An Updated Oral History of Chris Martin Claiming That Coldplay Are Retiring

He has spent more than a decade predicting the band's end

Photo: Rick Clifford

BY Alex HudsonPublished Oct 7, 2024

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me many times, shame on Chris Martin.

This week, the singer mapped out his retirement plan for Coldplay, claiming that the group would stop making music in 2025. "Our last proper record will come out in 2025 and after that I think we will only tour," he told BBC Radio 2. "Maybe we'll do some collaborative things but the Coldplay catalogue, as it were, finishes then."

UPDATE (10/7, 10:30 a.m. ET): Since we published this story in 2021, Martin has continued to say that Coldplay are going to break up. Since previously claiming that Coldplay would stop making music after 2025, he has now extended that to include two more albums. See the updated oral history below.

Such claims have been part of the standard Coldplay press cycle for almost a decade and a half. Martin's timeline changes, but the general sentiment is the same: that Coldplay's days are numbered. Maybe he actually believes what he's saying, perhaps he's trying to keep fans' expectations low, or maybe he knows it's a good way to grab some headlines. Whatever the case, it's probably time we stopped believing him.

Here's a rundown of the many times Chris Martin has claimed Coldplay are retiring.

2008

"I'm 31 now and I don't think bands should keep going past 33. So we're trying to pack in as much as possible. Up until the end of next year, we'll just go for it in every sense." [BANG Showbiz]

"We're gonna have another record ready by November 2009 to end the decade. And then we're gonna be 'Whooosh!' 'Where've they gone?' Just like Keyser Soze." [BBC 6 Music]

2011

"I always feel like each record is our last, but at the moment, I'm in the stage where I really mean it. I just can't imagine how we would do another one, because we've thrown everything." [Billboard]

2014

"It's our seventh thing, and the way we look at it, it's like the last Harry Potter book or something like that. Not to say that there might not be another thing one day, but this is the completion of something ... I have to think of it as the final thing we're doing. Otherwise we wouldn't put everything into it." [BBC Radio 1]

2016

"I'd be surprised if there was another conventional Coldplay album. I just feel like we're right where we're supposed to be right now. I feel like this is a closing chapter of something. I stand by that I'm afraid." [‎The Zane Lowe Show]

2021

"I think that, in a few albums' time, we will finish making albums. This is not a joke; this is true. I think after 12, that will be the end of our catalogue." [Absolute Radio]

 "Our last proper record will come out in 2025 and after that I think we will only tour. Maybe we'll do some collaborative things but the Coldplay catalogue, as it were, finishes then." [BBC Radio 2]

2024

"We are only going to do 12 proper albums and that's real. Yeah, I promise. Because less is more and for some of our critics, even less would be even more! It's really important that we have that limit." [Apple Music]

"'ALL MY LOVE'" is really the final Coldplay single. After this, there's no more singles, because we don't want to do that." [Rolling Stone]

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