Coldplay wanted to be the best band in the world. They idolize Radiohead and U2, collaborate frequently with Brian Eno, and make ambitious concept albums. They're a band who take big swings.
They've failed to become the world's best band, however, and instead have had to settle for being the biggest as a consolation prize. Their ability to fill stadiums is matched only by Taylor Swift, and they're the 6th most-streamed artist on Spotify as of this writing, making them this generation's most popular band by a mile.
They're a band that now exists primarily to blast off confetti cannons during live shows, with recent albums that leave no impression on pop culture except to give them an excuse to keep on touring. When they come to Toronto this month, they are technically still on the tour for 2021's Music of the Spheres, even though they've released another album since — that's how little of an impression 2024's Moon Music left.
Dig back into their first few albums, however, and there are some standout songs, revealing the potential greatness that once existed behind all the light-up wristbands, puffs of confetti and inspirational messaging. As Coldplay make their latest Toronto stop, here are their 15 best songs ranked.
15. "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall"
Mylo Xyloto (2011)
Mylo Xyloto is widely considered the turning point for Coldplay, with the era's colour explosion and willingness to embrace mainstream pop setting the pace for the rest of their career (barring the divorce album that was Ghost Stories). Its lead single still has the band's old charm, with an infectious guitar lick, acting as proof that this band could have the best of both worlds if they wanted.
14. "High Speed"
Parachutes (2000)
"Sparks" may have become the TikTok hit, but we'll vote for "High Speed" as Parachutes' low-key standout: a very "Subterranean Homesick Alien" masterclass in watery guitar echo, eerie reverb, and nonsense lyrics from Martin that vaguely allude to impending disaster and perfectly set the mood with the opening line, "Can anybody fly this thing?"
13. "White Shadows"
X&Y (2005)
It's easy to see why X&Y almost broke Coldplay up. The hit-and-miss jumble of tracks could certainly be worse, but the bubbling pressure to top A Rush of Blood to the Head made it fail to live up to expectations. That said, "White Shadows" is its highest high. It's got a well-built chorus with some of Chris Martin's best wondering whimsy, and one of Guy Berryman's most fun basslines in the verse. For that, we can forgive that they could've shaved a minute off its runtime.
12. "Amsterdam"
A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
If you thought Chris Martin was too hopelessly optimistic to write a song about wanting to off himself, think again. The Rush of Blood closer is just the frontman and his piano for its first two thirds, before his bandmates engulf him with crashing cymbals as he very literally gets talked off the edge: "Tied to a noose / You came along and you cut me loose." Obviously, it still had to find some way to be a love song.
11. "The Scientist"
A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
"The Scientist" is perfectly straightforward in every way — the straight-up quarter note piano chords, Chris Martin's simple pleas for romantic reconciliation, and the perfectly on-the-nose symbolism of the title: "Questions of science, science and progress / Do not speak as loud as my heart." Bonus points for the time-reversed music video, which drives home the song's gravitas.
10. "Strawberry Swing"
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
"Coldplay's prettiest song" is really saying something, and that title belongs to "Strawberry Swing," its vividly colourful soundscape filled with echoing layers of guitar and the subliminal shimmer of strings, creating a delicate ambience that wafts by like a warm breeze. It's so perfectly arranged that Frank Ocean basically did karaoke to it on his mixtape nostalgia,ULTRA.
9. "Crests of Waves"
"Clocks" single (2002)
There are quite a few diamonds in Coldplay's B-side catalogue, many of which were in serious consideration for this list ("See You Soon" was particularly close, and we debated "All I Can Think About Is You" as a recent-era inclusion). But the crown jewel of their outtakes is "Crests of Waves" — a half-speed surf rock cut with a satisfying turnaround thanks to the resolution of its chiming guitar hook.
8. "Yellow"
Parachutes (2000)
"Yellow" is so ubiquitous that it's hard to actually hear. I don't go out of my way to listen to it, much like how I don't intentionally listen to "Happy Birthday," but I'm bound to hear it soon enough anyway. But if I strain hard enough to hear it with fresh ears, "Yellow" has some of Coldplay's sweetest-ever melodies, a touching if slightly urinary symbol for devotion, and the churn of Jonny Buckland's surprisingly gnarly guitar distortion.
7. "Green Eyes"
A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
Rush of Blood packs all of its hits near the beginning, but that doesn't mean it's top-heavy. Rather, the back half is full of more subtle highlights: the hypnotic "A Whisper," the honeyed "Warning Sign," and best of all, the breezy love song "Green Eyes," a perfect campfire tune with a hint of countrified Tele twang.
6. "42"
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Uncharacteristically for Coldplay, "42" doesn't really have a chorus. The song has three clear parts, building up to the joyous concession of "You didn't get to heaven but you made it close." In its centre lives a guitar solo that might be Jonny Buckland's only angular arrangement, and he supposedly tuned all his Tele Thinline's strings to F to accomplish it.
5. "Clocks"
A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
Despite drummer Will Champion's insistence that it's not a song, "Clocks" is one of Coldplay's most perfectly composted mega-hits. It cemented their ability to write arena-sized pop rock, slyly setting them up for even more chantable choruses and fantastical lyrics. It may haunt public pianos for years to come, but it's for good reason.
4. "Viva la Vida"
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
Despite the deep cuts that appear on this list, Coldplay are primarily a singles band — and of the many ubiquitous hits they have to their name, "Viva la Vida" is the best. It's an enormous stadium rock anthem, but it's also kind of a weird ren faire ditty full of courtly strings, biblical gravitas and a story of a fallen king. If it's a metaphor, I'm having trouble figuring out what it's a metaphor for, exactly. I prefer to read it on surface level: as a gigantic pop hit about a monarch who's bummed about getting deposed.
3. "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face"
A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
"God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" feels like Coldplay's attempt at making a Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea-era PJ Harvey track. It's slick in a way not many of their other songs are — an attempt for a young Chris Martin to fake his way into the style and grace he prays for in the lyrics. Acoustic guitars ring darkly underneath the lead hook, as if this were some sort of alt-rock Bond theme.
2. "Yes" / "Chinese Sleep Chant"
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008)
"Yes" gloriously realizes Coldplay's ambitions to be more than just a Radiohead-lite adult contemporary soft rock band: Martin spelunks into the ominous depths of his low range amidst haunting strings that represent both the beginning and the pinnacle of Coldplay's forays into "world music" (something that regrettably later led them to the "Arabesque" globetrotting of 2019's Everyday Life).
They even tried to reimagine the album format by inserting secret tracks into the middle of the tracklist — something I don't recall seeing before or since — by tacking an entirely separate song, "Chinese Sleep Chant," onto the end of "Yes." It's a shoegaze song that's pure pastiche — but they totally nail the style, with Chris Martin's unintelligible, reverb-blurred voice floating angelically above the din of grinding guitar static.
1. "Don't Panic"
Parachutes (2000)
The irony isn't lost on us that Coldplay's best song is Track 1 on their first album, but it also speaks to the enduring power of the first decade of their career. Its simplicity is a representation of everything they do best, with earworm guitar lines and a straightforward, effective chorus. As the world goes to shit in the song's universe, "We live in a beautiful world" acts like a mantra, accepting melancholy with naïve hopefulness and quelling anxieties for its two-minute run.
At their core, Coldplay have always been a pop band, and perhaps they weren't primed to embrace that in their early days. Parachutes was a college rock radio staple in a time before people embraced the concept of "alt-pop." In that way, the softness of "Don't Panic" is a quiet milestone of the ever-evolving industry — one that wasn't ready for a certain type of band two decades ago.