Coldplay have scored a No. 1 single in the UK for the first time with Viva La Vida, the title track from their new album.

The song topped the chart in its debut week while the band’s fourth studio album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, remained at the top of the album chart for the second week running.

The band are also enjoying success in America, reaching No. 1 on the US singles charts for the first time. They are the first British act in 37 years to have held the No. 1 position on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously. Rod Stewart last turned the trick in 1971 with the song Maggie May.

Viva La Vida shot to the top of the charts despite sales coming solely from internet downloads.

"The Coldplay success story just keeps getting bigger," said Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for retailer HMV. “Viva La Vida is one of HMV's biggest-ever selling downloads."

Despite a string of top 10 hits including Yellow, Clocks and Fix You, the band has never topped the singles chart in either the US or the UK.

Violet Hill, the album’s debut track, sits at No 11, giving the band two top 20 singles this week.

This is also the first time Coldplay have reigned on both the singles and albums charts in the UK at the same time.

Previous albums Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head and X&Y each hit number one. But Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is the band's fastest selling album to date and has already been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.

In 2005 Coldplay became the first British band since the Spice Girls to top the US chart with an album of original material (the Beatles sat on top for seven weeks in 2000 with 1, a compilation of number one classics).

Other debuting singles on the chart this week include Busta Rhymes’s We Made It (No 14), the Jonas Brothers’ SOS (No 16) Billiam’s My Generation (No 23), and Weezer’s Pork and Beans (No 40).

Explore Music

• Proms

• Festivals

• CD Reviews

• Live Reviews

Editor's choice

• Desperados with avocados - a sort of Guy Ritchie film
• Live fast, die young: The 27 Club
• Madonna's 50 most memorable moments