X&Y

X&Y is the third studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 6 June 2005 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom, and a day later by Capitol in the United States. Produced by Coldplay and producer Danton Supple, the album was recorded during a turbulent period for the band, during which their manager and creative director, Phil Harvey, briefly departed.^[5] Producer Ken Nelson was originally tasked with producing the record; however, many songs written during his sessions were discarded due to the band's dissatisfaction with them. The album's cover art combines colours and blocks to represent the title in Baudot code.

The album contains twelve tracks, divided into respective halves labeled "X" and "Y", and an additional hidden song, "Til Kingdom Come", which is listed as "+" on the disc label and inside the record's booklet. It was originally planned for American country star Johnny Cash to record it with lead singer Chris Martin, but Cash died before he was able to do so.^[6] At a runtime of 62 minutes and 30 seconds, it is Coldplay's longest studio album.

After facing high anticipation globally, X&Y received positive reviews overall and was a significant commercial success, reaching the number-one position on the charts of 32 countries, including the United Kingdom (where it had the third-highest sales week in history at the time) and the United States (where it became Coldplay's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart). With 8.3 million copies sold worldwide, X&Y was the best-selling album of 2005, eventually becoming one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century with over 13 million units sold by December 2012.^[7] It spawned the singles "Speed of Sound", "Fix You", "Talk" and "The Hardest Part". Despite its success, the band's opinion of the album has soured over time, largely due to the turbulent dynamic they experienced during recording, as well as their disappointment in the final product.