November 16, 2009

By By Paul Sexton, London

In a close-run battle between U.K. chart heavyweights, "X Factor" graduates JLS just pipped Robbie Williams to the top spot on the new album survey. On the new singles chart, Black Eyed Peas scored their third No. 1 inside six months, and fourth overall.

Williams' "Reality Killed The Video Star" was ahead of "JLS" (Epic/
Sony Music Entertainment) in early sales last week, but the four-piece
group won the race by a margin of less than 1%, with both titles selling over 235,000 units to become the two fastest-selling albums of the year, according to the Official Charts Company. Every one of Williams' seven previous studio albums has reached No. 1 in the U.K., a run stretching back to April 1998, when the previous October's "Life Thru A Lens" climbed to the top.

In the all-new top three on last night's (Nov. 15) chart, Snow Patrol's "Up To Now" compilation (Fiction/Polydor/Universal) debuted at No. 3, while Cheryl Cole's "3 Words" (Fascination/Polydor/Universal) fell to No. 7 after two weeks at No. 1. Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro's "Only Revolutions" (14th Floor/Warner Music) arrived at No. 8 and Rod Stewart's "Soulbook" (J/Sony Music Entertainment) at No. 10.

There were three further entries in the top 20, all for Universal artists, with Jamie Cullum's "The Pursuit" (Decca) at No. 16, Miley Cyrus' "Time of Our Lives" (Hollywood/Polydor) at No. 17 and Dame Shirley Bassey's "The Performance" (Geffen) at No. 20.

Black Eyed Peas' "Meet Me Halfway" (Interscope/Universal) climbed 3-1 in its sixth chart week, becoming the group's third U.K. No. 1 from the album "The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)," which itself climbed 10-5 in its 23rd week. "Boom Boom Pow" debuted at No. 1 in May, spending a second week at the summit three weeks later, and "I Gotta Feeling" was at the peak for two non-consecutive weeks in August.

That climb prevented Leona Lewis from a chart-topping debut with "Happy" (Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment). The lead single from her second album "Echo," which is released in the U.K. today (Nov. 16), it opened at No. 2 as last week's bestseller, JLS' "Everybody In Love," fell to No. 3. Crossover hip-hop band N-Dubz' "I Need You" (All Around The World/UMTV) came in at No. 5, Britney Spears' "3" (Jive/Sony Music Entertainment) at No. 7 and Sugababes' "About A Girl" (Universal Island) at No. 8.

On Billboard's European Albums, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment) is in a second week at No. 1, while there's an eighth aggregate week atop European Hot 100 Singles for "Sexy Chick" (Gum/Positiva/Virgin/EMI) by David Guetta featuring Akon.

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