Mylo Xyloto

Mylo Xyloto is the band's first concept album, and it also is a thematic rock opera.^[4] The album tells the story of a war against sound and colour on the planet Silencia, which has been overtaken by a totalitarian government led by Major Minus, who controls the population through media and propaganda. His aim is to take sound and colour off the streets in hope to draw away "feeders", creatures that use such energy to hunt its prey. The album follows Mylo Xyloto, a "silencer", a soldier in an army tasked to hunt and track down "sparkers", people who harness light and energy and use it to create sparks, comparable to graffiti in real life. He encounters Fly, the sparker most wanted by Major Minus. Through Fly, Mylo discovers his sparker abilities and his affiliation with the Car Kids, a major sparker faction founded by Mylo's parents, Aiko and Lela. Drummer Will Champion has noted that the album is a story of the characters "falling in love and trying to escape together", with a general theme of "love conquering all". In interviews the band have said that the album follows a love story between Mylo and Xyloto, with them being separate characters.^[5] However, in the comics based on the album, Mylo Xyloto is the main protagonist and Fly is the sparker girl he encounters.^[6]


The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its uplifting tone and new electronic sound; however, some found its material overproduced. "Paradise" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" received a total of three nominations at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, while the album and "Charlie Brown" received two further nods in the following year. Internationally, Mylo Xyloto charted at number one in 34 countries.^[7] In the United Kingdom, Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's fifth album to debut at number one, selling 208,343 units in its first week, and setting a one-week digital sales record with 83,000 copies sold.^[8] Mylo Xyloto broke an iTunes record for digital downloads sales by selling over 500,000 digital copies in a week.^[9] (Beyoncé's self-titled album and Adele's 25 topped this record in 2013 and 2015 respectively). Mylo Xyloto became Coldplay's third album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 447,000 units in its first week of sales. It was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011, selling 908,000 copies.^[10] As of 2013, it has sold over 8 million copies worldwide.^[11]