy band favorite Take That debuts at No. 14 on the Europe-wide chart with “Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection” (RCA), after selling 90,000 copies for a No. 2 debut in the United Kingdom. Take That had 13 U.K. top ten hit singles between 1992 and 1996, and three No. 1 albums. The four other erstwhile members of the group apart from Williams – Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald – are giving a press conference in London tomorrow (Nov. 25), at which speculation suggests they will make an announcement about live plans as a four-piece for 2006.
The entire top seven on the Eurochart are unchanged, with “Hung Up” followed by two former chart-toppers “Don’t Cha” (A&M) by Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes at No. 2 and Williams’ “Tripping” at No. 3.
T.A.T.U.’s “All About Us” (Interscope) rebounds 10-8 in its eighth consecutive week in the Eurochart top 20, where two weeks ago it reached No. 7. The improvement comes after climbs of 9-4 in Italy, 9-8 in Germany and 11-10 in France. The song also holds at No. 5 in Austria.
The only new entry in the top 10 of the Eurochart is Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” (A&M/Interscope), at No. 10 after No. 3 starts in both the United Kingdom and Ireland.
