Christmas, lest you hadn’t noticed, has been and gone, and major readjustments to the charts have taken place globally. However, in the absence of new, blockbusting 2019 releases, the void has been largely filled by the resurgence of some of 2018 and 2017’s more popular titles.
Twelve weeks into its lifecycle, Queen’s soundtrack to the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was boosted by two Golden Globe awards. Already at No.1 in Argentina and The Czech Republic, it now jumps 2-1 in Australia, becoming only Queen’s second No.1 there, more than 43 years after their first - 1975’s A Night At The Opera. It spent eight consecutive weeks at No.2 before stepping up, and is one of three Queen albums in the Top 5 there, alongside Greatest Hits (5-4) and The Platinum Collection (7-5).
Queen have also had only one No.1 album in Japan – A Day At The Races in 1976 – but Bohemian Rhapsody has proved a big draw there cinematically, and the soundtrack jumps 5-2 this week to surpass News Of The World (which peaked at No.3 in 1977) to become their second highest charting album in the country. It sold 21,017 copies in the country last week, compared to the 27,826 sales that keep local singer/songwriter Gen Hoshino’s Pop Virus at No.1 for the third week in a row.
Bohemian Rhapsody also climbs in Switzerland (9-3), Portugal (7-4), The UK (6-4), Canada (17-15), The USA (16-15), France (22-20) and Germany (33-32) while re-entering at No.25 in Denmark, No.47 in Finland, and remaining stationary in New Zealand (2-2), Ireland (4-4), The Netherlands (5-5), Wallonia (10-10) and Norway (37-37).
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s smash hit single Shallow, from their A Star Is Born film, was also a Golden Globe winner, and continues to perform well around the world. It returns to the summit in Canada (2-1), Switzerland (2-1) and Denmark (3-1), remains at No.1 in New Zealand, and is on the rise again in Austria (4-2), Norway (3-2), The UK (4-3), The Czech Republic (9-8), Finland (36-9), France (12-10), Flanders (19-11), Japan (18-12), Argentina (14-12), Wallonia (20-13) and Italy (25-17).
Dua Lipa’s eponymous 2017 debut is also enjoying a good start to the new year. In her native UK, it climbs for the third time in a row, moving 20-12 to achieve its highest chart placing for 10 weeks. It also improves 8-5 in Ireland, 22-20 in Flanders, 136-82 in France, 187-86 in The USA, 98-96 in Italy and 132-126 in Wallonia while re-entering the chart at No.32 in Denmark, No.37 in The Czech Republic, No.49 in Slovakia and No.61 in Canada.
British dance trio Clean Bandit’s What is Love? opened at No.9 in Finland and Hungary, No.19 in The UK, No.29 in Japan, No.30 in Ireland, No.40 in New Zealand, No.47 in The Netherlands, No.48 in Australia, No.50 in Canada, No.56 in Wallonia, No.58 in Switzerland, No.77 in Spain, No.131 in Wallonia, No.141 in France and No.183 in Flanders last month, and after an initial decline, is now beginning to improve in some territories. It climbs 15-9 to make its Top 10 debut in The UK and also gets new peaks elsewhere, specifically Ireland (34-28) and New Zealand (39-38), while bouncing 46-16 in Finland and re-entering in Canada at No.68.
