It is no surprise that Coldplay has the number one album in Australia this week. The surprise is how good the figure was.
'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends' has been the fastest selling album in more than a year.The album sold 41,041 units beating the previous 12-month's biggest seller, the Eagles 'Long Road Out Of Eden' by more than 6,000 units.
You have to go back to the week of May 14, 2007 to find a bigger album by the Eagles. That was the week Michael Buble sold 37,000 albums in one week leading into Mother's Day.
Coldplay has beaten everything in its path.
In fact, 'Viva La Vida' was so big this week that on downloads alone (6291 units), it did better than the number two album by Disturbed. 'Indestructible' sold 6249 units.
Coldplay alone sold more copies of 'Viva La Vida' than the rest of the top 10 added together. The figures are 41,041 to 34,811.
Other debuts on the Australian chart this week were N.E.R.D. 'Seeing Things' at 14, Judas Priest 'Nostradamus' at 17, The Music 'Strength In Numbers' at 30, Lil Wayne 'The Carter III' at 47 and Emmylou Harris 'All I Intended To Be' at 75.
Incidentally, the year's worst performing number one album to date belongs to Timbaland. 'Timbaland Presents Shock Value' had a number one album this year on just 4304 units. On this week's figures, that would still earn Timbaland a spot at number 5.
