Coldplay albums ranked

This a countdown of every Coldplay studio album starting from the worst, progressing to the best.

9.  At 9 "Everyday Life".  Released in 2019 this was Coldplay doing something a bit different, bringing in different musicians and singers over the course of this double album.  Don't get me wrong there were some highlights like the magnificent "Arabesque" which is one of my favourite Coldplay songs ever.  But so many songs on this release fall short of the mark, making for quite a forgettable album.

8. "Music of the Spheres".  This was released just last year, and I really liked it when it came out.  Don't get me wrong there is a load of good songs on here which will fit well into their live set.  "Coloratura" I believe is their longest song ever sitting around 10 minutes.  But the thing is it's a 40-minute album so that’s 9 tracks taking up the other 30 minutes.  So overall it feels like you are getting short-changed a bit and the album feels a bit of a mess and songs just thrown in without giving thought to the overall listening experience.  But as I say there are good songs on here.

7. "Head full of Dreams" when I reviewed this album, I did call it the poor mans "Mylo Xylto".  This was a more commercial release than the other 2 albums I mentioned and still a good album. It's just not a great album.  Album closer "Up & Up" I would say is the highlight.

6. "Mylo Xylto" From now on in the list this is where Coldplay were doing their best work.  Great tunes, upbeat. "Paradise" and "Every teardrop is a waterfall" absolutely fantastic tracks.

5. "Parachutes".  Their debut album and although it has the sparkle of "Yellow" it's one of their more downbeat releases.  Still very good songs though and you can see how they got their reputation so quickly in their careers.

4. "X & Y" I really do feel this is an underrated album.  And apart from "Fix you" the rest of this album seems to have been long forgotten about especially when you see them live.  But this is a great album which deserves more recognition. "The Message" and "Low" are some deep cuts that are brilliant.  

3. "Ghost Stories" Such a different vibe for Coldplay and it totally worked.  Only 9 tracks which means it didn't quite make the top 2. Also, as good as "Sky full of Stars" is. It does not fit on this album and was clearly put on to make the album more marketable.  The irony is "Magic" won Radio 1 song of the year when this came out which fits onto the album perfectly.

2.  This is where it gets difficult as I rank the top 2 albums incredibly highly.  But for number 2 I'll say, "Rush of Blood to the head".  It's hard because I would call this a perfect album. Absolutely no bad tracks.  Album closer "Amsterdam" was my favourite track for ages, and I used to listen to this album every day doing the washing up.

1.  So number 1 must be "Viva la Vida".  Again, a perfect album.  The instrumental which starts this album "Life in technicolour" is killer.  The title track is one of their best upbeat tracks.  It felt more like a concept album and the tracks were all purposely placed in a way I used to have it on repeat and never get bored.  It wasn't just this album though that came from this era. They also released "Prospect March EP" just after this album which was just as good.