The original version of the song—released on Coldplay’s 2008 album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends—topped the charts and went on to win a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2009.

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.

Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’ After three albums of exposing vulnerability over soft piano chords, Coldplay opts for clutter and disguise, opening and closing on ...