Cast In Steel

[Updated 16 Sep.]:
a-ha’s new album Cast In Steel is doing quite well on the European album charts in its first week.

Here are the chart positions so far:
#3 in Norway
#4 in Germany
#5 in the Netherlands
#7 in the Czech Republic
#8 in the UK
#9 in Switzerland
#13 in Austria
#24 in Belgium (Wallonia)
#33 in Ireland
#35 in Belgium (Flanders)
#40 in Denmark
#58 in Spain

In the UK the album sold 7,828 copies in its first week, making Cast In Steel a-ha’s sixth Top 10 album and 14th Top 75 album in the UK since 1985 (including “best of” and live albums).

The #5 position in the Netherlands is – together with 1988’s Stay On These Roads – a-ha’s best album chart position ever in that country. None of their albums since 2000 have been higher than #50 in the album chart, so this is quite impressive.

Meanwhile in France, Cast In Steel enters the album chart at #166, but there has been no physical release and no promotion, so this is only based on download sales. The album is actually #22 on the download chart.

The album failed to chart in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Croatia and Greece.

BTW, here are a few more album reviews (in English):
Cryptic Rock (5/5)
Hit The Floor Magazine (7/10)
The Plymouth Herald (7/10)
The Herald Scotland