Coldplay’s sixth studio album “Ghost Stories” landed straight at No. 1 in the Billboard chart on its debut this week. The record sold 383,000 million had sold 383,000 copies in the week ending Friday, May 25, making this the best sales week for any album in 2014 so far. The previous record holder was Eric Church's "The Outsiders", which sold 288,000 in the week ending Feb. 16 (all figures calculated by Nielsen SoundScan, via Billboard).

Coldplay
The album's sales number were boosted by a promo deal with NBC.

In fact, “Ghost Stories” is the biggest seller since Beyonce dropped her surprise album last December, selling 617,000 in the week ending Dec. 15 (as an iTunes-exclusive). Barring Bey's smash hit, "Ghost Stories" also had the biggest digital debut since One Direction's "Midnight Memories" last year. Chris Martin and co. sold 245,000 in digital copies, or 64% of the album's total.

“Ghost Stories” was released last Monday, May 19 and it marks the fourth straight Coldplay album to debut at Number 1, after 2011’s Mylo Xyloto, 2009’s Viva la Vida and 2005’s X&Y. In Coldplay’s case, it literally pays to have a dedicated fanbase.

The “Ghost Stories” promotion was boosted by an NBC TV special on May 18 and a performance on The Voice on May 20 – all part of a larger promotional deal the band had with the NBC network.

The penultimate spot this week went to Brantley Gilbert’s third record “As I Am” with 211.000 copies sold, while Michael Jackson’s posthumous “Xscape” slipped to No. 3 with 67,000.

More: Coldplay - Midnight Single Review

Chris Martin
The album set the bar high for the rest of 2014.