Coldplay is a British rock band formed in 1996 by lead singer Chris Martin and guitarist Johnny Buckland while they were studying at University College London. After the project was called Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the band as its bassist and the band changed its name to Starfish. Will Champion became drummer, backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, completing the line-up. The band's manager, Phil Harvey, is often referred to as the unofficial fifth member of the band. The band rebranded itself as Coldplay in 1998, before recording three small-scale albums (EPs): "Safety" released in 1998, "Brothers & Sisters" as a single in 1999 and "The Blue Room" in the same year. "The Blue Room was the band's first record after signing a major record deal with Parlophone Records.

The band enjoyed worldwide success with the release of the single Yellow and the Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Parachutes in 2000. The band's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including the NME Album of the Year Award. The band's next album, X&Y, the best-selling album of 2005 worldwide, was met with mostly positive reviews, but some critics felt it was inferior to its predecessor. The band's fourth studio album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), produced by Brian Eno, was also the most positively received of the bunch, receiving several nominations and 51 Grammy Awards. On 24 October 2011, the band released its fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, which received mixed and positive reviews, topped the album charts in 34 countries and became the best-selling rock album of 2011. 16 May 2014 "Coldplay released their sixth and most recent studio album, Ghost Stories, and reached number one on the iTunes album charts in over 100 countries.

The band has won numerous music awards throughout their career, including nine Brit Awards (including three Best British Band), seven MTV Video Music Awards and seven Grammy Awards from 39 nominations. "Coldplay has sold more than 80 million records worldwide. In December 2009, Rolling Stone magazine voted them the fourth best band of the 2000s. "Coldplay are active supporters of various social and political projects such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International. The band has also appeared in various charity projects such as Band Aid 20, Band Aid 30, Live 8, Sound Relief, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, The Secret Policeman's Ball, Sport Relief and the Teenage Cancer Trust