French president's wife hits charts

7:18pm Friday 18th July 2008

French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's new album is ranked third in French album sales a week after its release, official rankings show.

Sales of Comme si de rien n'etait (As If Nothing Had Happened) were behind albums by Coldplay, in first place, and French pop singer Laurent Voulzy, according to France's National Union of Phonographic Edition.

The album by Carla Bruni - her recording name - sold 14,130 copies in its first two days, according to her record label, Naive.

The former supermodel-turned-singer married French president Nicolas Sarkozy in February after a whirlwind romance.

Her first album, Quelqu'un m'a dit (Someone Told Me, in 2002), was a hit, selling 2 million copies and earning rave reviews from critics. Her second, No Promises, released in January 2007 and sung in English, received a far less enthusiastic response.

The new album is being released around Europe this month and is also tipped to hit shelves in the US on August 5.

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