Jay-Z
#8: Collaborative Coldplaying
Chris Martin is not a musician to jealously guard his talent behind some ring-fenced barrier; almost from the moment Coldplay saw success with debut Parachutes, Martin was sprinkling some of the Coldplay magic elsewhere. He collaborated with Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith on a 2002 album, before writing the song See It In A Boy's Eyes for Jamelia and helping out on The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free. This year, he co-wrote the track Beach Chair with rapper and bosom buddy Jay-Z.
#9: Split averted
X&Y sold massively but got some sniffy reviews from the music press, most of whom found it inferior to the 2002 album A Rush Of Blood To the Head. Martin told The Daily Telegraph the record nearly spelled the end of the band: "After the last album we weren't really talking to each other, we were falling apart. We didn't own ourselves: there were too many swanky dinners, too many award ceremonies. We could almost just have phoned in the songs for the new album from our holiday homes. I wanted to burn all the awards, erase the past."
Cash cow
#10: Banking on a hit
In February 2005, EMI's share price fell 46.25p (to £2.35) on a single piece of news – that Coldplay's X&Y would not be released in that fiscal year. Martin later said such news put enormous pressure on the band, who felt they were having to bail out an ailing record company as well as keep themselves creatively happy.
