Every Coldplay Album Ranked Worst To Best

After two breakout albums over 5 years, it was time for Coldplay to expand a little bit. Across X&Y, Chris Martin took great strides to push himself and the band out of their comfort zone.

One of the new elements added to the mix was an overarching sense of grandeur laced throughout each track. Singles like "Fix You" and "Speed of Sound" have a certain presence to them that makes them impossible to ignore. Guitarist Jonny Buckland has some of his greatest moments on this record by turning in a performance that is very understated. His guitar work on each song is never flashy but adds the right amount of sonic zest to the song.

This is also the record that showed the band's initial flirtations with other genres, as electronic elements are laced through songs like "Talk." Instead of crossing over into pop territory, the songs still remain decidedly alt-rock, albeit with a heavily polished touch. As the rock world began expanding itself at the turn of the century, Coldplay was equally ready to follow suit. At this point, the band had realized their potential and were going to spend the rest of their career finding out where their muse would take them.