In a week when many albums made their debuts, two very different female solo artists secured arguably the best results - 49 year old Kylie Minogue’s 14th studio album, Golden, and 25 year old rapper Cardi B’s first, Invasion Of Privacy.
It would be a surprise if Australian Kylie and American Cardi didn’t ultimately debut at No.1 in their countries of origin but we’ll have to wait for those charts to filter through.
For the time being, Minogue’s best result is in her adopted homeland, The UK, where Golden debuts at No.1, becoming her sixth chart-topper in a span of more than 30 years. Golden also opens at No.2 in Ireland, No.3 in Germany, No.4 in Flanders, No.12 in Wallonia, No.14 in Italy, No.16 in New Zealand, No.18 in The Netherlands, No.38 in Sweden and No.64 in Japan.
While Minogue’s album sales were heavily slanted towards traditional CD and vinyl formats, Cardi B’s Invasion Of Privacy is not, at least at this stage, available physically at all. Streaming and digital downloads nevertheless earn it an impressive first slate, with debuts at No.3 in Ireland and New Zealand, No.6 in Norway and The UK, No.7 in The Netherlands, No.8 in Sweden, No.15 in Flanders, No.37 in Italy, No.39 in Germany and No.53 in Wallonia.
New albums by US acts 30 Seconds From Mars and The Eels also made a good first showing.
30 Seconds from Mars’ fifth studio album, America, is their first No.1 in Germany, and is also instantly the highest charting album of their career in Italy (No.2) and The UK (No.4). It also debuts at No.6 in Flanders, No.7 in Wallonia, No.14 in The Netherlands, No.15 in Ireland, No.20 in Norway, No.24 in Sweden and No.36 In New Zealand.
Centred around E – Mark Oliver Everett, the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, founder and only ever-present on more than a dozen albums thus far – The Eels’ new set, The Deconstruction, dashes to a chart-topping debut in the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, known as Wallonia but fares less well in the French-dominated Flanders in the south, where it checks in at No.22. Elsewhere, the album is No.4 in Germany, No.10 in The UK, No.16 in The Netherlands, No.17 in Ireland and No.96 in Italy.
Musically eclectic London multi-instrumentalist, Tom Misch’s first album Geography opens at No.29 in The Netherlands, No.30 in Ireland, No.89 in Germany, No.94 in Flanders and No.190 in Wallonia simultaneous with its UK debut at No.8.
After becoming his third straight No.1 in both countries last week, Jack White’s Boarding House Reach, suffers a huge 1-62 slump in The USA and an even bigger 1-64 dive in Canada, leaving The Weeknd’s EP My Dear Melancholy to assume the mantle both sides of the 49th parallel. My Dear Melancholy, you may recall, topped on debut in Norway and Sweden last week, and made an impressive start in many other countries. It is now in decline in all of them now, apart from Norway, where it remains at the summit. Meantime, it adds to its Nordic haul by debuting at No.1 in Denmark and is newly-charting at No.2 in The Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia, No.3 in Australia and Finland, No.4 in Switzerland, No.8 in Austria, No.16 in Portugal, No.17 in France and No.45 in Spain.
With his recent tour of the Antipodes still a warm memory, Ed Sheeran is No.1 with ÷ for the 35th time in New Zealand and the 27th time in Australia. It bounces 4-1 in The Czech Republic, where it has now spent 21 weeks at the summit, rising to the top no fewer than 12 times.
Finally, while her Calvin Harris collaboration One Kiss invades the globe’s singles charts, Dua Lipa’s eponymous album now secures new peaks in Australia (13-8) and Slovakia (5-4).
