Album · Coldplay
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends is an album by Coldplay, released in 2008. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 114 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Viva La Vida”, on 65 lists and voted number one four times.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay's fourth album, came out on Parlophone on 12 June 2008, and it's the sound of a band deliberately tearing up its own rulebook. Sessions ran from November 2006 to April 2008 with Markus Dravs, Jon Hopkins, Rik Simpson and Brian Eno producing alongside the band, and for the first time Ken Nelson wasn't in the credits. Eno insisted that no two songs sound alike, and Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion took him at his word.
The title is Spanish for "long live life", and the songs circle love, life, death and war. The title track sweeps along like a royal procession and became the band's first number one in both the US and UK, while "Lost!" marches on a stomping beat and "Lovers in Japan" glitters. It topped the charts in 36 countries, was the best-selling album of 2008 and won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. The cover is Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viva La Vida | 65 | #1 | 4 | 2008–2026 | |
| 2 | Lost! | 21 | #1 | 1 | 2008–2025 | |
| 3 | Life in Technicolor | 15 | #6 | – | 2009–2025 | |
| 4 | Lovers in Japan | 12 | #11 | – | 2008–2009 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.