May 07, 2008

By By Juliana Koranteng, London

Coldplay's "Violet Hill" was downloaded more than 2 million times while available for free, according to EMI.

The track was available from coldplay.com for one week from April 29. The track was commercially released yesterday (May 6) via standard digital outlets such as iTunes, although it is still being streamed on the band's Web site.

As previously reported, EMI say the track was downloaded 600,000 times in its first 24 hours of availability, causing the Web site to crash. The label says the 2 million figure is four times that of the combined sales of the Official U.K. Charts Co.'s entire Top 40 chart last week.

The only physical version of "Violet Hill" -- a 7-inch vinyl recording distributed with copies of U.K. rock-music magazine NME -- is also available today (Weds).

The new album, "Vida La Vida or Death and All His Friends," is released internationally on June 12 and in the United States on June 17. It will be supported by two free concerts at London's Brixton Academy on June 16 and at New York's Madison Square Garden on June 23.

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