Coldplay album selling fast, music to EMI's ears

LONDON (Reuters) - Coldplay sold 125,000 copies of its new album on the first day of release in Britain, a solid tally industry experts say should be music to the band's ears and those of its ailing record label EMI.

"Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" now looks "certain" to top Sunday's album chart, according to The Official Charts Company which tracks record sales, even though it was released on Thursday rather than at the start of the week.

"Coldplay are an international act ... and these sales figures in the UK are the first indication of how the album will be received, and EMI will be very pleased," said The Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot.

"X&Y", Coldplay's last album and most successful to date, sold 465,000 copies in its first week in Britain.

EMI, and its boss Guy Hands, will now turn their attention to the world's biggest music market in the United States, a more important barometer of the album's success when it is released there next week.

The band has expressed relief the recording process is over for one of the year's most eagerly anticipated records.

" feel very relieved that the album is finally released out into the big wide world," the band said on its Web site. "It's out of our hands now. It doesn't belong to us any more."