American chartwatch. (International).

Although there is only one new entry to the Top 100 of the Billboard albums chart this week (Chris Isaak's Always Got Tonight at number 24), the winter wind-down is finally over with record buyers returning to record shops in droves. Overall sales of the Top 200 albums soared by more than 19.4% last week. All but 12 of the Top 100 albums registered week-on-week gains and, for the first time this year, the top seven albums sold more than 100,000 copies. Returning to pole position and registering its fourth week at number one, country star Alan Jackson's Drive beat the market average with a 23% increase in sales to 184,000.

The most impressive move on the chart comes from Enrique Iglesias, whose former number two album Escape catapults 21-10 with a 67% increase in sales week-on-week. The album, which surpassed the 2m sales mark last week, is responding to the success of the single of the same name, which jumps 70-47 on the Hot 100.

Another good performance comes from Charlotte Church. The Welsh singer, who celebrated her 16th birthday last week, reaped the rewards of a couple of TV appearances, which saw her latest album Enchantment enjoy a 69% spike to return to the chart at number 148. It sold more than 11,000 copies last week, to take its overall sales to 728,000.

Starsailor's progress ...