July 29, 2010

By By Paul Sexton, London

As Eminem?s ?Recovery? (Interscope/Universal) starts a fourth aggregate week atop Billboard?s European Albums chart, Hot 100 Singles has a new No. 1 in the shape of Shakira?s official song of the recent FIFA World Cup, ?Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)? (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment), featuring Freshlyground.

The Eminem album is spending its fourth week (in two separate two-week runs) at the U.K. summit, where total sales to last weekend had risen to 351,000. It?s also No. 1 again in Switzerland and holds at No. 2 in Germany, Austria and Norway, climbing 4-3 in Holland. But it?s down 1-2 in Holland and Ireland, 2-4 in the Belgian region of Flanders and 4-9 in Denmark. The single ?Love The Way You Lie,? featuring Rihanna, is up 9-6 on Hot 100 Singles.

In a remarkable 80th week on the pan-European survey, Lady Gaga?s ?The Fame? (Interscope/Universal) is up once again, this time 3-2, its best position for ten weeks. It?s up 5-3 in Germany, 10-4 in Spain, 8-5 in France and 10-7 in Holland. Among markets where it?s listed together with ?The Fame Monster,? it holds at No. 3 in Hungary; that title on its own is up 38-34 overall.

Kylie Minogue?s ?Aphrodite? (Parlophone/EMI) dips 2-3 Europe-wide, falling 2-4 in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, 8-9 in Ireland and 8-10 in Wallony. But David Guetta?s ?One Love? (Virgin/EMI) is then the first of six climbers in a row on European Albums, up 5-4 after climbing 3-1 in Spain, 7-6 in Austria, 10-8 in Wallony and 16-9 in Switzerland. German rock band Unheilig has another good week with ?Grosse Freiheit? (Universal), up 8-5 thanks to another week at No. 1 in Germany and leaps of 20-3 in Switzerland and 17-5 in Austria.

Sting?s new set ?Symphonicities? (Deutsche Grammophon/Universal) climbs 15-6 in its second week on the composite tally, rising 2-1 in Portugal, 9-3 in Wallony and 20-10 in France. It posts a No. 5 debut in Italy but starts more modestly in his native United Kingdom, at No. 30 with 5,000 sales.

?The Twilight Saga: Eclipse? soundtrack album (Atlantic/Warner Music) moves back 18-7 on European Albums, climbing 5-1 in Austria, 12-4 in Germany and 18-10 in Switzerland. It debuted at No. 6 overall last month. Muse?s ?The Resistance? (Helium 3/Warner Music) makes a collective 9-8 climb, after rising 3-2 in France.

Also back on the way up is Plan B?s former U.K. No. 1 ?The Defamation of Strickland Banks? (679/Atlantic/Warner Music), up 4-3 there and 11-7 in Ireland as it climbs 14-9 on aggregate. The pan-European album top 10 concludes with a new entry, U.K. rapper Professor Green?s ?Alive Till I?m Dead? (Virgin/EMI), which opens with sales there of 27,000, at No. 2.

Shakira?s single reaches its goal, rising 4-1 in its 11th week, after adding a No.1 debut in France to continuing runs at the summit in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Wallony. It?s also up 3-2 in Holland, 6-5 in Sweden and 12-10 in Ireland, but down 1-2 in Flanders.

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