Coldplay on top

As has been predicted for weeks, Coldplay's album has gone to number one. Or, as the NME excitedly put it:

Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' has taken the Number One spot in the UK Album Charts tonight (June 15), despite only being available to buy for three days.

Well, yes. Only available for three days. True.

On the other hand, it's a fairly quiet time of the year for major act releases, and they did have a dump bin in every record-selling shop I went in to over the weekend, from Borders to Tesco; and they had a massive advertising campaign and an even larger media push (not entirely hurt by Martin's attention-seeking flounce out of Front Row, of course.) Oh, and it's Father's Day, so demand for a CD by a band interchangeable with aftershave or socks is going to be quite high.

It's a triumph for EMI, certainly. Let's hope Guy doesn't sack anyone in the marketing or press departments - surely they've earned every pound this week?