Posted June 30, 200817 yr Coldplay make it century of US chart-toppers for UK acts Source: MW 12:12 | Thursday June 26, 2008 By Alan Jones The revival of interest in British music in America continues apace, with Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends becoming the 100th album by a predominantly British act to top the chart since its inception more than 60 years ago. The album, which sold more than 721,000 copies last week, is the third by a UK act to top the list already in 2008, emulating Radiohead’s In Rainbows (number one in January) and Leona Lewis’ Spirit (April). Viva La Vida’s opening week’s sales are slightly below those of its 2005 predecessor X&Y, which also opened at number one, on sales of 737,000. Coldplay are the first British act to land back-to-back number one studio albums in America since Def Leppard topped with Hysteria in 1988 and Adrenalize in 1992. And it’s the first time that three British acts have topped the chart with albums of new material since 1988 when Hysteria, George Michael’s Faith and Stevie Winwood’s Roll With It took turns at number one. The Billboard album chart was introduced in 1945 but it wasn’t until 1964 that The Beatles (natch) became the first UK act to reach the summit, leading the list with Meet The Beatles. It stayed top for 11 weeks, being dethroned only by The Beatles’ second album, issued in America, under the title of, erm, The Beatles’ Second Album. With A Hard Day’s Night subsequently dominating the chart for 14 weeks, The Beatles were top of the chart for more than half of 1964. Although they were joined in their invasion of the US chart by numerous other British acts, they generated nine of our first 10 number ones Stateside, with The Rolling Stones’ Out Of Our Heads (1965) providing the only alternative. Slowly but surely, other British acts started to reach number one, with Cream, Blind Faith and Led Zeppelin all joining the list before 1970. But the new decade provided an explosion in UK talent able to conquer the chart summit, with one-off toppers like Cat Stevens, Bad Company, The Average White Band, Peter Frampton, Gerry Rafferty and Supertramp interspersed between heavyweights including Jethro Tull, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd. The 1970s was by far the most productive decade for British acts, with 44 of our 100 number ones coming in that decade, compared to 17 in the 1960s, 19 in the 1980s, 11 in the 1990s and nine so far in the 2000s. The 14 weeks that A Hard Day’s Night spent at number one in 1964 was surpassed three years later by another Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which held out for 15 weeks. That reign was first equalled by Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1980) then beaten by The Police’s Synchronicity, which remains top of the longevity list, with 17 weeks at number one. Of course, high-profile albums at the top of the chart tell only part of the story. Last week, 20 albums in the Top 200 - exactly 10% – were by British artists. That’s the highest tally of the year and compares favourably with the same week 10 years ago. Then, The Spice Girls’ Spice World was the top UK export, ranked at a lowly number 51, and was one of 14 albums (7%) charted by Brits, alongside offerings from Tricky, Sarah Brightman and Ozzy Osbourne. Last week’s representatives grabbed a 7.3% share of sales, but with low placings prevalent, the class of 1998 had a puny 3.7%. We’ve got a long way to go before we can match the penetration we had 20 years ago last week, when 34 British albums were charted – but at least we’re heading in the right direction. NOTE: Total includes only acts born in the UK, whose membership is more than 50% British, who regard themselves as British, or whose creative core is British. It therefore does not include Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac (both 50% British acts based in America), Olivia Newton-John (UK-born but a holder of an Australian passport) or Sade (born in Nigeria). It also excludes the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, written largely but not exclusively by The Bee Gees.
