Chris Martin the band Coldplay performs on NBC's Today show at Rockefeller Plaza on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in New York. — Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Coldplay have secured the biggest opening week for a British act in the last three years with their 10th studio album Moon Music.
The record, released last Friday, becomes the rock band’s 10th consecutive chart-topper after it achieved 237,000 UK chart units this week.
It places second overall this year so far after Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department shifted 270,000 UK chart units in its first seven days on sale earlier this year.
Moon Music is also the fastest-selling album in both physical and download sales since Adele’s 30, which is the last British album to have the biggest opening week when it picked up 261,000 chart units in 2021, according to the Official Chart Company.
The band - which consists of frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion and manager Phil Harvey - are now level with Abba, Michael Jackson and Queen with all having 10 number one albums apiece.
Their previous chart-toppers include 2000’s Parachutes, 2002’s A Rush Of Blood To The Head, 2005’s X&Y, 2008’s Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends, 2011’s Mylo Xyloto, 2014’s Ghost Stories, 2015’s A Head Full of Dreams, 2019’s Everyday Life ,and 2021’s Music Of The Spheres.
Elsewhere in the chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s sixth record Short N’ Sweet has climbed one place to number two.
The US pop star has also made UK chart history as the female artiste with the most weeks at number one in a single year on record, the Official Chart Company has said.
Her latest hit Taste has reached its seventh consecutive week at the top of the chart, and combined with Espresso’s seven non-consecutive weeks and Please Please Please’s five non-consecutive weeks, the singer has logged 19 total weeks at number one on the Official Singles Chart in 2024.
Olivia Newton-John holds the second place position for female artistes with 16 weeks in 1978, while Carpenter draws level with Ed Sheeran for the most weeks at number one in a calendar year this century.
Meanwhile, alt-rock group Public Service Broadcasting have entered the album chart at number three with their latest release The Last Flight, while singer-songwriter James Bay takes fourth with his fourth album Changes All The Time.
US star Chappell Roan continues to hold strong in the chart as her hit album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess climbs one place to number five this week. – dpa
