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Yearly Charts Show Europe Still Loves American Accents
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: Billboard
Date: December 27, 2000
BY PAUL SEXTON
LONDON-Europe's yearly composite charts suggest that American tastes infiltrated the continent in a big way in 2000 but had some trouble at U.K. customs toward the end of the year. Meanwhile, British acts stayed at home.
The most striking feature about the top end of Billboard sister publication Music & Media's European Top 100 Albums and Eurochart Hot 100 Singles charts for most of the year was the preponderance of American accents and the noticeable lack of an English one. Yet by mid-December, the weekly charts in the U.K. told a different story-one of domestic success and a limited Trans-Atlantic presence.
The top four of the European album survey are all by U.S. acts, headed by Santana's 5 million-selling Arista phenomenon "Supernatural" and supported by Moby, Britney Spears, and Eminem. Four more-Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Whitney Houston, and Shania Twain-claim top 10 berths, with only the Corrs from Ireland and reloaded Welsh war horse Tom Jones preventing a U.S. clean sweep.
Among those American super-achievers, special mention is due to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Twain. The extraordinarily enduring popularity of the Warner Bros. rock veterans' "Californication" album, released in June 1999, was underlined as it placed at No. 7 on European Top 100 Albums for the second year in a row. In the past 12 months, it also improved its International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Platinum Europe Awards standing (for albums selling 1 million or more copies in Europe) from single- to triple-platinum.
Twain's Mercury album "Come On Over," Europe's second favorite of 1999, also proved immensely durable, showing up at No. 10 for this year and increasing during the year from quadruple- to six-times platinum across Europe. Two of the other U.S. superstars inside the top 10 made return visits with follow-up albums: Arista's Houston, No. 4 last year with "My Love Is Your Love," landed at No. 9 with "Whitney-The Greatest Hits," while Jive's Spears, who took her bow in 1999 at No. 6 with ". . . Baby One More Time," did even better this year, as "Oops! . . . I Did It Again" hit No. 3.
The 3 million-certified European sales of Houston's compilation represent a better performance than in her home country, where "Whitney-The Greatest Hits" is double-platinum, and the singer is strongly appreciative of her international audience. "It's hotter over here than it is in the States," she says, "but I don't mind so much, because I know I have somewhere to go. When everybody's coming in and they're hitting No. 1's and they fly out, [it's like,] "We'll see you later, bye.' I want staying power, I don't want that "fly-by-night-ness.'"
England-born artists did have rather more to say for themselves in Nos. 11-20 of European Top 100 Albums, in which Craig David's Wildstar/edel debut, "Born To Do It," was No. 15, after completing its first million European sales in November; Sting's long-running "Brand New Day" (A&M) hit No. 16, after placing at No. 25 last year; Eric Clapton showed up at No. 7, as half of a redoubtable blues/rock partnership with B.B. King on Reprise's "Riding With The King"; and Melanie C's status as the most successful solo Spice Girl was confirmed with her million-selling Virgin set "Northern Star," No. 20 in Europe for the year.
The highest position in the 2000 Eurochart Hot 100 for an English artist was No. 12, for Sonique's "It Feels So Good" (Serious/Universal). Meager as this may sound, it's an improvement over 1999, when England's finest in Eurochart terms was No. 23, with "2 Times" by Ann Lee-an artist who had to emigrate to Italy to find fame. (U.K.-signed Cher was No. 4 last year with the "Believe" single, and No. 1 with the WEA album of the same name.)
Adding to a memorable year for Melanie C was a No. 14 ranking for "Never Be The Same Again," her single with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC. Sporty Spice also helped to overcome initial reticence about the idea of her as a solo performer by mounting a major European tour in the autumn.
"It was hard for people to accept me," she says, "but I'm glad the way things have worked out for me, because I wasn't going to go around the world doing crappy interviews. If I was going to be promoting the album, it was going to be by doing live shows."
If both European and English acts were missing from the top end of the albums chart, the Europeans made up for it on 2000's composite Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. Crowning an excellent year, Finland's Bomfunk MC's took the No. 1 crown on that survey with the Epidrome/Sony Euro-smash "Freestyler," while German DJ Mousse T. helmed Tom Jones' No. 3 title, "Sex Bomb," from Gut/V2.
If many observers assumed that Eiffel 65's "Blue," the No. 1 European single of 1999, was a one-off, they were proved wrong, as Bliss Co.'s Italian act returned at No. 6 for 2000 with "Move Your Body." France's Yannick reached No. 9 with "Ces Soir es Là," after an extraordinary run on the weekly Eurochart with the La Tribu/Sony single that stretched from April to November.
Santana's chart-topping album performance was almost matched by "Maria Maria" (featuring the Product G&B), the key European hit from "Supernatural," which placed at No. 2 for the year. European territories can also claim the bulk of the credit for breaking a much newer American artist who has yet to crack her home country in the same way. Epic's Anastacia had the year's No. 19 album with her Epic debut, "Not That Kind," which reached the European million mark during November, after the single "I'm Outta Love" had become a hit out of the box in Europe, turning into the fourth-biggest sales success of 2000.
Eminem, perhaps the most talked-about American artist of the year, went European double-platinum with "The Marshall Mathers LP" on Interscope, reaching No. 4 on the year's chart, while one of its singles, "The Real Slim Shady," was No. 10. Another act with a media season ticket, Madonna, fell just short of both European top 10's, as Maverick/Warner Bros.' "Music," a triple-platinum album continentwide, went to No. 12, and the singles "American Pie" and "Music" reached Nos. 11 and 15, respectively. The album, like other fourth-quarter releases, notably the Beatles' "1" (Apple/Parlophone), was restricted by the Nov. 30 chart cutoff.
The strong American flavor on the two European charts is in marked contrast to the sales picture as the year drew to a close in the U.K., where, as of Dec. 10, six of the top 10 singles, according to chart compiler Chart Information Network, were entirely British, led by All Saints' "Pure Shores" (London), and two others (by Fragma and Spiller) had British vocalists.
Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out" (edel) was the leading completely foreign single in the survey, at No. 9, one ahead of "The Real Slim Shady." That's quite a difference from 1999, when Cliff Richard and Shanks & Bigfoot were the only Brits in the latest British singles top 10, joined by Boyzone from Ireland.
Among the top 10 albums in Britain in early December, America claimed the top two with Moby's "Play" (Mute) and Eminem, but only one other non-Brit, Houston, made the 10, as the Beatles, Robbie Williams, David, Travis, Jones, and David Gray flew the Union Jack, with Westlife succeeding Boyzone as Ireland's prime representatives.
Meanwhile, across the continental charts as a whole, girl power didn't mean quite as much as it had during 1999. Last year, female artists accounted for a remarkable seven of Europe's top 10 singles and four of its top five albums. During 2000, the numbers were off a little, down to 33/4 acts in the top 10 of the album list (Spears, Houston, Twain, and the Corrs, with apologies to brother Jim), and Spears and Anastacia were the only females in the top 10 of the singles chart.
EUROPE'S TOP ALBUMS OF 2000
1. "Supernatural," Santana, Arista.
2. "Play," Moby, Mute.
3. "Oops! . . . I Did It Again," Britney Spears, Jive.
4. "The Marshall Mathers LP," Eminem, Aftermath/Interscope.
5. "In Blue," The Corrs, 143/Lava/Atlantic.
6. "Crush," Bon Jovi, Mercury.
7. "Californication," Red Hot Chili Peppers, Warner Bros.
8. "Reload," Tom Jones, Gut/V2.
9. "Whitney-The Greatest Hits," Whitney Houston, Arista.
10. "Come On Over," Shania Twain, Mercury.
Provisional data from Music & Media at press time. Listings are based on the M&M European Top 100 Albums weeks 1-50, compiled from national album sales charts in 18 European territories.
EUROPE'S TOP SINGLES OF 2000
1. "Freestyler," Bomfunk MC's, Epidrome/Sony.
2. "Maria Maria," Santana, Arista.
3. "Sex Bomb," Tom Jones & Mousse T., Gut/V2.
4. "I'm Outta Love," Anastacia, Epic.
5. "It's My Life," Bon Jovi, Island.
6. "Move Your Body," Eiffel 65, Bliss Co.
7. "Oops! . . . I Did It Again," Britney Spears, Jive.
8. "If I Could Turn Back Time," R. Kelly, Jive.
9. "Ces Soir es Là," Yannick, La Tribu/Sony.
10. "The Real Slim Shady," Eminem, Interscope.
Provisional data from Music & Media at press time. Listings are based on the M&M Eurochart Hot 100 Singles weeks 1-50, compiled from national singles sales charts in 16 European territories.
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