Beyonce Dominates Both Sides of Atlantic with "4"

Beyonce may not have shattered the charts with her lead singles from her new album, but that doesn't mean her album would suffer the same fate... and indeed will not! According to midweek figures in the UK and Hits Daily Double, Beyonce is poised to take the top spot on the album charts in America and Britain in its debut week.

 Fresh off of her Glastonbury headline gig, Beyonce is outselling the nearest competitor on the British album chart 3 to 1 and will mark her first number one album in the UK since her debut album in 2003. In addition, her new single "Best Thing I Never Had" remains perched atop the UK iTunes chart and is looking at a top ten debut next week (currently at number six). The song will join six other tracks poised to enter the top 75 next week.

In the US, the news is equally great. First day sales predictions suggest the album will also take the top spot with sales of 275-300k, making it likely to be the third best sales week for an album this year. The current holder of third best sales week is Britney Spears' "Femme Fatale," which sold 276k its debut week.

In fact these two have a lot in common in terms of their sales. Both sold within a few thousand of 500k copies of their last albums, both released their last album during the holiday rush of 2008, and both will sell just shy of 300k copies of their 2011 albums (and might we add demos of the lead single both leaked earlier than expected).

Thoughts?