Coldplay's New Album 'Ghost Stories' Hits Biggest Album Release for 2014: Takes Inspiration from Frontman's Latest Breakup
Coldplay's newest album titled "Ghost Stories" lands at the top spot of the Billboard 200 chart for the best selling album debut of 2014 to date. Coldplay adds the new album as its fourth No. 1 in their record. The album recounts lead singer Chris Martin's breakup with actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Ghost Stories was released May 19, and is the fourth No. 1 studio effort for the band. The new album sold 383,000 copies in the week through May 25, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Coldplay's albums "Mylo Xyloto" (2011), "X&Y" (2005), and "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (2008) also hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard.
Coldplay's latest album is also the highest selling debut album surging ahead of Beyonce's album that was released in December.
Ghost Stories also beat the Black Key's "Turn Blue" from Billboard's No. 1 spot. Coldplay's new album is still not as big as its previous album No. 1 releases, where "Mylo" sold 447,000 copies, and the two other albums sold more than 700,000 each, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Billboard reported that a big factor for the Ghost Stories' increase in sales was due to the digital downloads. Coldplay's new album becomes the largest widely-available digital album sold to date.
Coldplay's lead vocalist Chris Martin said that his breakup with Gwyneth Paltrow was an inspiration to the new album. Martin revealed that the breakup has something to do with his own issues. He added that he had troubles enjoying his personal and professional life, which led him and Paltrow apart.
Martin wasn't mentioning Paltrow as the main cause of their breakup. He continued that he was a mess because he can't enjoy his band and the things around him. Martin said he didn't open himself up to the love that his wife, family, and friends gave him. He concluded that he was burdened by this fact, and he has no one to blame for it but himself.
"What we decided to do on Ghost Stories was to really be honest about it and say, this is what's been happening," said Martin, according to E! Online.