Exile hit number 1 in the UK!
From Music Week:
"The battle for artist album chart honours was an intriguing one this week, pitching the repackaged Rolling Stones classic Exile On Main Street against Faithless’ new set, The Dance.
The Stones took an early lead but their advantage was whittled away to the extent that it looked as though it would be the third time in a row they would have had a midweek sales advantage overturned and end as runners-up in less than eight years, replicating the fate of 2002's Forty Licks and their last studio album, 2005’s A Bigger Bang.
In the end, however, the Stones prevailed, with Exile On Main Street racking up sales of 31,287, over a thousand more than The Dance.
It’s the album’s first appearance in the chart since 1972 when, as a double vinyl set, it reached number one in a 16-week stay on the list. That is a much shorter chart run than many of the band’s other albums but even before its upgrade it was by far the most popular album in the band’s catalogue, outselling nearest challenger Sticky Fingers by 25% in the 16 years of the Millward Brown/OCC era.
Faithless topped the chart with fourth studio album No Roots in 2004, and returned to the summit the following year with Forever Faithless: The Greatest Hits. However, their subsequent album To All New Arrivals, peaked at a lowly number 30, precipitating the band’s departure from Sony – but that album was released at the end of November so its sales on that first week, despite its poor chart performance, were 28,198 – just 6.04% less than the 29,901 copes that The Dance sold last week.
Debuting at number two, The Dance is the first release on Faithless’ own label Nate’s Tune – named after a two minute instrumental on To All New Arrivals – and comes hot on the heels of first single, Not Going Home, which debuted and peaked at number 42 a fortnight ago.
LCD Soundsystem achieve their best chart placing to date, debuting at number seven (13,224 sales) with new album This Is Happening, easily besting the number 20 peak of the New York dance/punk act’s self-titled 2005 debut.
Debuting even more strongly, German rock ‘n’ roll revivalists The Baseballs enter at number four (18,212 sales) with their first album Strike!, which has been a hit over much of Europe. The album features tongue-in-cheek retro style versions of contemporary hits like Umbrella, Don’t Cha and Bleeding Love.
After debuting last week at number one, Keane’s Night Train crashes to number six (13,934 sales)."
SUMMARY ALBUMS
01 Rolling Stones (31,287)
02 Faithless (29,901)
04 Baseballs (18,212)
05 Lady GaGa (15,808)
06 Keane (13,934)
07 LCD Soundsystem (13,224)
