Coldplay’s 20 Biggest Hits: Revisited & Ranked
10. “A Sky Full Of Stars” Year: 2014 Album: Ghost Stories
Coldplay partnering up with Avicii for a pop song dripping with EDM flourishes, by all rights, should be an utterly terrible four minute chore for any listener to get through. (Especially given that this one was jarringly tacked onto otherwise somber breakup album Ghost Stories.) Even by 2014, the dim dance genre had worn out its mainstream welcome. The saving grace, of course, is the band’s ability to make joyful, celebratory lemonade out of the most rotten of lemons. “A Sky Full Of Stars” arrived in springtime 2014, and two years later it still manages to project all the euphoria and warmth the season brings with it — despite that dreadful, recurring instrumental cacophony that swoops in and out. — ROBBIE DAW
9. “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall” Year: 2011 Album: Mylo Xyloto
Trading in their somber balladry for jangle pop by way of U2 at their sparkliest, the boys sound (and look) great in Day-Glo. Lovely, loud and life-affirming, this is “In a Big Country” for the 21st century set — thehighest compliment imaginable. — JONATHAN RIGGS
8. “Shiver” Year: 2000 Album: Parachutes
Their debut album’s second track is the first one to showcase Jonny Buckland’s guitar leads, secretly the most vital part of the Coldplay formula all this time. While Martin’s falsetto attracted most of the attention in those early days, Buckland’s swoops and chimes here were a precursor to the way Coldplay would rock out with their “Clocks” out on much more majestic fare on subsequent albums. It was with “Shiver,” which was actually the lead single for the album in the UK, that Coldplay began a career built on being soft-rock’s loudest voice. — CARL WILLIOTT
7. “Talk” Year: 2005 Album: X&Y
Like David Bowie, New Order and scores of other artists, the gents of Coldplay found inspiration in the music of groundbreaking German electronic outfit Kraftwerk. Particularly, the latter band’s forward-thinking electro-pop classic “Computer Love,” a summer 1981 chart-topper in the UK, became the source material for the melodic hook in “Talk,” a track that very nearly didn’t make the cut for Coldplay’s third album X&Y. Jonny Buckland’s guitar licks substitute for Ralf, Florian and the rest of the Kraftwerk crew’s minimalist synth notes here, and Chris Martin offered up lyrics that can be best described as hopelessly paranoid — not the easiest recipe for a sweeping pop-rock smash, but with this one, the band and co-producer Danton Supple crafted a fan favorite and true Coldplay classic. — ROBBIE DAW
6. “Trouble” Year: 2000 Album: Parachutes
The success of previous single “Yellow” cast a long shadow. By the fall of 2000, Chris Martin was headed fast to worldwide fame. Follow-up single “Trouble” was written before Gwyneth, the millions and what would become an insatiable (and not always seemly) lust by Martin to make Coldplay the Best Band On Earth. “Trouble” is an expression of regret that now feels more genuine then Martin’s attempts to gin up similar emotion in later years. The final repeated lines, “they spun a web for me,” seem so vulnerable in a way that often only happens on a debut album. — STEPHEN SEARS
