U2 set to lead U.S. chart despite sales slide

Members of the rock group U2, (from L) Adam Clayton, Bono, Edge and Larry Mullen hold street signs after a portion of West 53rd Street was renamed U2 Way in New York March 3, 2009. U2's new album No Line On The Horizon was released today.

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Irish rockers U2, working the American TV circuit hot and heavy this week, are on track to score their seventh No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart.

Data for the Billboard 200 will be published on Wednesday, but early returns from key retailers indicate "No Line On the Horizon" could sell more than 400,000 copies -- the best sales week the chart has seen since December.

The band's last studio album, 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," bowed with an impressive 840,000 copies. But its sales were boosted by the Thanksgiving holiday week. So far, "Bomb" has moved 3.2 million copies in the United States.

U2 are nearing the end of a five-night stand on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," and have a performance scheduled for Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America." A whirlwind radio promotion tour will take them to Los Angeles on Monday, Chicago on Tuesday, and Boston on Wednesday where they will play a theater concert.

(Editing by Dean Goodman at Reuters)