Gorillaz's Billboard Top 40 entry tops off worldwide brenkthrough.

Gorillaz have opened their US account by landing themselves an instant Top 40 hit -- and in the process notching up the best US chart start by a debuting UK-signed act in more than two years.

The Parlophone act's self-titled debut album, which is handled by Virgin Records on the other side of the Atlantic, enters the Billboard 200 at number 39 this week having already become a hit in virtually every key music territory around the world. This makes it the first UK debut album to arrive inside the Top 40 since Sony acts Charlotte Church and B*Witched's inaugural efforts entered at 28 and 38 respectively during the same week in March 1999.

"We're so pleasantly surprised," says EMI International project manager Jonathan Rice. "We expected it to do well in the US but to happen so quickly is really great."

The album's 43,000 first-week over-the-counter sales tally -- it has also already shipped more than 150,000 units -- comes as its over-all worldwide total last week passed the 1m mark. In both France and Germany it is already up to 70,000 sales while its popularity has even spread to Russia with around 30,000 units sold to date.

The album's success worldwide is testament to one of the most innovative campaigns mounted to try to break a UK-signed act overseas. The cartoon aspects of the virtual band -- one of their members is Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett -- have allowed EMI to rip up the standard promotional rulebook and achieve the dream of all ...