'Viva La Vida' No 1 And Platinum Album In Australia

Sydney, AU. (Top40 Charts/ EMI MUSIC Australia) - Talk about flying off the shelves! Coldplay's long awaited fourth album 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends' has become one of the fastest selling albums in years, going Platinum within days of release and debuting at No 1 on the Australian Motorola ARIA chart.

That makes 'Viva La Vida' Coldplay's third No 1 album debut in Australia with their previous two albums ('X&Y' and 'A Rush of Blood To The Head') also reaching the top spot in their first week.

Coldplay are also owning the singles charts, with two Top 10 hits this week - 'Viva La Vida' and 'Violet Hill' sitting at No 6 and 9 respectively. 'Viva La Vida' is Coldplay's second highest charting single ever in Australia following 'Yellow' which reached No 5 in 2001... and like Lennon's 'Imagine' and the Stones' 'Symphony For The Devil', who doesn't remember the very first time they heard 'Yellow'?

Recorded in London, Barcelona and New York with producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, 'Viva La Vida' includes the single 'Violet Hill' which was offered free on coldplay.com website for one week in May and was downloaded by over 2 million people globally.

'Viva La Vida' follows the hugely successful album 'X&Y', which has sold 10 million copies since its release in 2005.

Coldplay have played two free shows in both London and Barcelona during the past week to rave reviews. On July 24, they play their third and final free show at Madison Square Garden in New York ahead of their tour which begins in July and takes them through the US, UK and Europe.