August 23, 2010

By By Paul Sexton, London

British rock perennials Iron Maiden extended their run of U.K. No. 1 albums to 28 years, and their overall album chart span to 30 years, with "The Final Frontier" (EMI).

On the new singles chart, Relentless/Virgin's British "grime" collective Roll Deep debuted at No. 1 with "Green Light," to give EMI labels a double success.

"The Final Frontier" is Iron Maiden's fourth U.K. No. 1 album, a sequence that began in 1982 with "The Number of the Beast." The band also hit the top with "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" in 1988 and "Fear of the Dark" four years later. The new set, the band's 15th studio album, follows 2006's "A Matter of Life and Death," which debuted at No. 4.

Eminem's "Recovery" (Interscope/Universal), which last week took its aggregate number of weeks atop the U.K. survey to six, fell to No. 2 in the new Official Charts Company data last night (Aug. 23). Its current single "Love The Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, held at No. 2.

Female pop band the Saturdays arrived at No. 3 with the album "Headlines" (Fascination/Universal), which includes the current single "Missing You," down 3-7 yesterday. Also new in the top ten were British band the Hoosiers' sophomore album "The Illusion of Safety" (RCA/Sony Music Entertainment), at No. 10. Containing the lead track "Choices," which debuted and peaked at No. 11 two weeks ago, it's the follow-up to 2007's debut "The Trick To Life," which sold
some 600,000 copies in the U.K.

Meanwhile, David Gray's "Foundling" (Polydor/Universal), a new set which grew out of the sessions for last year's "Draw The Line," opened at No. 18.

Roll Deep had two U.K. chart singles in 2005, with "The Avenue" and "Shake A Leg," which reached No. 11 and No. 24 respectively. But the group has blossomed this year, spending three weeks at No. 1 in May with "Good Times" and now opening at the top with "Green Light." The album "Winner Stays On" follows Sep. 6.

With Eminem holding at No. 1, last week's bestseller for one week, Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me" (Atlantic/Warner Music), featuring David Guetta, fell to No. 3. The rest of the top ten was largely inactive, but two new entries arrived in the teens: "Let You Go" (Vertigo/Universal) by London production duo Chase & Status featuring Mali at No. 11, and Romanian pop-dance singer Inna's "Amazing" (All Around The World/Universal Music TV) at No. 14.

"Recovery" returned to Billboard's composite European Albums summit again, for a sixth aggregate week, 2-1; on European Hot 100 Singles, "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment) by Shakira featuring Freshlyground is in a fourth week at No. 1.

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