Coldplay just released Mylo Xyloto, their fifth studio album, so it seemed like a good time to ask our readers about their favorite songs by the band. Judging by your response, it's safe to say that most of you haven't spent enough time with the record to consider any of its tracks your all-time favorite. But that's cool! Coldplay write the kind of songs that benefit from familiarity, so there's a good chance that if we ask the question again in a few years, more than a few of you would end up stumping for Mylo Xyloto cuts like 'Paradise,' 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall' or 'Hurts Like Heaven.'

Here are your picks for the 10 best Coldplay songs.

By Matthew Perpetua

The 'best' of Coldplay - Your three Top 5s

So I was discussing with a few friends about 'the best' of Coldplay, but in order to make the discussion less rigid I thought it would be better to make not one but three different Top 5s, so to split 'best' into three sub-categories:

1. The 5 songs you genuinely think of as the absolute best of Coldplay's discography. To list five names I asked myself: if someone who has never even heard of Coldplay came to me and asked for nothing more than 5 songs to represent the band, what would I play?

2. The most important ones. These don't necessarily have to be the top notch performances of the band, but five songs that represent notable milestones in the band's history, especially regarding notoriety. Something close to the five most known songs, I guess, but perhaps a little more than that.

   

3. The easiest (toughest?) one: your personal five favourite songs. Maybe, like me, you deem some tracks to be objectively less 'important' than others, but nonetheless love them to death, because of personal history, attachment and whatnot.

Here are mine:

• BEST -

1. Viva la Vida - To this day, I still think of it as the absolute perfect track. It's got literally everything. It sums up all about Coldplay (well, until that moment at least) and makes it explode in one of the best, most epic, brilliantly written, charismatic and bombast songs I've ever listened to period. Nothing comes close to it.

2. Fix You - Well, almost nothing. Malayalam asianet tv serials. It's not like Fix You needs any presentation, but this is the one song I basically never skip when it comes up. Its structure, Chris' voice, the lyrics, the sound. Everything about this song is absolute perfection. Also, possibly one of the few songs that despite the chorals at the end works best in its studio edit (at least for me) thanks to the wonderful ending bit.

3. Warning Sign - It's really hard to pick up one song off of AROBTTH, but ultimately I chose this one. I adore the idea behind this song, something that has come across my own life at times, and the way it was put into words is simply wonderful. It shows all the sadness that Coldplay's music can achieve, but nonetheless stretches that boundary as far as it can get. Another 11/10 song for me.

4. Charlie Brown - When I first listened to this song I was confused. As many of you may have experienced back in 2011, this 'doesn't sound like Coldplay'. And yet, day after day, month after month, year after year.. this song basically became the landmark for everything post-VLV. An explosion of colours and sounds which became even better after listening to what I consider to be one of the best live performances I've ever witnessed (the Paris 2012 version). It's more than a song; it's something that creates a picture in your mind while making your heart pulse at 100x its normal rate. Sublime.

5. O - ..and then there's this, which is one of their most beautiful pieces of music for pretty much the opposite reasons. I was so (SO) disappointed while listening to Ghost Stories that the only thing I could think of was for it to end. When this track started I just couldn't believe what I was listening to; something hypnotising, almost otherworldly - in a word: magic. It brings back a long gone simplicity with imaginative pictures and a delicate, welcoming, gorgeous sound. It's unique, and in its own way, absolutely perfect.

• MOST IMPORTANT -

1. Fix You - 'Tell me a Coldplay song.' 'Fix You!' - I asked this question this very morning to six different people. Same answer, all the time. Speaks for itself.

2. Yellow - If Coldplay are as famous as they are today, there's no denying that Yellow was a big part of their first push towards music superstardom.

3. Viva la Vida - It's too much of an important and band-defining song to be anything below here. It's possibly the end of an era, and the best representation of it.

4. Clocks - The other song pretty much every person in the world knows. Sure, AROBTTH has more than a few hits, but I've never had anyone not singing Clocks along with me when it played. It also well characterises the bridge between the early Coldplay and what would morph into X&Y and eventually VLV.

5. Paradise - I said 'end of an era' with VLV because the Coldplay we know now are - in my opinion - part of a second slot that started with MX, partly continued with GS (Midnight, Magic, most notably ASFOS) and naturally AHFOD. I love this song, even though it became almost annoying to listen because of how many times it had been played over the radio and public TVs anywhere at any time. As much as I hated it back then, it meant something, and something big.

• MY OWN FAVOURITE -

1. Violet Hill - I don't have much to say. VH is the one song I could listen for the rest of my life in every situation and still love forever, even though I won't because of the memories and the feelings it brings. Every time I listen to it, I just want to cry by the time the ending comes. It's possibly my favourite song of all time. So.. can I cry?

2. Charlie Brown - I love Coldplay for their diversity, and after four (and a half, if you consider PM) relatable albums MX wasn't just something new, but something Coldplay nailed out of the park - and Charlie Brown is the best depiction of it. Is the song I always want people to listen, the video I want them to watch, the live I want them to experience. By the time you read this, I'll probably be listening to it again.

3. Fix You - As predictable as it is, I can't help but love every bit of this masterpiece. It's the song that has skyrocketed Coldplay into heaven - and, to an extent, my heart. It's another good way to bring me to tears.

4. O - The reasons why I put this in the 'best' ranking stay valid here. A rare gem.

5. Swallowed In The Sea - Again: what can I say? It's one of those songs that strike your heart and soul with their beauty and take away a piece of you, which you gladly give away. A 2006 live version played in Toronto also has something like 5 or 6 extra seconds towards the end, which I so wish could have made their way onto the studio edit, because they are, like, the best thing in the history of music. Go listen to it.

Now: I've listened to AHFOD. All of it, multiple times, so all of the above does take that into consideration. As of now, I don't feel like putting any of those songs above here, but that could indeed change with time. We'll see.

As of now, I'd say that:

VLV (+PM) (10) > AROBTTH (9.5) > MX (9) > X&Y (8) > AHFOD (7.5) > Parachutes (7) > GS (6)

If you've read this far, well then thank you. I look forward to your own lists and comments!