I like to think I have a real affinity with the average music shopper and, while we get very passionate about newer and more alternative music at CMU, we're perfectly in tune with the mainstream's pop preferences - I have no problem getting my head round why Robbie Williams, Dido, U2 and the rockers of old are still the most bankable acts in Britain. But I really really really can't understand why Coldplay are so damn popular - they seem like nice guys, but there really isn't anything special about either their music or their live shows. But you can't argue with the statistics.
Yep, good news for the Martin household and EMI shareholders this week, because Coldplay's new album 'X&Y has been shifting mega-units in both the UK and the US. More than 150,000 copies were sold on the first day of release in the UK, and experts reckon over half of million could have been sold by the end of the week. That would give it the highest first week sales since Oasis' 'Be Here Now'. Ironically it will be Oasis' new album, 'Don't Believe The Truth', which Coldplay will knock off the top of the charts.
A spokesman for HMV told reporters: "It's no surprise that Coldplay sold so many albums on Monday - as much as the rest of the top 20 combined. Demand has been building for some time and there was a real buzz of excitement in all our stores around the country. There's only a handful of artists that have this kind of effect, and Coldplay are one of them. We haven't seen anything like this since 'Be Here Now'. It's fair to say that we're already looking at the biggest album of the year by far."
Similar figures are being reported in the US where more that 600,000 copies of 'X&Y' have now been sold. Huge sales from both Starbucks stores and iTunes are expected to help the album pass the 700,000 mark by the end of the week.
Much was made in the music press about the hot competition for albums sales this week between Coldplay and the White Stripes and The Tears in the UK, and the White Stripes and the Black Eyed Peas in the US. However, it looks unlikely any of the competitors will get close to surpassing Coldplay in week one sales.
What is the world coming to? (Then again, I suppose that while half a million Britons have chosen to buy 'X&Y' this week, 59.5 million have chosen not to. There's some reassurance in that surely?)