Coldplay Have No 1 Selling Album In 36 Countries

Sydney, AU. (Top40 Charts/ EMI MUSIC Australia) - No surprises here - Viva La Vida is breaking more records and isn't relinquishing that No 1 spot anytime soon.

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" has to date been the No.1 selling album in 36 countries around the world, including in the U.S., where it held the top spot for two weeks, and in the U.K. where the album has been No.1 for the last four. The band's previous album, the 10 million-selling 'X&Y', reached No.1 in 32 countries in 2005.

In a number of countries, including the U.K., France, Germany and Japan, first week sales of 'Viva La Vida' exceeded those of 'X&Y', and 'Viva La Vida' has already been certified gold or platinum in 31 countries including platinum in the USA, Germany and Australia and double platinum in the U.K. and Canada.

In many countries 'Viva La Vida' held the top spot on the album chart in its second week, including in the USA, U.K., Australia, Canada, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand.

'Viva La Vida' set the record for the highest first week album sales ever on the iTunes Store worldwide, in addition to being the biggest album pre-order in iTunes' history. In the U.S., 288,000 week one sales were digital downloads, the biggest ever first week sales tally for a digital album, and with 394,000 digital albums sold in the first three weeks, 'Viva La Vida' is the all time best selling digital album in the States. U.S. over the counter sales for 'Viva La Vida' across all formats have now exceeded 1.1 million according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In the U.K., 'Viva La Vida' is the fastest-selling album of the year with over the counter sales of more than 600,000 since its release on 12 June, while in Germany the album is already the biggest selling release of the year as well as the fastest.

In Australia, Coldplay's platinum selling 'Viva La Vida' album holds the No 1 position on the National Motorola ARIA chart this week for the fourth consecutive week since its release. The song 'Viva La Vida' is No 4 on the digital tracks chart and No 5 on the singles chart.
Coldplay will launch their sold-out North American tour in Los Angeles on July 14th and 15th.