 The Red Hot Chili Peppers are number one in 17 countries |
US rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers have topped the US charts for the first time with their ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium. The double CD sold 442,500 copies in its first week of release, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The Los Angeles quartet are also at the top of the UK album charts with sales of 202,499.
Two weeks ago, the band urged fans not to download a copy of the album which had been leaked onto the internet.
'Sleepless nights'
In a letter on the band's website, bassist "Flea" Balzary wrote: "For people to just steal a poor sound quality version of it for free because some asshole stole it and put it on the internet is sad to me.
"I cannot put in words how much this record means to us, how sacred the sound of it is to us, and how many sleepless nights and hardworking days we all had thinking about how to make it be the best sounding thing we could," he added.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been together for more than 22 years, surviving line-up changes and personal difficulties.
Stadium Arcadium is number one in a total of 17 countries, according to the band's spokeswoman.
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