Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt Lead in UK Music Awards

Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt led the British musical pack Tuesday, with five nominations a piece for the Brit Awards. Coldplay, whose album "X&Y" was released in 2005, followed with four nominations. KT Tunstall and Franz Ferdinand each received three nominations; Madonna and Canadian rock band Arcade Fire each received three nods for the International Award.

While Britain's CD sales have plummeted 2.7 percent, the rise of artists like Kaiser and Blunt have-no pun intended-blunted the damage, as opposed to the 7.2 percent drop of American CD sales. "In the golden era of the 60s, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones dominated the American charts," said Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs. "Today, the United States is a much tougher nut to crack for British artists."