AC/DC’s Black Ice Dominates Euro Albums Chart
October 30, 2008, 15 years ago
Paul Sexton from Billboard.biz is reporting:
AC/DC soars triumphantly on European Top 100 Albums, racing 67-1 with Black Ice (Columbia/Sony Music).
Black Ice claims 29 No.1 spots worldwide, according to Columbia, from an initial global shipment of five million copies. In Europe, they include winning starts in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland. The album also holds at No. 1 in Finland.
Black Ice sells 110,00 copies out of the box in the United Kingdom, a dramatic 777% increase on the initial 14,000 units of its 2000 predecessor Stiff Upper Lip.
Ged Doherty, chairman & CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment U.K., says the achievement "confirms AC/DC as the biggest rock band in the world," praising an "exemplary" campaign. The label also says AC/DC has worldwide catalog sales of five million albums this year, including 800,000 in the last eight weeks. The group's new tour, which continues in Rosemont, IL tonight (Oct. 30), will reach Europe next February.
METALLICA's run at the pan-European No. 1 with Death Magnetic (Vertigo/Universal) thus ends, as did that of the band's previous album St. Anger, after six weeks. Magnetic is down to No. 2, despite climbs of 12-8 in France and 4-2 in Switzerland.
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