Incredible US chart success for Coldplay and million seller Lil' Wayne

Friday June 20, 2008

With first single Lollipop spending five weeks at number one and selling more than 2.5m copies, Lil Wayne’s sixth album, Tha Carter III, was always expected to make a good start – but even the most optimistic industry estimates were exceeded by the album’s first week sales of 1,005,000. It’s the first album to sell a million copies in a week since 2005, when 50 Cent’s The Massacre opened with sales of 1,141,000, and it’s only the 15th album to register a seven figure sale in any week since SoundScan started providing the US industry with reliable data in 1991.

With Lil Wayne leading five Top 10 debuts, sales last week were up 22.8% over the previous frame at 9.29m but still 3.1% down on the same week last year, when country star Toby Keith’s Big Dog Daddy was number one on sales of 204,000.

Those other Top 10 debuts: Rapper Plies scores his second straight number two album, with Definition Of Real racking up first week sales of 215,000 – well above his previous best first week of Real Testament, which arrived at number two on sales of 96,000 only 10 months ago; N*E*R*D make it a clean sweep of the top three debuts for rap, their new album Seeing Sounds debuting at number six on sales of 80,000; Alanis Morissette lengthens her streak of regular Top 10 albums to five but falls short of the Top 5 for the first time, debuting at number eight with Flavors Of Entanglement on sales of 70,000; My Morning Jacket make the Top 10 for the first time, with Evil Urges taking ninth slot on sales of 49,000.

Leona Lewis’ Spirit continues to lead the British contingent but eases 11-14 on sales of 32,700. Duffy is also down three notches, falling 12-15 with Rockferry on sales of 29,500. Natasha Bedingfield is the only other UK artist in the Top 50, holding at number 45 with Pocketful Of Sunshine, with sales up 19% at 14,500, as the title track moves 9-6 on the Hot 100 to reach a new peak.

Of 23 new entries to the Top 200, the only one by a British act is The Fratellis’ Here We Stand, which debuts at number 80 on sales of 9,500. Their 2006 debut, Costello Music, reached number 48.

On the singles chart, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida completes a six week voyage to the top, claiming pole position. Although only number 78 on airplay, its 245,000 download sales are enough to take it top. It’s the second number one single of the year by a UK act, following Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love. It’s the first time that we’ve had two US acts reach number one in America in the same year since 1997, when Spice Girls' Wannabe and Elton John's Candle In The Wind 1997 topped the chart.

In a chart dominated by urban music, Viva La Vida is the first number one by a rock act since Plain White T’s topped with Hey Delilah last July/August – and it’s the first number one by a British rock group since 1991, when EMF’s Unbelievable ruled the roost.