NEW YORK (Billboard) - Coldplay scored its first No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart Thursday, and preliminary sales data indicate the British rock band will claim the top spot on the albums tally next week.
"Viva La Vida," which has been featured prominently in commercials for iTunes, jumped one place to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, spurred by digital sales of 246,000 copies.
The group's fourth album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," which was released Tuesday, will easily debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 when weeklong data are issued next Wednesday.
A source close to the new album expects the album to sellbetween 700,000 and 750,000 units through Sunday. Coldplay's previous album, 2005's "X&Y," debuted at No. 1 with 737,000 units, and spent three weeks atop the Billboard 200.
If Coldplay's album sells north of 700,000, it will be the first time since 2005 that the chart has housed back-to-back 700,000-plus sales weeks. It last happened when 50 Cent's "The Massacre" cleared more than 700,000 in its first two weeks at No. 1, the first of those clearing the 1 million mark.
At the receiving end of Coldplay's one-two punch is rapper Lil Wayne, whose album "Tha Carter III" currently leads the Billboard 200 after selling more than 1 million units through last Sunday. After five weeks at No. 1, his single "Lollipop" fell to No. 3 on the latest Hot 100. His new single "3 Peat" was the chart's top debut at No. 66.
Elsewhere on the Hot 100, rookie California singer Katy Perry jumped two places to No. 2 with "I Kissed a Girl." British reality-TV champ Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" slipped one to No. 4, while R&B starlet Rihanna's "Take a Bow" held at No. 5.
Reuters/Billboard
