Coldplay Debuts Big, Bucks Industry Trends

LOS ANGELES — Coldplay's new album is already living the life. "Viva La Vida" will debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine's Web site. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month. Two back-to-back blockbuster sales are a boost to the sluggish music industry, which has had little to celebrate with declining sales. "Viva La Vida" follows 2005's "X&Y;," which also debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, with 737,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It album sold 3.2 million copies in the United States. (link)