Sells 302,000 copies from Thursday-Saturday
LONDON -- Coldplay raced to a No. 1 debut on the new U.K. album chart Sunday with "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Parlophone/EMI), even though the album was only released on Thursday, halfway through the sales week.
"Viva La Vida" sold 302,000 units through Saturday night, according to data from the Official U.K. Chart Co., making it the band's fastest-selling release. The total compares with the 465,000 sold by 2005's "X&Y" in a full sales week, and 274,000 for 2002's "A Rush of Blood to the Head."
The new album chart also saw Neil Diamond rebound from No. 3 to No. 2 with "Home Before Dark" (Columbia/Sony BMG), as last week's new entry at No. 1, Paul Weller's "22 Dreams" (Universal Island), fell to No. 4. Scottish band the Fratellis' sophomore album "Here We Stand," also on Island, arrived at No. 5 and there was a 27-12 climb for "The Essential Paul Simon" (Warner Bros.). N.E.R.D.'s "Seeing Sounds" (Interscope/Universal) came in at No. 20.
Mint Royale's reactivated 2005 hit version of "Singin' in the Rain" (Syco Music/Sony BMG) started a second week at the top of the singles chart. It stayed ahead of the former No. 1 "Take a Bow" (Def Jam/Universal) by Rihanna, which held at No. 2 as her labelmate Ne-Yo's "Closer" climbed from No. 5 to No. 3.
Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" (Columbia/Sony BMG) and Gabriella Cilmi's "Sweet About Me" (Universal Island) moved up one place each to No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, and Chris Brown's "Forever" (Jive/Sony BMG) climbed from No. 11 to No. 8.
Meanwhile, A&M/Universal's Duffy has completed the pan-European "double" for the second time, holding at No. 1 on European Top 100 Albums with "Rockferry" and climbing back from second to first on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles with "Mercy." The Welsh-born breakthrough artist previously held the top spots simultaneously for a week in mid-April.
