It is still over a week and a half until Coldplay's fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is scheduled for release, but the album leaked online through a torrent on Wednesday.

The band's first album in just over three years has already proved itself popular with a highly downloaded single and has become the highest pre-sale album ever in Apple iTunes Store, according to NME. Prefix magazine speculates that the album's leak has raised serious issues for the band's label, privately-held EMI. Prefix reports that the albums second single, title track "Viva la Vida" has seen 510,000 downloads already, not as impressive as the two million its predecessor "Violet Hill" moved.

The magazine also speculates that the leak will make it "unlikely that the album will be the rousing success that EMI had hoped." This just seems to disregard the consumer base and the band's large fanbase.

Arguably, the 510,000 downloads of "Viva la Vida" should be interpreted as that many presale downloads for the album, since the single and album pre-order are bundled together in iTunes. If that is the case, first week sales will be an impressive, rousing success.

Coldplay and EMI have taken the next logical, and predictable, step to combat the online leak. NME reports that starting tonight the album will be available for streaming from the band's MySpace page.

Source: http://www.bloggingstocks.com

Coldplay are now streaming their forthcoming new album 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' IN FULL on the band's MySpace page here.

The album is not officially released until next Thursday (June 12), meaning that fans will be able to hear the album in its entirety almost a week early. Head to the Coldplay MySpace page to hear the album in full.

EMI boss Guy Hands boasted it was "the most anticipated album of the year", to which Alexis Petridis responded that, at the very least, Viva La Vida serves as a reminder that you don't need to be cool to write a good pop song. Elsewhere, MTV claims the album is lyrically obsessed with duality and is "massively minimal". Tonight, it's for you to judge. The release is already the best-selling album presale in iTunes history, worldwide. It's also on track to beat the previous first-week iTunes album sales record, currently held by Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static."

You've heard all the tracks, now what do you think? Plus, join in the Coldplaying listening party here [thanks Space Cadet]

Viva La Vida collaborator to open shows

Coldplay have announced that the terrific Jon Hopkins (one of the principal musical collaborators on our new album) will be supporting them at the Brixton, Barcelona and MSG shows. Click here to check out Jon's MySpace.

The album, released on June 12, was also produced by both Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, and was recorded in Barcelona, New York and London, where the band are playing three special free gigs this month, at London's Brixton Academy on June 16, Barcelona's Espacio Movistar on June 17 and New York's Madison Square Gardens on June 23. Ticket applications for London and New York have now closed, however you can apply for Barcelona tickets here.

Talking of gigs, there are pictures now online of yesterday's secret gig in Netherlands. Click here to see them [thanks Ireth & Remcoowtje].

Coldplay's album seems set to become the best-selling album pre-sale ever released in the history of Apple's music store

Coldplay have taken an unusual iTunes record, with new album Viva La Vida set to become the best-selling album pre-sale ever released in the history of Apple's music store, Apple insiders inform. Not just that, but Coldplay's new collection is also set to beat the best ever first week iTunes album sales record on a global basis, a record currently held by Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static.

Described by The Telegraph as a, "bright, warm, rich and strikingly memorable album," Coldplay fans pre-ordering the album through iTunes now will be able to download the title track immediately - it's the track currently featured in the iPod + iTunes ad campaign, They'll also be entitled to special acoustic bonus tracks when the album ships.

Largely produced by Brian Eno, the album's scheduled to ship on 12 June in the UK and 17 June in North America. The album leaked online earlier this month, though the band made one album track Violet HIll available for download from its website for one week only in later April.

If you want to try before you buy, the album's set to be streamed in its entirety through the band's MySpace website tonight.

More on this record breaker here [thanks mimixxx]

More mixed reviews of Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends have hit the headlines today. Here's a Coldplaying recap on the latest ones:

Both the Guardian and Independent (UK newspapers) have given the new album 3/5. You can read and discuss them both here. The outspoken Guardian reviewer, Alexis Petridis summed up his thoughts by saying "There are moments during Viva la Vida where you feel impelled to take Coldplay aside and explain to them that there's more to reinventing your sound than calling Brian Eno, coming up with some enigmatic song titles and telling people you've reinvented your sound: you are actually supposed to change your music as well."

The Times review is here which is as neutral as you can get (and includes a previously unseen picture). They said "According to Eno, what it all amounts to is the sound of a band “living at the edge of their possibilities”. Such precisely worded praise could just as easily apply to the logic-defying leaps of inspiration found on a Radiohead album as it does a band of rather talented musicians desperately trying to stay interesting.

The Time Magazine review is here. They report "Where Martin shines--and when Viva la Vida peaks--is when the subject turns to desire. He's got a soul singer's ability to communicate the totality of love with a few oohs and aahs, and he saves Lovers in Japan from his own clichés ("Lovers keep on the road you're on/ Runners until the race is run") just by opening up his throat and letting loose.

Earlier this year a Rolling Stone Online article featured an interview with Chris Martin, who said: “It’s impossible to please everybody, and it took us a whole to learn that. It’s just the freedom to say, ‘Everyone might not like this. We’re into it at the moment, so let’s just get it done’.”

[thanks Difficult_Kind, the_escapist & mimixxx]

As previously announced here on Coldplaying, there will be a Coldplay exclusive interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, tonight.

Airing on Friday June 6, 2008, at 11:00 pm will be The Hour's all-access, exclusive full-hour TV special with Coldplay. In this recently shot footage, George was given unprecedented access, with one-on-one conversations and sharing candid moments with the band, as they prepare to release their new record, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.

You can discuss the special on the Coldplaying forums and watch a preview clip here. Below is a preview of the special, courtesy of the Toronto Sun:

Chris Martin of Coldplay isn't afraid of some cold self-analysis. Martin and his world-famous British band get the full hour-long treatment tonight on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (CBC, CBC Newsworld). Coldplay granted unprecedented access to Stroumboulopoulos, who visited the band in England.

Stroumboulopoulos is a strong interviewer overall, but he particularly has the ability to get to the heart of the matter when he's talking to musicians. At one point Stroumboulopoulos asks Martin bluntly if it ever dawned on him that what had clicked about Coldplay for a long time actually stopped clicking a couple of years ago.

"We reached the stage where we thought, we can't get much bigger, so we have to try and get better," Martin said.

"I was feeling bad, because I'm sure there are some 16-year-old kids who say they like Coldplay and then took some abuse for it in the playground," added Martin, who is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow. "So I had a feeling about 18 months ago that I really would like to make them proud by trying to improve."

Coldplay's new CD, titled Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, will be in Canadian stores on June 17.

Coldplay are set to stream their forthcoming new album 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' in full on the band's MySpace page from 6pm (BST) tonight (June 6).

The album is not officially released until next Thursday (June 12), meaning that fans will be able to hear the album in its entirety almost a week early. Head to the Coldplay MySpace page tonight at 6pm (BST) to hear the album in full, as long as you're in one of the following places:

- UK

- Ireland

- Europe (except Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, sorry)

- Australia, New Zealand

- Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia

- India

- Russia

- Canada

- Brazil

EMI boss Guy Hands boasted it was "the most anticipated album of the year", to which Alexis Petridis responded that, at the very least, Viva La Vida serves as a reminder that you don't need to be cool to write a good pop song. Elsewhere, MTV claims the album is lyrically obsessed with duality and is "massively minimal". Tonight, it's for you to judge. The release is already the best-selling album presale in iTunes history, worldwide. It's also on track to beat the previous first-week iTunes album sales record, currently held by Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static."

Join in the Coldplaying party here [thanks Space Cadet]

As previously announced, the Australian exclusive Coldplay interview radio special premieres today at 12pm AEST (BST+9, EST+14) on Triple M.

In addition to the radio special Triple M will also be launching video highlights from Myf's interview and last but not least there will be a full studio tour of 'The Bakery'.

You may remember from recent Coldplaying announcements [1] [2] that Triple M (Melbourne) has an exclusive interview with Coldplay, to talk to them about the new album Viva La Vida. You can see the interview previews and pictures here.

You can read and discuss the full interview build-up on Coldplaying here [thanks [thanks be my green eyes, eFlat & Age Six Racer]

Coldplay's new single has climbed to number three in the US chart - their biggest hit across the Atlantic. Coldplay, whose new album is released on 12 June, previously made number eight in the US singles rundown in 2005 with Speed of Sound.

Viva La Vida, which is used on iTunes' current TV commercial, was bolstered by 219,000 digital sales. But the band was behind Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love at number two and chart topper Lollipop from rapper Lil Wayne. This represents a 58 percent increase (fans must be liking that iTunes ad), while Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” held at No. 2 with 194,000, and Katy Perry’s lascivious radio hit “I Kissed a Girl” moved up 10 spots to No. 3, selling 173,000, a 111 percent jump.

The album, Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends), is the follow-up to 2005's X&Y, which was the best-selling album of that year. It has gone on to sell 10 million copies.

Violet Hill, their first UK release from the new album, was made available as a free download on the band's website last month. It was downloaded two million times in one week - enough to outsell the entire Top 40 four times over. The song reached number eight in the singles rundown when it was released to buy.

MySpace have announced that Coldplay's new album will be streamed on the site from 1800 BST Friday until its worldwide release on Monday.

Coldplay have performed a secret gig in Netherlands, a short performance but contained four of the new songs, inlcuding Chinese Sleep Chant. Pictures of the gig are here. The setlist was:

1) Violet Hill

2) Clocks

3) Lovers in Japan

4) Chinese Sleep Chant

5) Viva La Vida

6) Fix You

Some fan comments:

Chris played the guitar at the end of Violet Hill instead of the piano and it was really cool. They played the Alternate Video on the tv they also had at the MTV Movie Awards. Clocks was just ok. Lovers in Japan was really cool and a few people (only 300 peope were there) knew the lyrics. Nobody knew Chinese Sleep Chant and everybody was completely quiet, that was so cool. Viva La Vida was way better than at the Movie Award, I really loved Will's bell! Last but not least Fix You, as good as always! Life in Technicolor was also on the official setlist, but they decided not playing it unfortunately...

More on this here onwards [thanks harml & Kasper]

The Coldplay madness continues, as they performed the title track from the new one last night on Kimmel, along with Violet Hill.

The show aired at 12:05am on ABC. You can watch both TV performances courtesy of official Jimmy Kimmel Live! sources here

In total Coldplay performed six songs for Jimmy Kimmel Live! - including four from the new era, one of which had never been heard of previously. Here is their setlist along with unofficial fanmade videos:

1. Violet Hill [fancam] [official]

2. Viva La Vida [fancam] [official]

3. Clocks

4. Mystery Song [fancam]

5. Lovers In Japan [fancam]

6. Fix You

On Tuesday June 17th, Coldplay are playing a free show at the Espacio Movistar in Barcelona, Spain, and Coldplay have opened up the competition to win a chance to attend.

If you'd like to win a pair of tickets, please fill out the form here, before 11.59pm on Monday June 9th. If you're one of the winners, Coldplay.com will let you know by email on Wednesday June 11th. Good luck!

Meanwhile, look out for a very exclusive Coldplaying competition, of particular interest to Coldplayers in the UK!

Coldplay are playing a special show at the BBC Television Centre in London for 600 people, which will be broadcast live on BBC2 on 18th June at 7pm, coldplay.com and the corporation has exclusively revealed.

If you'd like to come along, please go to bbc.co.uk/tickets from 10.30am tomorrow morning (Friday 6th June) where you'll be able to register for a pair of tickets. It's first come, first served - so the first 250 people who register will be guaranteed entry to the show.

More on the tickets scramble (you might pick up some tips) here [thanks Age Six Racer]

Read on for the small print...Only successful applicants will be contacted.

Terms and Conditions

Tickets will be sent out. Applications must be received by Monday 9th June

If you are allocated a place on the guest list you will need to bring one form of photo ID and your email confirmation with you to the event.

You must be 16 or over. Proof of age and identity will be required.

You must be available to come to the event in mid June. Successful applicants will be given the date.

There will be no travel or accommodation expenses.

All event details are subject to change without notice.

Registration is open to UK residents only.

Only one entry will be accepted per person.

The BBC does not accept any responsibility for late or lost applications whatever the cause. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

Should the event be cancelled or line-up changed, the BBC is not liable for any loss of money and expense incurred in travelling to the venue.

The BBC’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Each successful applicant will receive 2 tickets.

If you cannot be contacted the BBC reserves the right to offer the ticket to the person whose name is next drawn at random.

Applicants must supply full details as required, and comply with all rules to be eligible. No responsibility is accepted for ineligible online submissions or submissions made fraudulently.

This registration process is not open to employees or contractors of the BBC, any person directly or indirectly involved in the BBC or the running of the registration, or their direct family members.

The BBC reserves the right to cancel this registration process at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.

Applicants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when registering.

Tickets are free and cannot be resold. If you buy tickets from anyone they will not be valid.

These rules are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

This registration process is administered by the BBC.

Wow. You read to the end.

Coldplay's Philadelphia show has moved dates from June 29 to July 29. Here is the press release from Live Nation:

The Coldplay concert was rescheduled from June 29 to July 25. The tickets for the original date will be honored at the rescheduled date. There will not be duplicate tickets sold for seats. If you are unable to attend the newly rescheduled date, then you can call 1877-263-9372.

The Oakland show at the Oracle arena (July 25) has been CANCELLED, and the date for the San Jose show at the HP Pavilion has been CHANGED to July 18. All this is in addition to the previously announced news that Coldplay have CANCELLED the gig in Sacramento, which was originally scheduled for July 21 at Arco Arena.

Keep on top of date changes and available tickets at the Live Nation site.

[thanks ColdplayJoe, Joseph & Layne]

Coldplay have scored their biggest ever hit on the US singles chart.

'Viva La Vida', the title track from the band's upcoming fourth album, climbs from ten to three on this week's Billboard Hot 100, eclipsing the number eight peak of their 2005 single 'Speed Of Sound'.

Rapper Lil Wayne remains at number one with 'Lollipop' this week, while Leona Lewis sticks at two with 'Bleeding Love'. The only new track in the top ten comes from pop singer Katy Perry, who leaps from 21 to five with 'I Kissed A Girl'.

The top ten singles in full:

1. (1) Lil Wayne ft. Static Major: 'Lollipop'

2. (2) Leona Lewis: 'Bleeding Love'

3. (10) Coldplay: 'Viva La Vida'

4. (4) Rihanna: 'Take A Bow'

5. (21) Katy Perry: 'I Kissed A Girl'

6. (6) Usher ft. Young Jeezy: 'Love In This Club'

7. (5) Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown: 'No Air'

8. (7) Ray J & Yung Berg: 'Sexy Can I'

9. (3) David Cook: 'The Time Of My Life'

10. (8) Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake: '4 Minutes'

Coldplay kick things off with the release of the new album by joining Jo Whiley (10am-12.45pm, weekdays) for an exclusive interview on June 12. Last month Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland personally delivered a copy of the new single, Violet Hill, to Jo, who was the first to play the track.

Four days later BBC Radio 1 is to present Coldplay live from Brixton Academy, London. The whole gig will be broadcast live on Radio 1 on a specially extended Zane Lowe show from 7pm, on Monday, June 16.

The special will include tracks from the new album, alongside their biggest hits. This will be the band's first live date in the UK since the release of their new album, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.

Visit the Jo Whiley site here for latest details between now and 12th June.

Virgin Radio is conducting their first ever poll of Coldplay’s most popular songs.

Vote for your ultimate Coldplay song below and listen to the countdown on Saturday Night Live on Sunday 8 June from 7.00pm. Anthems… album tracks… live favourites… hear which songs the band themselves value the most. Vote using the form on this page. You can click on the album sleeves there to help choose your favourite track. All you have to do is answer the following:

Favourite track #1

Favourite track #2

Favourite track #3

Can you tell Ben why you have chosen any of these tracks in particular?

More on this here [thanks jenjie]

Don't forget Virgin Radio will welcome Coldplay into the studio on 9th June, three days before the album release. You can listen to the Virgin Radio station webstream via the Coldplaying toolbar - which you can download here prior to the Virgin interiew. To manually add the Virgin Radio station please add http://85.159.184.42:80 to your stations. If you have any problems with the toolbar please log them here as soon as possible.

On Thursday June 19th, Coldplay will perform another secret gig, this time in France, live for 200 people in the studios of the Plaine-Saint-Denis (Seine-saint-Denis). You can win two tickets, and enter between June 4th and June 15th 2008. The draw will occur on June 16th.

The concert will be broadcast on June 27th on W9 for the show 'Concert privé'. To be one of the lucky attendees, you only need to subscribe on www.w9.fr and answer the question below.

Q. Where is the band Coldplay from?

More on this here [thanks alvin13 & Chavi]

Who's going to like Coldplay's new record? Everyone who liked their previous records.

Given everything contained within, it's fitting that Coldplay decided to saddle their new album with two seemingly disparate titles (it's called Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, in case you weren't aware). Because if anything, it's the most bipolar thing they've ever done.

Lyrically, it's obsessed with the duality of, well, everything, full of ruminations on life and death, corporeal pleasure and spiritual anguish, the emptiness of wealth and the reverence of poverty (all sung by a millionaire rock star with an Academy Award-winning wife, of course). Musically, it's Sagrada Familia-massive and quark-microscopic, all strings and church bells one moment, tiny tack piano and shimmery joules of synthesizer the next (and surprisingly organic for an album produced by an electronic legend like Brian Eno).

And thematically, it's hyper-focused on both the celebration of living and the bloody business of revolution, two yin/yang ideals that sort of make sense as one unified concept when you think about it long enough. In keeping with that (non) ideal, the album takes its title from a sunny Frida Kahlo painting, yet features an overwrought Eugène Delacroix work on the cover.

Read the full review here

Anyone who feared that British pop-rockers Coldplay [ tickets ] would skip over the Los Angeles area during their soon-to-launch US tour can breathe a sigh of relief.

New to the group's schedule is a July 15 concert at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The stop fills a crack in the itinerary for the first leg of the band's North American tour, which gets underway in New York City later this month with a free show at Madison Square Garden, and runs through early August.

A second North American leg is set to kick off in late October.

The first edition of Q Countdown is on Saturday and Q need your suggestions for the playlist.

Each week they will choose a theme and fill the show with related tracks and on June 7, to mark their exclusive interview with Coldplay, their appearance on the cover of July’s Q magazine and of course the imminent release of the band’s fourth album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, the programme will revolve around Coldplay.

Each week Q want listeners to send in their choices of track to fit the theme, so it could be as simple as your favourite Coldplay track, or a song which Chris Martin has written for someone else (say Embrace’s Gravity) or it may be more tangential such as a track from a Gwyneth Paltrow film (Aimee Mann’s Amateur featured on the Sliding Doors soundtrack).

Just let us know your suggestions by emailing qradio@qthemusic.com and please mark the subject Q Countdown: Coldplay.

God moves with the times and has blighted us with Coldplay instead of plagues of locusts and frogs.

But despite this very real proof of His existence, Chris Martin doesn’t believe in the Big Chap. No, he will only kneel to the Greek god of thunder, Zeus.

At the MTV Awards Chris, 31, said: “I’m always trying to work out what ‘he’ or ‘she’ or ‘it’ is. I don’t know if it’s Allah or Jesus or Mohammed or Zeus. But I’d go for Zeus. I lay claim to being the only person in the world who still believes in Zeus.”

More on this here [thanks LoserJBo]

US hip-hop megastar Justin Timberlake was the inspiration for Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, according to frontman Chris Martin.

The band's drummer Will Champion is such a fan of Timberlake's hit track Cry Me A River, he used it as inspiration for one of their's tracks, Lost! Martin says, "One song we're always trying to chase is Cry Me A River in terms of the beats and everything.I know that is one of Will's favourite songs. And he did all the drums on Lost!"

Timberlake recently said if there’s one band that he is desperate to perform with, it would be Coldplay. The Sexy Back singer insists that Coldplay are the ‘modern Beatles’, and that’s why he would give an arm and a leg to duet with them. And, even in the band Timberlake knows just who he wants to jam with – Gwyneth Paltrow’s hubby Chris Martin. "Coldplay are the modern Beatles, so I’d love to do a duet with them — especially Chris Martin," The Sun quoted him, as saying.

More on this story here

A few hours ago an email went out to the winners of the free ticket giveaway for Coldplay’s June 23rd show at Madison Square Garden to promote the new album, Viva la Vida Or Death And All His Friends. Then about an hour later, another email was sent out correcting the date (the original email said the show was on June 24th).

Tickets will be mailed out to winners on or around June 10th, and when they arrive the lucky concert-goers will find out the location of their seats. There is (at time of writing) no word yet on winners of the Brixton gig in London on 16th June (which will be live on Radio 1 if you haven't yet heard).

Winners are warned not to try to scalp their tickets. The email goes on to read, “We’ll catch you and take your tickets away from you. So please don’t do it. You will get a letter with your tickets that explains the entire process so please be patient.”

More on this (and discuss winners/losers) here [thanks Montreal]

Coldplay have completed recording the video for the new single (heavily rumoured to be Lovers In Japan), Coldplaying.com can reveal.

The video was directed by Mat Whitecross, who you may remember also directed the unofficial Dancing Politicians video for Coldplay’s new single Violet Hill, the mini Amazon-clips and the Rough Cut of Life In Technicolor.

Here's all we know about the new video so far: "Following his hugely successful viral video for Violet Hill, Mat Whitecross has just wrapped the shoot for Coldplay's next single from their new album. Watch this space for more details."

More on this here [thanks Jan]