About Paradise

"Paradise" is a song by the British rock band Coldplay, released on 12 September 2011 as the second single from their fifth album, Mylo Xyloto. The song received its radio debut at 7:50 a.m. on The Chris Moyles Show (BBC Radio 1) on 12 September 2011. According to Coldplay's official website, the single was not initially chart eligible in the United Kingdom, because it was available on iTunes as an "instant grat" (immediate download) when pre-ordering the album. Following the release of the album on 30 October 2011, the song became chart eligible in the UK and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 14, before taking the number 1 spot on its tenth week, becoming the band's second number-one single after "Viva la Vida" in 2008. The song was met with positive reviews, and was the best selling rock song of 2011 in the United Kingdom, selling 410,000 copies.

On 30 November, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the category Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. On 12 February 2012, Coldplay performed "Paradise" live at the RE, along with "Princess of China". At the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on 6 September, the song won the award for Best Rock Video. Following the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs on CBC, the song was featured in a yearly finale montage on CBC recapping the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as British and American television advertisements and trailers for the Academy Award winning film Life of Pi, which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards. In 2010, the producers of ITV reality show The X Factor originally approached singer Chris Martin to write a winner's song for the seventh series of the show in 2010. "Paradise" was originally conceived by Martin as a response to the show's request, but drummer Will Champion insisted that the song be included on Mylo Xyloto.