Fijación Roca

[an early warning for anyone unfamiliar with rockism: the term is bound to get discussed here occasionally given its prominence in the kind of internet music writing that I read. Very simplified, it is the idea that people, and critics in particular, are heavily biased towards rock music, or at least tend to use values built up by it, and that this is A Bad Thing.]

This very enthusiastic review of Shakira's new album touches upon an interesting point. Entirely in Spanish, it's been the only thing keeping the X&Y juggernaut from number one in at least some parts of the world, and has been an amazing success in the US by all accounts, reaching number 4 and selling more in a week than any other Spanish album ever.
In the UK, however, it barely made the top 200. Is this just a lack of a similar appetite for Spanish culture to the rest of the world, or a sign of something else? The difficulty for such a popstar to create a lasting fanbase maybe? We'll have to wait til the English sequel at the end of the year to find out, but it's certainly true that the UK at present seems a rather harsh climate for pop.

One comment in reply to this rockism article on Stylus is particularly interesting.
'Hey, if rockism is such a monolithic terror that needs to be confronted, why is pop so.... popular? Usher sold 8 million albums last year; what rock band came close? Biggest albums this year: 50 Cent, Gwen, Ciara, Mariah, Kelly Clarkson (think of that as a continual escalation of inauthenticity). [...] Aging ILM-ers need to stop framing this debate in outdated terms -- the charts don't lie, people.'
They are, of course, talking about the US. In the UK, the picture is a little different, with last year's biggest ten albums (thanks to Everyhit.com!) shown below:

1 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
2 Keane - Hopes And Fears
3 Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits
4 Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
5 Katie Melua - Call Off The Search
6 Anastacia - Anastacia
7 Usher - Confessions
8 Snow Patrol - Final Straw
9 Il Divo - Il Divo
10 Norah Jones - Feels Like Home

Even just two years previously, Enrique Iglesias, Pink and Blue had featured in the top 5, but bar Usher and Il Divo it is a rather Virgin Radio friendly list. Of course, this could be equally seen as a sign of pop winning rather than rock, with Scissor Sisters, Keane and Robbie Williams hardly the most authentic or critic-pleasing, but still, pop is no longer the ruler here in the same way as the US.