News round-up: Taylor Swift covers Viva La Vida, Coldplay 'most sleep-inducing' band

Taylor Swift has taken a break from singing about John Mayer and her ex-boyfriends to tackle a cover of Coldplay's Viva la Vida. The country star performed an acoustic cover of the track when she stopped by the BBC Radio 2 studio last week.

Swift plucked her custom guitar while being backed by two of her band members. She sings the verses in a soft near-whisper before flaring up for the choruses. You can watch the cover and discuss this latest 'butchering' (much better than the X-Factor attempts at least?) at the Coldplay forum now. [thanks DefDazz]

Meanwhile, Coldplay is the music act most likely to make us drift off to sleep, according to a new survey. Michael Buble, the Canadian singer, was voted second and Snow Patrol came third on the list of what music people listen to to help them sleep...

Some 84 per cent of people listen to music in bed to set them up for a good night's sleep according to the survey conducted by Travelodge. Coldplay also came out on top in a similar survey by the hotel chain in 2008.

One in four people falls asleep with their iPod on while 13 per cent say music causes them to have "nice dreams", the study found. Stevie Williams, of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said: "Results from various sleep studies undertaken with a variety of male and female groups has indicated that listening to soft, relaxing music at bedtime leads to a number of different benefits to a night's sleep. These benefits include a longer sleep duration period, fewer night time awakenings and shortening of the time it takes to fall asleep.''

Here is the top 10 list of musicians that help us nod off:

1. Coldplay

2. Michael Buble

3. Snow Patrol

4. Alicia Keys

5. Jack Johnson

6. Taylor Swift

7. Mozart

8. Barry White

9. Leona Lewis

10. Radiohead

Latest pictures of Coldplay with fans in North London (18th October 2010): [thanks Mari*ColdplayLover*]