Coldplay takes the top of the Billboard 200 this week with “Mylo Xyloto,” moving 441,000 copies for a No. 1 start. It is the third biggest sales tally for an album this year, behind Lady Gaga”s “Born This Way” (1.1 million) and Lil Wayne”s “Tha Carter IV” (964,000).
This is Coldplay”s third straight No. 1 effort, as 2008″s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” (721,000) and 2005″s “X&Y” (737,000) did the same.
Kelly Clarkson”s “Stronger” debuts at No. 2 with 163,000; her last album “All I Ever Wanted” bowed at No. 1 with 255,000 copies.
Michael Buble”s “Christmas” – currently featured in our New Christmas Albums feature – enters at No. 3 with 141,000. His last full-length album, “Crazy Love” put him at the summit when it bowed in 2009, moving 132,000 in its first week.
Adele”s “21” finally falls from the top 3, from No. 1 to No. 4, with 107,000, a sales increase of 1% over last week.
Toby Keith”s “Clancy”s Tavern” bows at No. 5 with 69,000. The country singer”s previous “Bullets in the Gun” debuted at No.1 last year with 71,000.
Tom Waits finally gets his first top 10 album with “Bad As Me,” as it starts at No. 6 with 63,000. It”s also the singer-songwriter”s best sales week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking album sales data in 1991. His previous charting best came with 2004″s “Real Gone,” which made it to No. 24.
Scotty McCreery”s “Clear as Day” falls No. 3 to No. 7 (42,000, -25%), Lady Antebellum”s “Own the Night” slips No. 7 to No. 9 (31,000, -10%), Tony Bennett”s “Duets II” descends No. 5 to No. 9 (31,000, -21%) and Casting Crowns” “Come to the Well” moves No. 2 to No. 10 (30,000, -70%).
Sales for the week are up 16% over last week and down 3% compared to the same week last year. Sales are up 3% for the year so far.