Robbie Williams goes straight to the top of Billboard’s European Top 100 Albums with “Intensive Care” (Chrysalis), amassing an impressive collection of first-week No.1 rankings. The album outsells all rivals in the United Kingdom (with a huge opening sale of 373,000 copies), Germany, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark.
Mike Allen, SVP of international marketing, EMI Music U.K. and Ireland, says that total initial shipments of “Care” in continental Europe, not including the United Kingdom, were 1.5 million units. The album also debuts at No.2 in France, Spain, Portugal and Norway.
In 2005, EMI artists have spent 26 out of 46 possible weeks at No.1 on the Billboard European Top 100 Albums chart, with Williams (with two different albums), Gorillaz, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones, Moby and Depeche Mode.
“To see so many EMI U.K. artists having success on an international level this year is thanks to the creativity of our artists, the focus of our sister companies worldwide and the skills of our international marketing department,” says Tony Wadsworth, chairman and CEO of EMI Music U.K.
The second-highest debut on the pan-European album chart comes from Destiny’s Child, whose farewell, retrospective set “No.1s” (Columbia) bows at No.9. Its best individual showing is at No.6 in the United Kingdom, where it sells an initial 31,000.
New at No.10 overall is “Unausgesprochen” (105 Music) by Annett Louisan, following a No.3 start in Germany. It’s the German singer’s follow-up to her debut album “Boheme”; she embarks on a tour of Germany in the first week of 2006.
Supertramp, the erstwhile British album rock act whose heyday came around the turn of the 1980s with the global hit “Breakfast In America,” returns to the pan-European listing with a new compilation. “Retrospectacle” (A&M) opens at No.9 in the United Kingdom on sales of 26,000, after a TV advertising campaign there. It comes in at No.15 on the European albums chart.
Stevie Wonder’s “A Time 2 Love” (Motown) makes a healthy second-week move of 40-21 on Top 100 Albums, as the soul legend confirms a rare and intimate promotional concert in London. He will play the special show for national public AC station BBC Radio 2 Nov.9 at Abbey Road Studios. The audience will be formed of contest winners and media.
Williams’ album chart victory compensates for his demotion from No.1 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles with “Tripping.” That’s nudged down to No.3 as Sugababes’ “Push The Button” (Universal Island) moves 2-1. The track is still No.1 in Austria and makes gains around the top of several other European charts, including 7-2 in Norway, 3-2 in Germany, 9-3 in Denmark and 7-3 in Switzerland.
Meanwhile the former Eurochart-topper “Don’t Cha” (A&M/Interscope) by Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes is back on the rise, improving 3-2 after climbs of 6-5 in Germany and 11-7 in Italy.
Irish boy band Westlife scores its 13th U.K. No.1 out of 18 releases with “You Raise Me Up” (S/Sony BMG), prompting a No.6 debut on the Eurochart. Also opening at No.1 in Ireland, it’s the debut single from the group’s new album “Face To Face,” which was released on Monday (Oct. 31) and is heading for the top of the British chart this Sunday, according to mid-week sales data from the Official U.K. Charts Company.
Kate Bush opens on the Eurochart at No.12 with “King of the Mountain” (EMI), the first single from her much-heralded “Aerial” album, which arrives in stores next Monday, almost exactly 12 years after her last set “The Red Shoes.” Initial U.K. sales for the single are 21,000, helping “Mountain” to become her first British top ten single since “Running Up That Hill” in 1986.
