Coldplay's first-week sales top 700,000

There had been no doubt that Coldplay would land at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, which will be released tomorrow morning. The only question was how much would the British rockers sell.

While the band won't touch the million-plus units sold last week by rapper-of-the-moment Lil' Wayne, Coldplay has moved 721,000 copies of "Viva La Vida" in its first week in stores, according to Billboard.

The band's label, Capitol Records, Tuesday evening jumped the gun on the early Wednesday morning announcement of figures from Nielsen SoundScan, sending out a press release touting the figures. A spokeswoman for Nielsen SoundScan declined to confirm the number, but Billboard soon posted the totals.

The 721,000 figure falls in line behind the 1,006,000 copies Lil' Wayne sold of his "Tha Carter III," and brings to an end a massive marketing campaign on the part of EMI and Capitol. Coldplay had appeared on the MTV Movie Awards, and the title track is currently in heavy rotation in an iPod commercial.

Coldplay's 721,000 number falls a little short of the first-week totals posted by "X&Y" in 2005, according to Billboard. That album also debuted at No. 1 in June, but posted a 737,000 total.

Billboard also notes that this is the first time since 2000 that two albums opened with first-week totals greater than 700,000 copies in consecutive weeks. It last happened when Britney Spears' "Oops! ... I Did It Again" and Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" each debuted with more than 1 million copies sold.

EMI is in the midst of a well-documented restructuring, with Billboard having reported earlier this year that the company would cut about 2,000 jobs worldwide. A strong performance of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" has been viewed vital to the company's survival.

Capitol's press release also touts "Viva La Vida" as the band's biggest-selling single via iTunes, but the song was sold as an advance to those who pre-ordered the album.

Related:

Chris Martin, Coldplay singer and ... Rammstein fan?

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[RiverRocker]

Viva la Vida is an awesome work. I haven't heard such a masterfully done album since U2's Joshua Tree, and that was over 20 years ago. My friends have heard a little Yes, some Pink Floyd,a little Genesis, a little Beatles, a little U2 and a whole lot of Coldplay throughout the album. What I mean by that is not plagiarism. Just little "nods" to the other greats in subtle ways; nothing so much as to harm the authenticity and originality of the work. Good job, to one of the best bands there is, and ever was.