Bono and his Dubliners notched up a great sixth number one in the US charts, with their latest album, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Decidedly back to their nineties form as Bono's self-proclaimed egotistical, yet accurate, tag of 'the biggest band in the world', U2's enjoying this Billboard glory right after predictably topping the charts in the UK.
According to sales data from Nielsen Soundscan, the new album - praised by critics and loyalists alike for a guitar-driven return to roots - sold a staggering 840,000 copies over the Thanksgiving weekend! To put that into perspective, that's almost twice as many as their last record, 2000s All That You Can't Leave Behind.
Vertigo, the first single from How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, topped the Billboard charts earlier this month.
It was followed by a series of high profile appearances by the increasingly market-savvy band across high-profile American TV all of last month, and a surprise, free concert under New York's Brooklyn Bridge. Besides that, U2 has also been aggressively marketing in collaboration with Apple Computer, and besides releasing a 'digital box set', the band has gone as far as launch a special 'Collector's Edition' U2 iPod.
Bono also was a part of the recent re-recording of the UK charity hit Do They Know It's Christmas?, reprising the original lyric which he sung in 1984.
The band took over their seemingly rightful number one spot from Eminem's Encore.