X&Y, the new album by sensitive stadium combo Coldplay, has reached the number one spot in album charts all around the world – 22 territories, in fact.
Despite the kids deciding that they’d rather buy the noise of a frog on an invisible motorbike instead of the album’s first single Speed Of Sound, X&Y has sold 464,000 copies in the UK and 737,000 in America. Coldplay (CDs) have made the first studio album to get to number one on both sides of the Atlantic since Radiohead‘s Kid A five years ago.
Coldplay’s music has grown infinitely in vision – their first concerts featured twee songs called things like Ode To Deodorant – so following the big-sounding A Rush Of Blood To The Head was always going to be tricky. But they managed it – parts of X&Y
are so massive-sounding that the only way they’ll be able to
out-bombast it for the next album will be to record the sound of two
planets crashing into each other.
The band’s record label, EMI, knew that X&Y had to be
enormous as well. Last month they posted lower annual profits than
usual, and blamed it on Coldplay being a bit tardy with their recording.
So when the first single – Speed Of Sound – was outsold by the Crazy Frog, alarm bells must have rung. But Speed Of Sound was a strange choice for the first single, half Clocks and half the theme tune to the old ITV daytime soap Night And Day.
However, album sales have more than made up for the under-performance of the single. In Britain, X&Y is the fastest-selling album since Be Here Now, and Coldplay have joined Radiohead and The Beatles in the list of bands to have simultaneous number one albums on both sides of the Atlantic.
Not bad for a posh whinger from Devon who writes on his hands.
But will their success last? Are the massive sales the result of
marketing and hype, or do the songs stand on their own? Will people
still be talking about X&Y in five years’ time? Leave your comments
below.
[story by Stuart Heritage]