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by Alan Jones
Coldplay's much-anticipated third album X&Y sailed to the second- highest first-week sales in history last week, selling a stellar 464,471 copies.
Only Oasis' August 1997 album, Be Here Now, has ever enjoyed a faster start. Former runner-up Dido's Life For Rent opened with 400,351 sales in October 2003.
A Thursday release, Be Here Now sold 356,000 on its first day alone and 696,000 in three days before the end of the chart week to debut at number one. It sold a further 235,000 copies the following week, and topped the 1m sales mark in 11 days.
X&Y accounted for more than one in six...