On Wednesday Justin Bieber was reportedly around 3,000 copies ahead of Cheryl Cole in the race to the album chart Number 1 spot, and that’s a gap that stayed exactly as-is for the remainder of the week.
Believe, the second proper studio album from the Canadian teen idol, became his first chart-topper in this country with 38,115 sales. A Million Lights from Cole, meanwhile, registered 34,934.
Interestingly, whilst her lack of X Factor platform didn’t particularly prove an issue in the singles market last week (‘Call My Name’ became the fastest-seller of 2012 with 152,000 sales), it really does in this week’s album tally. 34,934 is still a pretty damn good tally for a No. 2 album, but it’s down considerably on the 105,431 who bought 2010′s Messy Little Raindrops on its first week and the 125,271 who picked up 3 Words straight away in 2009.
Music Week also notes that Alexandra Burke’s Heartbreak On Hold – which is now at No94 in what is only its third week, has only sold 10,571 units to date – just 4.73% of the amount managed by Overcome in the same period (223,407).
In singles, Maroon 5′s ‘Payphone’ sold 141,410 to achieve the second fastest-selling single of 2012 and their first ever UK number 1. Chezza’s ‘Call My Name’ shifted another 70,640 and has now sold 222,640 copies in a fortnight.
