Metallica Overtakes U.K. Charts
METALLICA OVERTAKES U.K. CHARTS:
September 15, 2008
American rock took over the U.K. charts yesterday (Sept. 14) as Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” (Vertigo/Universal) hit the top of the album chart after just two days on sale, while Kings of Leon scored their first No. 1 single with “Sex on Fire” (Hand Me Down/Sony BMG).
Metallica’s ninth studio album outsold Scottish rock outfit Glasvegas’s self-titled Columbia debut by a third, according to Official Charts Company data. It’s the second time this year that an album has reached the top of the chart despite being released later in the chart week, after Coldplay’s Thursday debut in June with “Viva La Viva or Death and All His Friends” (Parlophone/EMI).
With “Glasvegas” new at No. 2, Rihanna’s “Good Girl Gone Bad” (Def Jam/Universal) rose 5-3 in its 67th chart week, while Elbow’s victory last Tuesday at the Nationwide Mercury Prize had a dramatic effect on its sales. The band’s current album, “The Seldom Seen Kid” (Fiction/Universal), soared 61-7, while the singles “One Day Like This” and “Grounds For Divorce” re-entered at No. 35 and No. 59 respectively.
The new album chart also had Stevie Wonder’s “Definitive Collection” (UMTV/Universal) arriving at No. 14, in the week of his U.K. shows and an appearance on BBC1’s “Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.” New Kids On The Block debuted at No. 16 with “The Block” (Interscope).
Kings Of Leon’s No. 1 arrival on the singles chart is not only their first U.K. No. 1 but first top 10 single, after seven previous top 40 entries over four years. Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” (Virgin/EMI) thus relinquished the No. 1 spot after five weeks, as Cliff Richard registered a record 70th top 10 single at No. 3 with “Thank You for a Lifetime” (EMI), almost exactly 50 years after his first with “Move It” in October 1958.
Perry’s “Girl” leads Billboard’s Eurochart Hot 100 Singles for a fifth week and the Coldplay set is back at the top of European Top 100 Albums, a week after its previous 10-week reign was ended by Slipknot’s “All Hope Is Gone” (Roadrunner).
Courtesy of www.billboard.com