Christine and the Queens See Off Drake In Chart Battle

Christine and the Queens (pictured) have beaten off all comers to reign supreme at the top of the Irish album charts this week.

The divine French chanteuse, who impressed Irish audiences hugely at Longitude in July, continues to outsell the heavyweight likes of Drake, Adele and Justin Bieber with Chaleur Humaine. And why not? It is a superb record.

Drake is also sustaining well. His Views is now 15 weeks in the charts and still going strong. The biggest gain in the top 10 this week is by Walking On Cars, which battles back up to No.5 from last week’s No.8 position. The only newcomer in the Top 10 is another Irish artist, Nathan Carter, whose Stayin’ Up All Night climbs from No.14.

There will be some excitement at the arrival of Blossoms into the Top 20 and No. 12, with their eponymous album. Also new this week is Wild Beasts’ Boy King – though the band might have hoped for a higher first week showing than No.23, with what is a superb record that was hailed as Wild Beasts at their catchiest and most propulsive in Hot Press by Ed Power.

In all, there are seven Irish albums in the Top 30, by Walking On Cars (Everything This Way), Hozier (Hozier), Nathan Carter (Stayin’ Up All Night and Beautiful Life), Gavin James (Bitter Pill) and Kodaline (Coming Up For Air and Perfect World).