Coldplay’s Status As “That iTunes Band” Remains Unchallenged

noah | December 3, 2008 11:00 am

Yesterday the iTunes Store released its year-end lists, and while its “best of” lists are somewhat intriguing (the albums rundown is topped by Raphael Saadiq, while the “Best Songs” list has both Motley Crue’s “Saints Of Los Angeles” and Hercules & Love Affair’s “Blind” in its top 10), it’s the sales charts, of course, that allow us to place our collective finger somewhere near the pulse of those people who buy albums from the comfort of their cubicles/drunken late-night outings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida—which was promoted heavily by an ad for the iTunes Store—is the top-selling album of the year. Top 50 is after the jump, but first, a few impressions.

THE GOOD: I don’t know why, but there’s something hilarious about Disturbed’s Indestructible (No. 28) being nestled between Paramore and the soundtrack for Sex And The City. THE BAD: The overall MOR-ness of the chart—Leona, Amy, Duffy, Colbie, even Counting Crows all the way down at No. 43—shouldn’t be all that surprising, although I did raise my eyebrows at the notion that enough people bought the OneRepublic album that it landed in the top 10. I know digital sales are a fraction of overall album sales even now, but really? Is the power of Timbaland’s “ay”-ing that profound? THE WHAAA? For all its power as a singles-sales force, there sure were a lot of soundtracks that flew off iTunes’ virtual shelves—10 in the top 50 alone, including the Juno soundtrack, which placed third overall. Also in the upper reaches of the year-end chart: The Across The Universe soundtrack, probably because it brought together Bono and Evan Rachel Wood; and the unkillable Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack (No. 24—right ahead of Duffy!). Although if you click through you’ll see that its most popular track by a far, far margin is whatever version of “The Christmas Song” has been included on the disc. For some reason, this comforts me a lot.

1. Coldplay, Viva La Vida 2. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static 3. Juno soundtrack 4. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III 5. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice 6. Once soundtrack 7. Jason Mraz, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things 8. OneRepublic, Dreaming Out Loud 9. Across The Universe soundtrack 10. Leona Lewis, Spirit 11. Metallica, Death Magnetic 12. Radiohead, In Rainbows 13. Taylor Swift, Fearless 14. Mamma Mia! soundtrack 15. T.I., Paper Trail 16. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black 17. Vampire Weekend 18. Taylor Swift 19. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs 20. Camp Rock soundtrack 21. Madonna, Hard Candy 22. Colbie Caillat, Coco 23. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded 24. Alvin And The Chipmunks soundtrack 25. Duffy, Rockferry 26. Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer 27. Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride 28. Paramore, Riot! 29. Disturbed, Indestructible 30. Sex And The City soundtrack 31. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys 32. Alicia Keys, As I Am 33. Adele, 19 34. High School Musical 3: Senior Year 35. Daughtry 36. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 37. Lupe Fiasco, The Cool 38. Eddie Vedder, Into The Wild 39. M.I.A., Kala 40. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 41. John Mayer, Where The Light Is 42. Jonas Brothers 43. Counting Crows, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings 44. 3 Doors Down 45. Bob Marley, Legend 46. Led Zeppelin, Mothership 47. Weezer 48. Miley Cyrus, Breakout 49. August Rush soundtrack 50. P.S. I Love You soundtrack

2008 [iTunes]