X&Y is Coldplay's third album

The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with 1, a compilation of hits by The Beatles.

The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead's Kid A in October 2000.

X&Y has topped 20 global charts to date including Mexico, Hong Kong and Italy.

Internet downloads

The high sales of X&Y come despite the album being illegally put on the internet a week before its release.

Coldplay's record label, EMI, said legal digital downloads accounted for 8% of the album's US sales - the biggest share for any new release to date.

More than 737,000 copies of X&Y were sold in its first week of release in the US, dislodging singer Mariah Carey's album, The Emancipation of Mimi, from the top spot.

And 464,000 copies of the album were sold in the UK, making it the second fastest-selling album since records began in the early 1990s. Only the 1997 Oasis album, Be Here Now, has performed better in its first week, with 695,761 copies sold.