US album triumph for U2's Horizon

U2 promoted the new album in the States with a three night national radio event

U2's new album No Line on the Horizon has made its debut at the top of the US charts, according to figures from industry magazine Billboard.

It is the group's seventh album to top the charts in the US, after selling 484,000 copies in its first week.

Sales, however, were slower than that of their last album, 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

The band's label said the album is also heading for the top slot in 30 countries worldwide this weekend.

The album made its debut at number one in the UK charts, becoming U2's 10th British number one.

The album was accidentally leaked on the internet two weeks before its release.

'Phoney English accent'

U2 played a gig for 950 fans in Somerville, Massachusetts on Wednesday at which they revealed they would like to re-record some of their earlier material including the 1980 album Boy.

Speaking to the crowd, lead singer Bono said: "I would love to sing that album again and finish that. The early records, there's some beautiful songs that feel a little bit unfinished to us."

He went on to explain he'd like to change his use of a "phoney English accent" on the album.

Earlier in the week guitarist The Edge, after revealing to MTV that even his mother calls him The Edge, said: "There are so many U2 songs that I am quite happy not to play.

"We still want to rewrite some of them, and who knows we may at some point re-release a few of our early albums with a few changes."