It’s been a huge week for Coldplay.
As well as a UK No.1 with Moon Music, the band’s 10th studio album also debuted at the summit on the US albums chart. That made it the band’s fifth US No.1 album, more than any other UK solo act or group this century.
Coldplay are the first group to simultaneously top the US and UK album charts since 2016. Moon Music has also topped the official charts in countries including Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
It wasn’t just about the chart placings, though. Coldplay’s latest album has also secured huge sales comparable to major albums released a decade earlier (before streaming impacted the sales totals possible for most artists).
Moon Music opened with 120,000 equivalent album units in the US, the band’s highest US first week total since 2015’s A Head Full Of Dreams and their first US No.1 since 2014’s Ghost Stories. More than 106,000 of Moon Music’s US total came from pure album sales.
In the UK, Moon Music opened with a staggering 236,796 sales (182,166 CDs, 27,248 vinyl albums, 20,737 digital downloads and 6,645 sales-equivalent streams), making it the fastest-selling album of the year by a UK act. The first week sale was also the highest by a group since One Direction in 2013.
That result may have been partly driven by the band’s tour pre-sale with album purchases, but it’s still only the fifth album of the 2020s to top 200,000 sales. In fact, Moon Music has become their biggest album in terms of week one sales since 2008 (Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends – 302,074 sales in three days). It finished narrowly ahead of 2015’s A Head Full Of Dreams (235,975), and it was 134% above previous album Music Of The Spheres in 2021 (101,145).
Produced by Max Martin, Moon Music features Little Simz, Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Elyanna and Tini. Lead single Feelslikeimfallinginlove reached No.1 on the UK’s airplay chart and went Top 20 in the singles chart (No.16 peak, 250,807 sales to date – Official Charts Company).
Last week also saw Coldplay become the first group ever to surpass 90 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Moon Music is the world's first album released as a 140g EcoRecord rPET LP, with each copy made from nine recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste. Additionally, the band collaborated with The Ocean Cleanup to create the Notebook Edition LP, for which the rPET comprises 70% river plastic, intercepted by The Ocean Cleanup from the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala.
The standard CD editions of Moon Music were also the world’s first to be released on EcoCD, created from 90% recycled polycarbonate, sourced from post-consumer waste streams.
Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres world tour continues with dates in Australia and will include a record-breaking 10-date Wembley Stadium run next summer.
Last week some 700,000 tickets for the band’s 17-date 2025 North America stadium run sold out in a single day. It takes total ticket sales for the band’s record-breaking Music Of The Spheres World Tour – the highest attended tour by a group in history – to over 12 million. More than two million of those sales came in the last three weeks, for 2025 shows in the UK, Asia and North America.
Here, Jen Ivory, managing director of Coldplay’s longtime label Parlophone, joins head of marketing Josh Jennings to explore the innovation and impact of the band’s global campaign…
The sales for Moon Music have been staggering, how have you achieved this result in terms of the retail and D2C rollout? How has the fanbase responded to this album?
Jen Ivory: “Yes, massive and It’s all very exciting and much deserved from the biggest band in the world. Parlophone and Coldplay management – led by Phil Harvey, Arlene Moon and Mandi Frost – worked tirelessly to not only give us a diverse number of physical formats – six EcoRecord LP variants, one Re-Vinyl picture disc and two EcoCD – across all retailers and D2C but also set standards in sustainability with all LPs consisting of PET-plastic. As an additional touch, Initial LP formats are marked 'First Editions’ and come with a pair of exclusive Moon Goggles, now synonymous with the Coldplay live experience. The success of these formats has culminated in the biggest volume of opening week LP sales in the band’s history!
“In addition, the band have delivered a great campaign. It started impressively with two hero performance moments: a euphoric headline set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, and the triumphant return to the Glastonbury Pyramid Stage – the most viewed performance of the entire weekend. We also saw multiple pieces of reactive content including a viral moment from Dublin where Chris Martin, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and Tini gathered in Grafton Street for an impromptu performance. Those elements, combined with a pre-order for early access driver to 2025 dates, a stellar run of US promo with global resonance, and some incredible national radio support which saw Feelslikeimfallinginlove top the airplay charts, all boosted awareness and drove fans to the pre-order.”
Week one UK sales are more than double the previous release and just ahead of A Head Full Of Dreams in 2015. What does this result say about the enduring appeal and creative strength of Coldplay at this point?
JI: “The album is a complete body of work that feels both timeless and fresh. Themes of love, loss and hope become the soundtrack to our lives and connect with huge audiences. Their music continues to evolve and bring new influences on each record which impacts their global reach. Moon Music is no different, with features from Burna Boy, Little Simz, Elyanna, Tini and Ayra Starr.”
The album is a complete body of work that feels both timeless and fresh
Jen Ivory
There is no rPET EcoRecordLP stock available at present on the UK store – how significant was demand? How popular was the Notebook Edition with fans?
Josh Jennings: “The demand was incredible. We put this down to the significant care and attention both Coldplay and their management team paid to the design and production of each format to ensure they met the highest environmental standards, meaning that each product stood up against a key part of the band’s messaging. That was most evident in the Notebook Edition, which was created with long-term partners of the band The Ocean Cleanup, and which comprises 70% river plastic intercepted from the Tio LAs Vacas, Guatemala. Also, we know that fans want more insight and authenticity from the biggest artists in 2024, and the notebook editions are a pure form of that; a true replica of Chris’ very own notebook. They’ve proved very popular with fans as a result.”
Moon Music is the first EcoCD, how did that initiative come together for this album?
JJ: “The physical format strategy for Moon Music was about innovation that measures up against the band’s environmental standards. The EcoCD is created from 90% recycled polycarbonate, sourced from waste otherwise headed for landfill, so it felt like a fantastic and worthwhile addition to the product suite. As with all the physical formats on this record, the ability to produce them comes down to our partners at Sonopress.”
Downloads have also done well – what was the thinking behind doing the bonus tracks on a download edition? That format has not been given that much attention by artists in recent years.
JJ: “Coldplay have one of the farthest reaching audiences in UK music. As a result, It was important that the products on offer reflected that mix. Whilst a wider audience was engaging with the formats across our DSP and physical retail partners, we also felt it important that the core fanbase, used to visiting store.coldplay.com, have access to additional download versions.”
The physical format strategy for Moon Music was about innovation that measures up against the band’s environmental standards
Josh Jennings
Coldplay are among the biggest acts on Spotify. How did you work with DSPs on this campaign?
JI: “Our aim was to collaborate creatively with our partners to introduce fans to their 10th studio album, whilst also warming up and re-servicing their amazing catalogue. With Spotify we had a hugely successful collaboration globally, including a worldwide countdown push that is one of the biggest to date and global tracklist reveal. The band peaked as the fourth biggest artist on the platform – a new career peak.
“With Apple we did a Zane Lowe interview, which was an intimate and amazing opportunity for fans to hear from the full band on tour talking about Moon Music and what's next for Coldplay. We did an exclusive multi-territory wide exclusive merch and format partnership with Amazon, as well as a [Re]Discover campaign to reheat their catalogue which threaded into their new music. And with YouTube Music, we collaborated across Shorts, Youtube main and Youtube Music across the three videos for Feelslikeimfallinginlove, We Pray and All My Love. With further exclusive content to follow… watch this space.”
How would you assess the album’s international performance so far?
JI: “Coldplay are the first British band to simultaneously top the US and UK album charts since 2016, and it is their fifth US No.1 album. Moon Music outsold the rest of the UK & Ireland Top 40 combined. Additionally, there are currently 13 reported No.1 chart entries globally alongside the UK & US – Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland – with multiple improved positions on the band’s last album. The album also debuted at No.1 on the Spotify albums chart globally last week, with nine tracks doing over one million global streams on day one. They are the first group to surpass 90 million monthly listeners in Spotify history.”
Coldplay are set to break records at Wembley next year, will that become a key moment for the Moon Music campaign? How will you amplify that in the UK and beyond?
JI: “Yes, a record-breaking 10 sold-out shows at Wembley is an amazing feat and allows them to continue to connect with a massive audience in the UK. Their live experiences are not only visually stunning but also foster a sense of community among fans who have already been singing along to new tracks. There is no doubt that more of Moon Music will form a major part of the shows next summer. Coldplay's management team consistently prioritise the needs of their fanbase through engaging activations, and that naturally produces lots of incredible fan UGC, which will inevitably be the case throughout the 2025 dates.”
Are there any plans for further music drops on this campaign?
JI: “The potential is certainly there. They are nothing if not prolific, however, the narrative belongs to Coldplay to share.”
PHOTO: Anna Lee
FOLLOW 
