Coldplay's new album hits stores worldwide this week

June 5, 2005

The latest album of hit British band Coldplay is due to be released worldwide this Monday (in Europe) and Tuesday (in North America) amid rife anticipation among fans. The album, called X&Y, is the band's third, following Parachutes which came out in 2000 and A Rush of Blood to the Head which appeared in 2002. Combined sales of the first two albums are above 20m copies, making Coldplay one of the biggest bands of recent years.

The majority of music critics have given the album a good review, claiming that the band's songs have become 'tougher' and 'more diverse'. Radio listeners have already sampled some of the new songs such as Speed Of Sound, and the full album has been leaked onto Internet file-sharing networks.

The album, which features 13 tracks collectively accounting for 62 minutes of music, has topped Amazon.com's music sales chart since March thanks to thousands of pre-orders, breaking the record for internet pre-orders previously held by Dido's Life For Rent.