1 X&Y - Coldplay 803,642
2 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters 606,000
3 Hot Fuss - The Killers 559,000
4 Hopes And Fears - Keane 543,000
5 G4 - G4. 525,000
6 Definitive Collection - Tony Christie 507,000
7 American Idiot - Green Day 493,000
8 Love Angel Music Baby - Gwen Stefani 474,000
9 Don't Believe the Truth - Oasis 414,500
10 Trouble - Akon 414,000


Source coolclarity.

No Steve? You do surprise me

Well done to G4 though - can't see the appeal myself - but there you go!

Well I am surprised. FIVE albums released in 2004 that happen to be among the top ten big-sellers so far in mid-2005.

Says something don't it?

....where's this info from. Can't be from the useless 'Official Chart Company' website (when was the last time that ruddy thing got updated?

Nice of you to to say 'Well done' even though you aren't a fan! Considering that G4 never get airplay on the BBC makes it even more remarkable for them. They have definitely found a gap in the market.
Not being funny but I fail to see why Coldplay are so popular nor why they get the excessive amount of airplay that they do. I have to 'listen' to the radio at work most of the day and I am heartily sick of hearing Coldplay. They also had the unprecedented opportunity of airing no less than THREE of their songs on one Jonathan Ross programme

It is up to and including sales figures for last week end(Sunday 26th.).
compilation method used by Chartclarity is to add up all the official sales figures for each week since the start of the year.
The official sales figures source is MusicWeek

Amazing figures for G4.

I didn't support them during the show, my favourites were Rowetta and Steve, but I still thought they were good, but their success has been astounding.
The fans must be proud.

Sadly Steve hasn't faired so well.
This chart was also on Chartclarity.
I think it's probably down to lack of promotion, but who knows!

STEVE BROOKSTEIN NUMBER ONE AGAIN!, Worse No 1 LP Chart Career

STEVE BROOKSTEIN, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & NATALIE IMBRUGLIA have all recently joined the list for 'WORSE NUMBER ONE ALBUM CHART CAREER' for having fewest number of weeks inside the Top 75 Albums chart...the Top 20 is as follows:

FEWEST WEEKS ON CHART FOR A NUMBER ONE ALBUM

1 STEVE BROOKSTEIN...HEART AND SOUL [5 WEEKS ON CHART]
1 = IRON MAIDEN.... FEAR OF THE DARK SIDE [5 WEEKS ON CHART]
1 = LITTLE ANGELS.. JAM [5 WEEKS ON CHART]
1 = MORRISSEY.... VAUXHALL AND I [5 WEEKS ON CHART]

5 MASSIVE ATTACK...100TH WINDOW [6 WEEKS ON CHART]
5 = PRODIGY... ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED,NEVER OUTGUNNED
[6 WEEKS ON CHART]

7 SLIPKNOT... IOWA [7 WEEKS ON CHART]
7 = HOT HITS NO. 6... [Various Artists] [7 WEEKS ON CHART]
7 = THAT’LL BE THE DAY.... [Original Soundtrack] [7 WEEKS ON CHART]
7 = PAUL WELLER... ILLUMINATION [7 WEEKS ON CHART]

11 BLUR... THINK TANK [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = CULT... PURE CULT [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = MARY GRAY... THE IT [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = BILL HALEY... ROCK N ROLL SHOW [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = PRINCE... MUSIC FROM GRAFFITI BRIDGE [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = PRINCE... COME [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN... DEVILS AND DUST [8 WEEKS ON CHART]
11 = TOP OF THE POPS 20... [Anon. Artists] [8 WEEKS ON CHART]

19 THE CORAL... MAGIC AND MEDICINE [9 WEEKS ON CHART]
19 = NATALIE IMBRUGLIA....COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS
[9 WEEKS ON CHART]

Note: does not include albums still in the TOP 75

You need to see a live show to appreciate their talent.
The tour is a complete sell-out with many venues reporting that they could have sold twice over.Standing ovations at each show. They have worked so hard to please people they deserve their short, upcoming 11 day holiday!
Tickets have sold at a record pace in many places and tickets being sold on Ebay have fetched up to £590 for a pair.

Trentham Gardens where tonights show is have reported that people are advertising in the local papers for tickets but they sold out in two weeks with no advertising apart from the local small posters.

I hope it can be finally accepted that there is a market for what is loosely termed 'crossover ' -there seem to have been a lot of us whose music tastes have not been catered for until recently and that has to be good for the music industry.

Well done G4 & Louis Walsh!

To say they've found a gap in the market is suggesting that they were the first or only to do so, and of course as we all know they merely followed a path already made popular by a group/quartet, despised by most G4's fans - that would be Il Divo of course. G4 have done well, but have a way to go before eclipsing the success of the aforementioned.

As to why Coldplay are popular?? Well, firstly it's fashionable to like Coldplay (not a huge fan myself) and secondly it's fashionable to like Coldplay

At least they do provide original material although it could be argued that their current single is a cover of all their previous ones.

Sorry to disagree but there is simply no comparison between G4 and Il Divo and I wish people would stop trying to put them both in the same slot. They appeal to different markets completely in my view. If you go to a G4 concert you will see that the audience comprises families with children as young as about 6 years old to people in their eighties. There are male and female (OK plenty of the young females!) and that includes teenage and twenty year old malesl
Il Divo are much older and their audience is of a much narrower range and type. There is really no need for any competition between the two groups.

Regarding new material -G4 are all able to read and write music and play various instruments so when they have time new material will no doubt be produced.

I wasn't making a comparison in my original reply but merely pointing out that G4 have exploited a market already made popular by Il Divo and others. However I don't understand how you can say they don't compare when they both churn out 'Popera'


I take it you've been to an Il Divo concert then

You could say that Domingo, Carreras and even Pavarotti are crossover as they have all dabbled in music other than pure opera.

No I haven't been to an Il Divo concert but I have heard them and was also given a CD of theirs. I found it to be very bland but many people like it -it's all a matter of taste.

They are four different nationalities -American, French, Spanish and Swiss and all in their thirties (or older-not sure of that) and didn't meet by chance!

Their music tends to be more 'formal' and serious without the fun element of G4.

Hardly TBH, as their primary field of excellence is opera and although they may have dabbled in something other than pure opera, that's the exception rather than the rule. G4, on the other hand have dabbled in pure opera but thus far their main intent seems to be 'operaising' popular songs.


How then are you qualified to make a statement that their audience are of a narrower type and range?


I don't think anyone's under any illusions that they're anything other than a manufactured band formed to capture a previously fairly untapped market but that's nothing new and it's certainly proved to be a huge commercial success. BTW, I'm not a fan of theirs but find it strangely ironic that a lot of G4 fans look down their noses at ID when G4 are going exactly the same way.

And a lot of G4 fans are also interested in Il Divo some of whom buy their albums and have been to Il Divo concerts. They can confirm that the audience is not of the same makeup as the G4 audiences.

The age difference in the two probably accounts for some of the audience variation and I doubt if you will see Il Divo on Top of the Pops or CD:UK -on the other hand you never know....

I suspect eventually that G4 will go more down the opera route either as a group or individually but at present they are just young men having a great time, working extremely hard and giving a lot of people a lot of pleasure

By the way - what singers DO you favour?

Actually, I think the video of 'Unbreak My Heart' or whatever the Italian equivalent is, was on both but quite happy to be disputed on that one..


Why does it matter what singers/bands I favour? Surely, this is an X-factor thread

No-one from X-Factor then presumably- there were others!

I liked Verity but I'm still failing to see where you're going with this or why

...I'll second that!!...