France Album Sales: Coldplay
X&Y Era
With two serious local contenders facing its release, Yannick Noah and Mickey 3D, Coldplay June 2005 album X&Y was under threat of missing the top of charts just like its predecessor. As both French acts quite underperformed with those releases, X&Y opened at #1 on a solid 40,000 units sold.
Speed Of Sound was their biggest singles hit to date in spite of a modest #42 peak. It must be said that early 00s were the last years of physical single sales in France with singles chart heavily favorable to kids and teens acts, plus some comedy and / or party tracks. During its first 11 weeks the album fully used the lack of competition of summer months to stick inside the first 6 positions. After this initial smash the set went on a similar trajectory as the band first two albums with an extensive run of ups and downs inside the Top 100 thanks to new airplay hits. Only Talk charted yet, at #34, their highest peak up to that point.
Sales were everything except modest yet as the album moved 212,000 physical units as per IFOP in 2005 plus 91,000 in 2006. As downloads struggled to take off in France, X&Y sold only 5,600 units in this format in both years combined. Their overall sales were bigger yet as they scanned 474,000 records in 2005-2006 as per GFK. Speaking about their comprehensive catalog, both Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head enjoyed a nice boost during X&Y era, especially in 2006 when both registered strong Top 10 runs inside the Catalog Chart. From 2005 to 2007, they sold over 60,000 copies each with the latter slightly ahead. X&Y itself continued to sell decent amounts well past its promotional campaign, getting in the 400,000 units trajectory in 2008 when it went 2xPlatinum.
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- Fix You – 170,715,000
- Speed Of Sound – 33,004,000
- Talk – 22,439,000