American groups are going through something of a purple patch recently with new releases from Queens Of The Stone Age, LCD Soundsystem, The National and Foo Fighters providing the biggest global albums for the last four weeks, with The Killers' fifth album Wonderful Wonderful likely to be the next on the list, as it is No.1 on iTunes in 12 territories as I write, and in the top five in a further 22.
The Foo Fighters' album alluded to above is, of course, their ninth studio set, Concrete And Gold, which secured its first slew of chart placings today (Friday 22nd), opening at No.1 in Flanders, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and The UK, No.2 in Germany, Italy and Sweden, No.3 in Japan, No.4 in Wallonia and No.10 in Argentina.
Arguably as big a release as Concrete And Gold is Love Yourself: Her, a new EP by a South Korean K-Pop septet who are known variously as BTS, Beyond The Scene, Bangtan Boys, Bullet Proof Scouts, and more. The release makes its biggest impact in countries where no charts or sales data is available, but topped the iTunes list in at least 41 countries. Among countries where charts ARE published, it opens at No.9 in New Zealand, No.13 in Sweden, No.14 in The UK, No.16 in Norway, No.18 in Flanders, No.19 in Ireland and The Netherlands, No.51 in Wallonia, No.56 in Italy and No.57 in Germany.
Meanwhile, after debuting at No.1 in Ireland and The UK, No.2 in Flanders, New Zealand and Sweden, No.3 in The Netherlands, No.4 in Germany and No.8 in Wallonia last week, Sleep Well Beast - the seventh album by US indie band The National - confirms its status as their most successful release to date with further debuts at No.1 in Canada and Portugal, No.2 in Australia, Denmark and The USA, No.3 in Finland, No.4 in Switzerland, No.5 in Austria, No.8 in Norway and Spain, No.13 in Greece and Italy and No.20 in The Czech Republic.
Essex alt-rock quintet Nothing But Thieves' second album Broken Machine opened at No.2 domestically last week, and has since added debuts at No.8 in The Netherlands, No.12 in Australia, No.14 in Poland, No.27 in Switzerland, No.29 in Flanders, No.41 in Ireland, No.47 in Italy, No.48 in Finland, No.54 in Austria, No.56 in South Korea, No.57 in Italy, No.67 in Germany, No.76 in Wallonia, No.81 in Canada and No.195 in The USA.
Finally, some 50 years into his career, The Laughing Apple is the latest successful release from a British singer/songwriter who was born Steven Georgiou, started his career as Cat Stevens and has also released albums as Yusuf Islam and, simply, Yusuf. On The Laughing Apple, the 69 year old is billed both as Cat Stevens and Yusuf, and the album opens its account with debuts at No.4 in Germany, No.23 in The UK, No.65 in Flanders, No.90 in Italy and No.98 in Wallonia.
