1997–1999: Formation and first years Chris Martin and
Jonny Buckland met during their first week at
University College London, in September 1996. They began to write their first songs together in early 1997.
Guy Berryman was the third to join the band months later, and the trio recorded numerous demos without a drummer, calling themselves Big Fat Noises by November. In January 1998,
Will Champion joined. He said that Martin, Buckland and Berryman came to his house because his roommate was a good drummer with a drum kit; however, when the roommate did not arrive, Champion played instead. They had not chosen a proper name yet and called themselves Starfish. 150 out of 500 copies went to open market. Harvey sold the first one to his roommate for £3 and the rest were given to record labels. As Martin complained about the "vice-like grip" one of the Camden promoters had on the band, Harvey suggested they book their own concert at
Dingwalls; there, they sold 50 copies of
Safety. Martin tried to invite
Tim Rice-Oxley to play keyboard for the band, but this was vetoed by the other band members.
Safety was followed by a cassette demo with "Ode to Deodorant" and "
Brothers & Sisters". Wild informed
BMG Music Publishing's Caroline Elleray and lawyer Gavin Maude about the group. A month later, they signed a short-term contract with Fierce Panda and re-recorded "Brothers & Sisters". Six labels offered a contract as the band's popularity grew, but they wanted Parlophone, which led Elleray to meet Keeling again. On 27 June 1999, Coldplay made their first appearance at the
Glastonbury Festival in the New Bands Tent. They later recorded
The Blue Room, which had 5,000 copies pressed and sold to the public. Its sessions were originally meant for
Parachutes (2000), but became tumultuous due to Martin having heated discussions regarding Champion's abilities as a drummer. Martin said that "Three days later, the rest of us were feeling miserable and [...] we asked him to come back. They made me have lots of vodka and cranberry juice in remembrance of what a nasty piece of work I was being. Now if I find myself making a big mistake, I have to force myself to drink that stuff". After working out their differences, the band chose to operate as a democracy, established a new set of rules and proclaimed that anyone using
hard drugs would be fired immediately, inspired by
R.E.M. and
U2.
2000–2001: Parachutes The band first planned to record their debut album,
Parachutes, over the span of two weeks. However, due to tours and other live performances, the recording took place between September 1999 and May 2000. The album was initially recorded at
Rockfield Studios, Matrix Studios and
Wessex Sound Studios with producer
Ken Nelson, although the majority of
Parachutes tracks were recorded at
Liverpool's Parr Street Studios (where they used three studio rooms). American engineer
Michael Brauer in New York mixed all of the songs for the album. During that time, they played on the
Carling Tour, which showcased up-and-coming acts. ", their breakthrough hit, from the band's 2000 debut album
Parachutes, in 2005 After releasing two EPs without a hit song, Coldplay had their first
Top 40 hit with the lead single from
Parachutes, "
Shiver", which was released in March 2000, the same week Coldplay played
The Forum in Tunbridge Wells supporting the band Terris as part of the NME Premier Tour. "Shiver" peaked at the number 35 position on the
UK Singles Chart. June 2000 was a pivotal moment in Coldplay's history; they embarked on their first headlining tour, including a performance at the
Glastonbury Festival. They also released the single "
Yellow"; it was Coldplay's first release to reach the top five and rose to number four on the UK Singles Chart. "Yellow" and "Shiver" were initially released as EPs in the spring of 2000. "Yellow" was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 26 June 2000. In the United States, it was released as the lead single from the then-untitled debut album. In October 2000, the track was sent to American college and alternative radio outlets. Coldplay released
Parachutes on 10 July 2000 in the United Kingdom via their record label,
Parlophone. The album debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart. The album has been made available in various formats since its initial release; both Parlophone and Nettwerk released it as a CD in 2000, and it was also released as a
Cassette by American label
Capitol in 2001. In the following year, Parlophone issued the album as an
LP. Four singles were released from
Parachutes, including "Shiver" and "Yellow", and enjoyed popularity in the United Kingdom and United States. The third single was "
Trouble", which reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. It was released more than a year later in the United States and reached number 28 in the
Alternative Songs chart. In December 2001, the band released a limited-edition CD,
Mince Spies, featuring a remix of "Yellow" and the Christmas song "
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". It was pressed to 1,000 copies and issued only to fans and journalists.
Parachutes was nominated for the
Mercury Music Prize in September 2000. Having found success in Europe, the band targeted North America by releasing the album there in November 2000, and started the US Club Tour in February 2001. At the 2001
Brit Awards in February, Coldplay earned awards for
Best British Group and Best British Album. Although
Parachutes was a slow-burning success in the United States, it eventually reached double-platinum status. The album was critically well received and earned a
Best Alternative Music Album honours at the
2002 Grammy Awards. Martin said the success was meant to make Coldplay the "biggest, best band in the world". After single-handedly managing the band until early 2001, Harvey resigned due to the stress of having to perform duties that typically require a team of people. He became the group's creative director and is often referenced as their fifth member; Dave Holmes replaced him as manager.
2002–2004: A Rush of Blood to the Head After the success of
Parachutes, Coldplay returned to the studio in September 2001 to begin work on their second album,
A Rush of Blood to the Head, once again with Ken Nelson producing. They had trouble focusing in London and relocated to Liverpool, where they recorded some of
Parachutes. Once there, Martin said that they became obsessed with recording. "
In My Place" was the first song recorded for the album. The band released it as the album's lead single because it was the track that made them want to record a second album, following a "strange period of not really knowing what we were doing" three months after the success of
Parachutes. According to Martin "one thing kept us going: recording 'In My Place'. Then other songs started coming". The band wrote more than 20 songs for the album. Some of their new material, including "In My Place" and "Animals", were played live while the band were still touring
Parachutes. The album's title was revealed through a post on the band's official website. The album was released in August 2002 and spawned several successful singles, including "In My Place", "
Clocks", and the ballad "
The Scientist", which was inspired by
George Harrison's 1970 song "
All Things Must Pass". During the week of the album's release, manager Phil Harvey quit the band, having struggled with the pressure that came with the band's early success, and went on to travel across South America and study in Australia. During the extended tour, Coldplay recorded a live DVD and CD,
Live 2003, at Sydney's
Hordern Pavilion. At the 2003
Brit Awards held at
Earls Court, London, Coldplay received awards for Best British Group and Best British Album. On 28 August 2003, Coldplay performed "The Scientist" at the
2003 MTV Video Music Awards at the
Radio City Music Hall in New York City and won three awards. In December 2003, readers of
Rolling Stone magazine chose Coldplay as the best artist and the best band of the year. At that time the band covered
the Pretenders' 1983 song "
2000 Miles" (which was made available for download on their official website). "2000 Miles" was the top selling British download that year, with proceeds from the sales donated to Future Forests and
Stop Handgun Violence campaigns.
A Rush of Blood to the Head won the
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album at the
2003 Grammy Awards. At the
2004 Grammy Awards, Coldplay earned
Record of the Year for "Clocks".
2005–2007: X&Y In 2004, Coldplay released a satirical music video of a song from a fictional band, the Nappies, while recording their third album.
X&Y was released in June 2005 in the United Kingdom and Europe. This new, delayed release date had put the album back into the next fiscal year, and the late release was blamed for a drop in EMI's stock. It became the best-selling album of 2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million. The
lead single, "
Speed of Sound", made its radio and online music store debut on 18 April and was released as a CD on 23 May 2005.
X&Y entered the album charts of 32 countries at the number one position and was the third-fastest-selling album in United Kingdom history. Following the album's release, Coldplay reinstated former manager Phil Harvey as a creative "
jack of all trades", helping with creative elements such as designing live shows and producing music videos; he has since been credited as a full member of the band. in 2005 Two other singles were released that year: "
Fix You" in September and "
Talk" in December. Critical reaction to
X&Y was mostly positive, though slightly less enthusiastic than that of its predecessor.
The New York Times critic Jon Pareles infamously described Coldplay as "the most insufferable band of the decade", whereas
NME awarded the album 9/10, calling it "confident, bold, ambitious, bunged with singles and impossible to contain
... X&Y doesn't reinvent the wheel but it does reinforce Coldplay as the band of their time." Comparisons to
U2 became commonplace. Martin said the critical review of the album by the
New York Times made him feel liberated as he "agreed with a lot of the points", adding that "in a way, it was liberating to see that someone else realised that also". From June 2005 to March 2007, Coldplay went on their
Twisted Logic Tour, which included festival dates like
Coachella,
Isle of Wight Festival,
Glastonbury and the
Austin City Limits Music Festival. In July 2005, the band appeared at
Live 8 in
Hyde Park, where they played a rendition of
the Verve's "
Bitter Sweet Symphony" with
Richard Ashcroft on vocals. On 28 August, Coldplay performed "Speed of Sound" at the
2005 MTV Video Music Awards in Miami. In September, Coldplay recorded a new version of "How You See the World" with reworked lyrics for
War Child's
Help!: A Day in the Life charity album. In February 2006, Coldplay earned Best Album and Best Single honours at the
Brit Awards. Three more singles were released during 2006 and 2007, "
The Hardest Part", "What If" and "White Shadows".
2008–2010: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends In October 2006, Coldplay began work on their fourth studio album,
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, with producer
Brian Eno. Taking a break from recording, the band toured Latin America in early 2007, finishing the Twisted Logic Tour while performing in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. After recording in churches and other venues in Latin America and Spain during their tour, the band said the album would likely reflect
Hispanic influence. The group then spent the rest of the year recording most of the album with Eno. Martin described
Viva la Vida as a new direction for Coldplay: a change from their past three albums, which the band felt was a "trilogy" that they had finished. He said the album featured less of his
falsetto as he allowed his voice's lower register to take precedence. After the first play, it was freely obtainable from Coldplay's website from 12:15 pm (GMT +0) for one week until it became commercially available on 6 May. "Violet Hill" entered the Top 10 in the United Kingdom and the Top 40 in the United States. The title track, "
Viva la Vida", was also released exclusively on iTunes; it became the band's first number-one single on both the
Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. Coldplay performed the song live for the first time at the
2008 MTV Movie Awards on 1 June. "Viva la Vida" became iTunes' best-selling song of 2008.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends topped the album charts worldwide and was the world's best-selling album of 2008. It hit number one on the British albums chart despite having come on the market only three days previously. In that time, it sold 302,000 copies, being "one of the fastest-selling albums in the country's history". By the end of June, it had set a new record for most-downloaded album ever. In October 2008, Coldplay won two
Q Awards for Best Album for
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends and Best Act in the World Today. On 9 November, Coldplay were named the World's Best-selling Act of 2008 at the
World Music Awards in Monte Carlo. They also picked up two other awards: World's Best-selling Rock Act and Great Britain's Best-selling Act. The band followed up
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends with the ''
Prospekt's March'' EP, which was released on 21 November 2008. The extended play features songs from the album sessions and was originally made available on its own, while the album got re-issued with all EP tracks included on a bonus disc. "
Life in Technicolor II" was the only single released. in 2008 Coldplay began their
Viva la Vida Tour in June with a free concert at Brixton Academy in London. This was followed two days later by a 45-minute performance that was broadcast live from outside
BBC Television Centre. Released in late 2008, "
Lost!" became the third single from the album, featuring a new version with
Jay-Z called "Lost+". After performing the opening set on 14 March 2009 for
Sound Relief at the
Sydney Cricket Ground, Coldplay headlined a sold-out concert later that same night. Sound Relief is a benefit concert for victims of the
Victorian Bushfire Crisis and the Queensland
Floods. On 4 December 2008,
Joe Satriani filed a
copyright infringement lawsuit against Coldplay in the
California Central District Court. Satriani claimed that "Viva la Vida" incorporates "substantial, original portions" of his song "If I Could Fly" from the album
Is There Love in Space? (2004). Coldplay denied the allegation. In 2009, "Viva la Vida" won a
Grammy Award for Song of the Year and
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed, with the judge declaring that both the parties should bear their own trial costs. Coldplay were nominated for four awards at the
2009 Brit Awards: British Group, British Live Act, British Single ("Viva la Vida") and British Album (
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends). At the
51st Grammy Awards in the same year, Coldplay won three
Grammy Awards in the categories for Song of Year for "Viva la Vida", Best Rock Album for
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, and Best Vocal Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for "Viva la Vida". A live album titled
LeftRightLeftRightLeft was recorded at various shows during the tour, being released on their website as a free download on 15 May 2009 and given away at the remaining concerts of the Viva la Vida Tour. In October 2009, Coldplay won Song of the Year for "Viva la Vida" at the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards in London. Two months later,
Rolling Stone readers listed the band as the fourth-best musicians of the 2000s. In August 2010, Coldplay extended their publishing deal with
Universal; the company worked with the group since 2007, when it acquired their original publisher,
BMG. "
Christmas Lights" was released four months later. The song received very positive reviews, and the music video features a
cameo from actor
Simon Pegg, a close friend of Martin, who plays a violin-playing
Elvis impersonator in the background.
2011–2012: Mylo Xyloto in Toronto, September 2011 The band finished recording their new album in mid-2011. When Martin and Champion were interviewed by BBC Radio and asked about the album's lyrical themes, Martin replied "It's about love, addiction, OCD, escape and working for someone you don't like". When asked whether or not their fifth album would be out by the summer, Martin and Champion said that there was plenty of work to be done before releasing it. They confirmed several festival appearances before its release date, including a headlining spot at the 2011
Glastonbury Festival,
T in the Park,
Austin City Limits Music Festival,
Rock in Rio and
Lollapalooza festival. In an interview on 13 January 2011, Coldplay mentioned that two new songs would be included on their upcoming fifth album, "
Princess of China" and "
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall". In a February interview, Parlophone president Miles Leonard told
HitQuarters that the band were still in the studio working on the album and that he expected the final version would appear "towards the autumn of this year". On 31 May 2011, Coldplay announced that "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" was the first single for the fifth album. It was released on 3 June 2011. The band presented five new songs at festivals during the summer of 2011, "
Charlie Brown", "
Hurts Like Heaven", "Us Against the World", "Princess of China" and "
Major Minus". On 12 August 2011, Coldplay announced via their official website that
Mylo Xyloto was the new album title and that it would be released on 24 October 2011. On 12 September the band released "
Paradise", the second single from their upcoming album
Mylo Xyloto. On 23 September 2011, tickets for Coldplay's European tour went on sale; the high demand led venues to be sold out in seconds.
Mylo Xyloto was released on 24 October 2011. It received positive reviews and topped the charts in over 34 countries. On 19 October 2011, Coldplay performed songs at
Apple Inc.'s private memorial for
Steve Jobs, including "Viva la Vida", "Fix You", "Yellow" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall". On 26 October their "Amex Unstaged" concert at the
Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, Spain, was streamed by YouTube as a live
webcast directed by
Anton Corbijn. On 30 November 2011, Coldplay received three Grammy Award nominations for the
54th Annual Grammy Awards which took place on 12 February 2012 in Los Angeles, and the band performed with
Rihanna at the ceremony. On 12 January 2012, Coldplay were nominated for two
Brit Awards. On 21 February 2012, they were awarded the Brit Award for Best British Group for the third time. The album was the best-selling rock album in the United Kingdom, selling 908,000 copies. The album's second single, "
Paradise", was also the best-selling rock single in the UK, selling 410,000 copies.
Mylo Xyloto has sold over 8 million copies globally. To tie in with their performance at the closing ceremony, the group gave permission for bands who were participating in the
Bandstand Marathon the opportunity to perform their 2008 single "
Viva la Vida" to celebrate the end of the games. In October 2012, the music video for Coldplay's song "
Hurts Like Heaven" was released. The video was based on the story of Mylo Xyloto, a boy who grew up in tyranny run by Major Minus. The fictional comics titled
Mylo Xyloto continued on the story portrayed in the music video when the series was released in early 2013. A concert documentary film and live album
Live 2012 chronicles their tour in support of the
Mylo Xyloto album. The film premiered theatrically for one night only, 13 November 2012, and was released on CD and home video on 19 November 2012. On 21 November, after a concert in Brisbane, Australia as part of the group's
Mylo Xyloto Tour, Coldplay hinted they were set to take a three-year break from touring. They performed two shows with Jay-Z in the
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, on 30 December and New Year's Eve, which ended the Mylo Xyloto Tour. The Mylo Xyloto Tour was named the fourth-highest-grossing tour of 2012 worldwide with more than $171.3 million earned from ticket sales.
2013–2014: Ghost Stories In an interview from late 2012 with Australian radio station
2Day FM, Martin revealed that the title for the band's next album would be "much easier to pronounce". Martin debunked speculation that they were taking a break from touring by saying, "This three-year break idea only came about because I said at a gig in Australia that we might not be back there for three years. That's probably true, but that's just how a world tour works. No chance are we taking a three-year break". On 9 August 2013, Coldplay announced the release of "
Atlas", which was featured on the
soundtrack for the film
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Its release got pushed back to 6 September 2013 (everywhere but the UK) and 8 September (UK). In December 2013, it was announced that future Coldplay releases would be distributed by
Atlantic in the United States due to the restructuring within
Warner Music following the purchase of
Parlophone from
EMI. On 25 February 2014, the band unveiled "
Midnight", a track from their yet-to-be-released album. In early March 2014, it was announced that the band's sixth album,
Ghost Stories, would be released 19 May 2014. According to Martin,
Ghost Stories is a spiritually driven album that revolves around two major themes; it explores the idea of past actions and the effects they can have on your future and one's capacity for unconditional love. The band took a different approach for their sixth studio album in contrast to their previous studio albums, with Martin inviting the band to contribute original songwriting material for the album, as opposed to building songs off his ideas as they had done during previous recording sessions. From April to July, Coldplay embarked on a six-date
Ghost Stories Tour in support of the album, playing "intimate" shows in six cities: the
Beacon Theatre in New York City on 5 May,
Royce Hall in Los Angeles on 19 May,
Casino de Paris in Paris on 28 May,
Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo on 12 June,
Enmore Theatre in Sydney on 19 June and finally
Royal Albert Hall in London on 2 July 2014. The album was made available for pre-order on
iTunes, alongside new single "
Magic". Two more singles from the album, "
A Sky Full of Stars" and "
True Love", were then released.
Ghost Stories received mixed to positive reviews. The album topped the charts in the United Kingdom, the United States and most major markets. It received a Grammy Award nomination for
Best Pop Vocal Album, and "A Sky Full of Stars" was nominated for
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. In December 2014,
Spotify named Coldplay the most-streamed band in the world for 2014, as well as third most-streamed artist behind
Ed Sheeran and
Eminem.
2015–2018: A Head Full of Dreams On 4 December 2014, Martin announced in an interview with
Zane Lowe on
BBC Radio 1 that Coldplay were in the middle of working on their seventh studio album,
A Head Full of Dreams. Martin remarked it might be the band's final album and compared it to
Harry Potter: "It's our seventh thing, and the way we look at it, it's like the last Harry Potter book or something like that". In an interview with
Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, Martin hinted at the style of the album by saying that the band were trying to make something colourful and uplifting yet not bombastic. He also stated that it would be something to "shuffle your feet" to. On 11 December 2014, the band unveiled a new song, "
Miracles", which was written and recorded for the
World War II drama film
Unbroken directed by
Angelina Jolie. At the
2015 Billboard Music Awards on 17 May,
Ghost Stories was named Top Rock Album. On 26 September, Coldplay performed at the 2015
Global Citizen Festival in
Central Park's Great Lawn in New York, an event organised by Martin advocating for an end to extreme global poverty. Coldplay, along with
Beyoncé,
Ed Sheeran and
Pearl Jam, headlined the festival, which was broadcast on NBC in the United States on 27 September and the BBC in the United Kingdom on 28 September. The album has guest appearances from Beyoncé,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Noel Gallagher,
Tove Lo and
Barack Obama. The music video for "Adventure of a Lifetime" featured the band performing as chimpanzees. They were provided consultation with renowned
performance capture actor
Andy Serkis. " during their headline set at
Glastonbury 2016. It was their sixth overall appearance at the festival and the fourth topping the bill. On 27 November 2015, the first dates to the
Head Full of Dreams Tour were announced. Latin American and European stops were listed, which included three dates at
Wembley Stadium, London in June. The North America Tour, an extra Wembley concert and an Oceania tour were later added. On 5 December, the band headlined the opening day of the 2015
Jingle Bell Ball at London's
O2 Arena. On 7 February 2016, they headlined the
Super Bowl 50 halftime show and were joined by
Beyoncé and
Bruno Mars. In April 2016, the band were named the sixth best-selling artist worldwide in 2015. On 26 June 2016, Coldplay closed the final day of the
Glastonbury Festival in England. Their performance included a duet with
Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the
Bee Gees. During the band's second night at
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 18 July, Coldplay were joined onstage by
Michael J. Fox to recreate a
Back to the Future scene. Martin sang "
Earth Angel" before introducing Fox onstage to join the band in performing the Chuck Berry classic "
Johnny B. Goode". The band performed a full set in India for the first time as part of the
Global Citizen Festival in
Mumbai on 19 November 2016. This performance was attended by 80,000 people and also featured many Bollywood stars during the concert. The same month, Coldplay announced in interviews with
Absolute Radio that they would be releasing new songs in a record called the
Kaleidoscope EP. Described as a leftover "bag of ideas" from the recording of
A Head Full of Dreams, Martin stated that it would be released in "a couple of months". in Paris, July 2017 On 22 February 2017, the band released a collaboration track with EDM duo
The Chainsmokers, called "
Something Just Like This". Reaching number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and number 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100, it was the lead single from the
Kaleidoscope EP. They premiered the song live at the
2017 Brit Awards, with Martin also performing a tribute to
George Michael. On 2 March, Martin's birthday, Coldplay released a new track from the EP, "
Hypnotised". Two further releases from, "
All I Can Think About Is You" and "
Aliens", came out on 15 June and 6 July respectively. On 8 October 2017, Coldplay debuted live their new song called "Life Is Beautiful" at
SDCCU Stadium in
San Diego. This part of the show was broadcast at the end of Estamos Unidos Mexicanos, a
benefit concert at
Mexico City's
Zócalo. Proceeds from the song and concert were donated to relief efforts after the
Puebla earthquake. On 15 November 2017, the Head Full of Dreams Tour finished with a total gross of $523 million from 5.38 million tickets sold, ranking as the
third-highest-grossing concert tour of all time. On 30 November 2018, Coldplay released
Global Citizen – EP 1 under the name Los Unidades, with proceeds donated towards efforts to end global poverty. Their fifth live album,
Live in Buenos Aires, arrived on 7 December 2018 with footage from the final concert of the tour in
La Plata.
2019–2020: Everyday Life On 18 October 2019, mysterious black-and-white posters began appearing in numerous countries around the world, with Coldplay wearing vintage-style clothing and a date showing 22 November 1919. The band also changed their profile pictures on social media to a sun and moon, making fans speculate an imminent release of new material. On 19 October 2019, a cryptic five-second teaser was released on social media with orchestral music in the background. On 21 October 2019, in a letter sent to fans, the band announced that their eighth studio album would be titled
Everyday Life. It serves as a double album, with the first half titled
Sunrise and the second half titled
Sunset. On 23 October 2019, the album's track list was revealed on the advertisements from local newspapers in the United Kingdom; those included the
Daily Post in North Wales (with whom Buckland once had a holiday job) and
Express & Echo in Exeter (Martin's hometown). Double lead singles "
Orphans" and "
Arabesque" were released on 24 October 2019 during the
Annie Mac show on
BBC Radio 1. "Arabesque" was the first Coldplay song to feature
profanity. The album was released on 22 November 2019 and accompanied by a double concert at the
Amman Citadel in Jordan. The performance was broadcast live on
YouTube, being carried out at sunrise and sunset to match the album's two halves. Inside the
Everyday Life booklet, the words "Music of the Spheres" appeared written on a billboard. Martin had earlier said that the band would not tour to promote the album until they could work out "how our tour can not only be sustainable (but) how can it be actively beneficial", and hope that it would be entirely
carbon-neutral. However, Coldplay performed a one-off show on 25 November 2019 for the charity
ClientEarth at London's
Natural History Museum. The band played beneath
Hope, a giant 128-year-old skeleton of a blue whale in the museum's great hall. The album debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart with 81,000 copies sold, making it the band's eighth consecutive number-one album. It was also the third fastest-selling album of 2019, behind
No.6 Collaborations Project and
Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. On 24 November 2020, Coldplay received two nominations for the
63rd Annual Grammy Awards, with one of them being Album of the Year, their first nomination in the category since
Viva la Vida. On 21 December 2020, "Flags" was released internationally, the song was originally included as a Japanese bonus track of
Everyday Life.
2021–present: Music of the Spheres and Moon Music On 29 April 2021, Coldplay announced "
Higher Power" for release on 7 May 2021, coinciding with a video livestream from the
International Space Station. Martin stated in an interview with Lowe that the band would be working with producer
Max Martin and his team on both the song and the new album. He said, "Max is our producer right now for everything we do". On 4 May 2021, they were revealed as the opening act for the
2021 Brit Awards, where they performed "Higher Power" for the first time. at the
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2021 On 22 May 2021, the band participated in the
Live at Worth Farm broadcast, showcasing a new song called "Human Heart" with R&B duo
We Are King. On 8 June 2021, the official music video for "Higher Power", directed by Dave Meyers, premiered on YouTube, following a visualiser with Coldplay performing the song while dancing with
CGI alien holograms that premiered on 7 May 2021. On 20 July 2021, the group announced that their ninth album,
Music of the Spheres, would be released on 15 October 2021, and scheduled the closing track "
Coloratura" for release on 23 July 2021 in anticipation for the project. On 13 September 2021, Coldplay announced that the album's second single, "
My Universe", a collaboration with
South Korean pop group
BTS, would be made available on 24 September 2021. The song debuted at number three on the
UK Singles Chart, becoming their first Top 10 single in the country since "
Something Just Like This" in 2017. It also debuted at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100. A short documentary about the collaboration was released on 26 September 2021 on the official BTS YouTube channel. in August 2022 during the
Music of the Spheres World Tour Music of the Spheres went number one the
UK Albums Chart with 101,045 units sold, becoming the fastest-selling record in the country since
Ed Sheeran's
No.6 Collaborations Project (2019). It debuted at number four on the
Billboard 200 chart and reached the top on both the
Top Alternative Albums and the
Top Rock Albums charts. On 14 October 2021, Coldplay announced the
Music of the Spheres World Tour, which began in
San José's
Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on 18 March 2022 and visited over 40 countries afterward. The concert run's announcement also included
a series of environmental plans developed in two years with help from sustainability experts; they were aimed at reducing
CO2 emissions by 50% in comparison to the
Head Full of Dreams Tour. The shows became a leading topic of news coverage in visited regions and boosted local economies, and Coldplay's discography experienced a resurgence in sales and streaming. The band also managed to beat their initial
carbon footprint target, reducing it by 59% as of June 2024. On 23 November 2021, "Higher Power" was nominated for
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the
64th Annual Grammy Awards. In December 2021, Martin said Coldplay would release three more albums until 2025 during an interview for
BBC, with one of them being "kind of a musical" while their last will be a "back to the basics" self-titled record. He added, however, that the band would still be active with smaller releases and worldwide touring after 2025. On 23 February 2022, the band released a piano version of "
Let Somebody Go" and a cover of
Kid Cudi's "
Day 'n' Nite", as part of
Spotify Singles series. They later received three nominations at the
65th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. . It marked their record fifth time headlining the event. On 13 June 2024, Coldplay announced "
Feelslikeimfallinginlove" as the lead single for
Moon Music. Details about the album were shared through their social media, being scheduled for release on 4 October. CD and vinyl pressings were crafted from recycled polycarbonate and PET-plastic bottles, respectively. Guests included
Victoria Canal,
Michael J. Fox and
Laura Mvula. They also revealed "
We Pray", featuring
Little Simz,
Burna Boy,
Elyanna and
Tini. It was made available as the second single on 23 August. During their stay in
Rome on the Music of the Spheres World Tour, the group premiered "Good Feelings", with
Ayra Starr.
Moon Music reached number one in 16 countries, outselling the rest of the Top 40 combined in the United Kingdom. The album also topped the
Billboard 200 in the United States, marking the first time a British group led both charts simultaneously since 2016. Its visual companion, named
A Film for the Future, was released in January 2025. Coldplay held two shows at the
Narendra Modi Stadium during the same month, earning
the largest stadium attendance of the 21st century with more than 111,000 people each night. == Artistry ==