Americans dominate European music singles charts

LONDON (Billboard) - The good news for American record labels is that this year's stateside pop boom has carried across the Atlantic, helping U.S. acts dominate the European singles charts.

But U.S. repertoire fared worse on the album charts, for reasons that extended beyond the singles-oriented appeal of some top artists. And in turn, executives are urging acts to ramp up touring to narrow the gap.

While official year-end sales charts aren't yet available, the divergence was clearly evident in chart data that Billboard aggregated from weekly sales in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy during the 52-week period ended November 18.

In the United Kingdom, Europe's largest market, the top three singles of the period were Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," the Black Eyed Peas' "Meet Me Halfway" and "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna, all on Interscope/Universal. International artists, almost all of them American, accounted for 80 percent of the top 20, including nine of the top 10.

But while Gaga's "The Fame" was the top album of the period, the top 10 also featured five U.K. acts (Paolo Nutini, Florence & the Machine, Mumford & Sons, Plan B and JLS), with domestic repertoire accounting for 55 percent of the top 20.

"The traditional correlation between singles and albums sales seems to have broken down completely," says Kim Bayley, director general of the United Kingdom's Entertainment Retailers Assn. "Some people point to the dominance of an American digital retailer in the singles market, compared with the mainly domestic profile of physical retailers in the albums market as an explanation. But it's more complicated than that. Certainly, U.S.-generated pop seems to strike more of a chord with the younger audience of singles buyers than it does with the typically older album buyer."

To prepare the ground for Florence & the Machine's "Lungs," which Universal says has shipped 1.3 million copies, and Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More" (800,000), Island Records' U.K. co-president Ted Cockle says the label placed a high priority on touring and press coverage to make both acts "a sexy enough proposition" for radio airplay.

"Because they're in market, they're able to go and do the small show for somebody," he says. "Whereas the American acts that are clearly spending no time here, have to have a shot at radio straight away. That's their entry into the market."

According to the aggregated chart data, the singles-albums divergence in chart performance for U.S. acts is also apparent in other major European markets:

-- In Germany, international (predominantly North American) acts accounted for 75% of the top 20 singles, led by yet another Interscope release, Keri Hilson's "I Like," at No. 2, but only 55% of the top 20 albums, with local rock act Unheilig claiming No. 1 on both surveys. In Europe's second-largest market, the inability of U.S. acts to convert singles sales into album success reflects the fact that older buyers tend to dictate the makeup of the album chart, says Uwe Frank, Ulm, Germany-based central music purchaser for retail chain Müller, which has 400 branches across Germany.

-- In Italy, international artists account for 65% of the top 20 singles, but just 25% of the albums listing, with Michael Jackson's "This Is It" (Epic/Sony) at No. 2 behind Italian singer/songwriter Vasco Rossi's "Tracks 2" (Capitol/EMI). With physical sales dominating album sales, Sony Music Italy president/CEO Andrea Rosi notes that "international acts who do well in terms of downloads appeal to a young audience which simply does not buy CDs." He also notes that young consumers are more likely to spend money on a concert ticket than an album, noting that while Kings of Leon's December 3 show at Bologna's 10,000-capacity Futurshow Station sold out, "their album hasn't sold 10,000 units in the whole of Italy."

-- In France, international artists provide 70% of the top 20 singles, but just 40% of the albums, although the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." does top the latter listing. French singer Jena Lee had the No. 1 single for the year with "J'Aimerais Tellement" (Mercury/Universal). Olivier Nusse, managing director of Universal France's Mercury label, says U.S. labels can boost album sales if they work other angles beyond top 40 radio, citing Mercury's promotion of Justin Bieber to online platforms and urban radio. Bieber has sold 200,000 albums in France, according to Universal.

While American pop artists like Katy Perry and Ke$ha appeared repeatedly on the singles charts of all four European markets, hit tracks were no guarantee of strong album sales. Neither Perry's "Teenage Dream" nor Ke$ha's "Animal" made the top 20 aggregated chart in any of the four territories, compared to the album achievements of such internationally unheralded local acts as Ich + Ich in Germany, France's Les Pretres and Ligabue in Italy.

What can be done to rectify the situation? Selling more albums in Germany, says Muller's Frank, requires U.S. acts to "take more time to perform on TV shows and play more concerts in smaller towns."

Similarly, Richard Park, co-founder and director of broadcasting at U.K. commercial radio group Global Radio, suggests U.S. superstars need to hit the road to address the increasing divide between airplay-driven visiting artists and more credible, hard-touring domestic acts.

"Live work has become increasingly important," Park says. "We're not really aware, are we, of Katy Perry and Ke$ha's live work, although we've seen them at Summertime Balls."

An active "live" presence in the market is key to selling albums. particularly for new acts, says Universal France's Nusse, noting that the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga spent "considerable" time on live appearances and promotion in France.

"We have to work on building the act's identity," he says. "It took three to four singles for the Black Eyed Peas and six to seven for Lady Gaga before they started selling albums."

(Additional reporting by Aymeric Pichevin in Paris, Paul Pomfret in London, Wolfgang Spahr in Berlin and Mark Worden in Milan.)

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)