INTERNATIONAL CHARTS COVERAGE: Antony makes his mark.

ALAN JONES

Born in Sussex and raised in California, Antony Hegarty prefers to think of himself as British rather than American, and his new Antony & The Johnsons album Crying Light made waves on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond to become the world's biggest-selling new release last week.

Debuting at number 18 in the UK on sales of 11,000, it sold 16,000 copies in the US to debut at number 65. In terms of sales, these are its best markets but in terms of debut positions, it fares much better elsewhere, making its entrance at number two in Spain, Sweden and Belgium; number four in France, the Netherlands and Norway; number seven in Switzerland; number eight in Ireland; number nine in Italy; number 23 in Finland; number 33 in Australia and number 46 in Canada. In Europe as a whole, Crying Light replaces Duffy's Rockferry as the best-selling album.

Meanwhile, James Morrison's Broken Strings duet with Canada's Nelly Furtado is closing the gap on Lady GaGa's Just Dance at the top of the European download chart. In fairness, Just Dance is still some way ahead, with sales last week of more than 77,000, while Broken Strings sold 55,000 to lift its 11-week total to more than 330,000. It was helped by a number one debut on the German singles chart. It is number two in Austria and Ireland, number four in Switzerland, and number seven in the Netherlands.

Both of the above ...