Coldplay Return To No.1 On European Album Charts

LONDON — Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends” (Parlophone/EMI) is back at the top of European Top 100 Albums, part of a resuming EMI double that sees Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” (Virgin) lead Eurochart Hot 100 Singles for a fifth week.

The Coldplay album had 10 consecutive weeks atop the Pan-European sales list until Slipknot’s “All Hope Is Gone” (Roadrunner) debuted at the summit last week. “Viva” rebounds with the help of climbs of 3-2 in Italy, 5-3 in Greece and 6-5 in Ireland. The Slipknot album loses its two No. 1 berths in Finland and Switzerland but debuts at No. 1 in Sweden and No. 3 in Italy.

The Verve’s “Forth” (Parlophone/EMI) moves from No. 4 to No. 3 overall, trading places with Duffy’s “Rockferry” (A&M/Universal). The Verve’s reunion album is No. 1 for a second week in the U.K., where total sales to last weekend were 108,000, and adds a No. 4 debut in Italy. Duffy makes a 7-4 U.K. climb, also leaping from No. 49 to No. 21 with the album’s latest single, “Stepping Stone.”

Polydor/Universal’s “Mamma Mia!” soundtrack holds at No. 5 on Top 100 Albums, retaining its lead on the separate U.K. compilation chart and holding at No. 1 in Norway, Greece and Hungary. It’s also up 29-2 in Portugal, but falls from No. 1 to No. 2 in Austria and Denmark.

Michael Jackson’s new “King of Pop” retrospective (Epic/Sony BMG) takes a second-week climb of 15-6, fueled by debuts of No. 1 in Austria and No. 4 in Holland. It’s also up from fifth to third in the U.K. (where sales of 22,000 give it a running total of 48,000), from 11th to fourth in the Belgian region of Flanders and 19th to sixth in Germany.

Amy Macdonald’s “This Is the Life” (Mercury/Universal) is No. 7 again on the Pan-European chart, climbing from No. 5 to No. 3 in Switzerland, while Amy Winehouse dips from sixth to eighth on the aggregate survey with “Back to Black” (Universal Island) and holds at No. 5 in France.

The Pan-European album top 10 is rounded out by two new entries. Veteran British rock act Motorhead returns at No. 9 with “Motorizer” (SPV) thanks largely to a No. 5 start in Germany. The band also enjoys its best U.K. album chart ranking for 22 years, debuting at No. 32 on sales of 5,000 units. Longtime German chart favorite Peter Maffay arrives at No. 1 there with “Ewig” (Ariola/Sony BMG) to enable a No. 10 entry on Top 100 Albums.

Perry’s single locks a fifth week at No. 1 in the U.K. as well as on the Eurochart as a whole. It also stays at the top in Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and makes up for losing top place in Germany (1-2) by climbing 2-1 in Sweden and Flanders.

The Eurochart’s highest new entry, at No. 4, is the Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up” (Interscope/Universal), which arrives at No. 3 in the U.K. on sales of 29,000, and No. 9 in Germany.