Coldplay First To Sell 1 Million Digital Albums
Based on Nielsen SoundScan data, Coldplay is the first artist to sell more than 1 million full digital albums in the United States. The band has sold 1.358 million digital albums here and label EMI reports global sales total two million digital albums.Coldplay has a history of setting digital sales records. Viva La Vida (Capitol), its most recent album, is the top-selling digital album in SoundScan history while 2005’s X&Y was the first digital album available for pre-order. After the release of X&Y, Coldplay became the first artist to sell one million digital tracks in the U.S.
Coldplay’s sales milestone of more than 2 million full digital albums includes the download sales of four of the band’s complete studio albums, a live album and a full-length EP, and is not calculated on the track equivalent basis (TEA) that SoundScan uses to calculate its digital album chart.
The video for “Strawberry Swing,” Coldplay’s next single, will premiere on Monday, July 20th, on http://www.babelgum.com. The groundbreaking short film was directed by visual artists Shynola and features vocalist Chris Martin as an animated superhero in a chalk-drawn world.
Thanks for the news; I didn’t realize they were the first. I personally purchased their newest album through iTunes, because like many people, I received an e-mail informing me that if I pre-ordered it that way, I’d also receive 2 bonus tracks.
I think this is something to take note of if you’re an independent artist. People like being first in line, they like free stuff, and they like it even more when it’s exclusive.
If you release your next album Online first, and encourage your fans pre-order with the promise of a bonus, you could have a similar response…maybe not a million copies, but quick cash flow can help offset the cost of production and it wouldn’t hurt to make that money before you even pay for manufacturing 🙂