LONDON--Some two million people have downloaded British rock group Coldplay's new single "Violet Hill" since it was put on their website last week, their spokesman said Tuesday.

"In the past seven days, the single has been downloaded for free by a staggering two million people," he said. "It would have outsold the whole of last week's top 40 (singles) four times over."

The song, which went on sale in record stores Tuesday, is the first from their new 10-track album "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends," due for official release worldwide on June 12.

Produced by Brian Eno, who created ground-breaking music with David Bowie in the 1970s and has worked with U2, it is the follow-up to "X and Y," which has sold 10 million copies since it came out in 2005.

Coldplay's move follows the success of fellow British group Radiohead, who invited fans to set their own price for their album "In Rainbows", when it was released online last October.

According to one survey, three in five people paid nothing at all.