Brit band landed its first No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 as "Viva la Vida" ended the four-week reign of Lil Wayne's "Lollipop." Chris Martin and mates reached the top spot with more than 246,000 in sales of the single for the week ended Sunday.
The last time a British rock group topped the Hot 100? Twenty years ago, when the Def Leppard power ballad "Loves Bites" infected the airwaves.
Despite its multiplatinum, Grammy-winning success, Coldplay had previously topped just one U.S. song chart: A remix of "Talk" reached No. 1 on Hot Dance Club Play two years ago. As far as the Hot 100, the closest the band ever came was No. 8 with 2005's "Speed of Sound."
"Viva la Vida," which benefited from placement in a spaced-out iTunes commercial, is the first rock song to top the Hot 100 this year. In fact, only two rock songs topped the chart all of last year: Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" and Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend."
Powered by the hit single, Coldplay's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is on track for a massive No. 1 bow next week with sales projected in excess of 700,000.
Meanwhile, the band's Capitol Records label mate Katy Perry rode major airplay gains to No. 2 with "I Kissed a Girl." This is the first time Capitol has claimed the top two spots since Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" and the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" 41 years ago.
Though "Lollipop" slipped to No. 3, Lil Wayne's new single, "3 Peat," entered the Hot 100 at No. 66 as the week's top debut. Still, it's not like losing the top spot could spoil the rapper's party following Tha Carter III's mammoth million-copy sales week.
Elsewhere, Weezer's "Pork and Beans" and Disturbed's "Inside the Fire" are both in their seventh weeks atop the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts, respectively.
Finally, Kenny Chesney's "Better as a Memory" jumped three spots to No. 1 on Hot Country Songs. That gives the country crooner three No. 1s from his current album, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, and 14 for his career.
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