Coldplay’s third studio album is X&Y.
Released in June 2005, X&Y followed Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). Its title refers to the album’s visual design, which uses Baudot code, an early telegraph encoding system made from patterns of ones and zeros. The booklet also divides the main track list into “X” and “Y” halves.
The album was produced by Coldplay with Danton Supple. Ken Nelson, who had produced the band’s previous album, initially worked on the project, but many of those recordings were discarded after the group became dissatisfied with the sessions. The finished record includes “Speed of Sound,” “Fix You,” “Talk” and “The Hardest Part.”
A common mix-up is choosing Mylo Xyloto, which was Coldplay’s fifth studio album, or Parachutes, their debut. X&Y was a major commercial success, reaching number one in 32 countries and becoming the best-selling album worldwide in 2005.