Not so global pop stars
By Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Leona Lewis’ Spirit will arrive in the U.S. today having already been a Top 10 album overseas. With her Bleeding Love recently reaching the peak of the Billboard Hot 100, anticipation is high for Spirit to meet with blockbuster-like success in America.
It would be a surprise if Spirit wasnt a hit stateside, since Lewis already has the support of Oprah and a heavy marketing push from J Records.
But prior overseas success does not always translate to superstardom in the U.S.
Just look at Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, or the Sugababes. They are not alone. While they mainly cultivate dance club status, more than a few major recording artists from foreign lands have had a hard time gaining significant traction in the U.S. market. (Johannes Eisele / AP)
Kylie Minogue
About 13 years after her first U.S. hit, Locomotion, Australian superstar Kylie Minogue found herself all over the U.S. pop charts with Cant Get You Out of My Head. It gave Minogue a No. 3 album with 2002s Fever, and Minogue looked like she had finally conquered America.
But her subsequent 2004 effort, Body Language, stalled at No. 42 on the U.S. pop charts. Body Language was a Top 10 album in the U.K. and Australia. Her most recent effort, X, secured Minogue another No. 1 album in Australia, but didnt see U.S. release until April 1.
Maybe Minogue will receive a long-awaited boost from American Idol, with an appearance set for Idol Gives Back on April 9, 2008. (Dave Hogan / Getty Images)
Sugababes
One of the most successful pop groups in the U.K., the Sugababes doesnt have much, if any, presence in the U.S. The acts synth-y dance-pop has been responsible for hit single after hit single in the U.K. It had a brief stay on Billboards Hot 100 in 2004 with Hole in the Head, but remains little known stateside outside of the club scene.
In fact, if youre an American resident whos curious to pick up the Sugababes catalog, youll be buying imports. (Pascal Le Segretain /Getty Images)
Arctic Monkeys
The spunky urban rockers the Arctic Monkeys have done well in the U.S., but nothing approaching their superstar status in the U.K.
Last year, the act hit the Top 10 in the U.S. with Favourite Worst Nightmare, but it fell off the chart after seven weeks. In the U.K., meanwhile, the album was reported to have sold about 220,000 copies in its first week. Thats more than five times what it moved in America in its debut week. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Lily Allen
The MySpace-born star came to the U.S. with a bevy of hype, and a Top 10 U.K. album under her belt. While her reggae-inflected electronic pop had been released to the Web months prior to its official stateside release, Allen has yet to reach the Grammy-adored American star status of her Brit compatriot Amy Winehouse.
Her single Smile peaked at No. 49 on the Billboards Hot 100. Thats nothing to complain about, but Allen is a tabloid fixture overseas, and has even been granted her own television show. In the U.S., Allen is still something of a peripheral character. (Dave Hogan / Getty Images)
