Coldplay Archives

The 50 Best Cover Songs of 2025

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Dec 192025

Follow all our Best of 2025 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

Last year’s unexpected theme was Tom Petty covers. For no obvious reason, he popped up again and again on our 2024 year-end list. And whaddya know, Tom’s back this year, with two more Petty covers on our list. This year, however, he is not the most-covered artist on our list.

That’s a tie between two artists, one extremely of-the-moment, one timeless. With three covers apiece, Chappell Roan and Neil Young share the most-best-covered crown. (Artists with two covers apiece this year, in addition to Petty, are Gillian Welch, John Prine, and—this one’s surprising—Nelly Furtado!)

Spoiler alert: None of those appears in the number-one position. Number one covers an artist who I don’t think has ever appeared on one of our year-end lists. But don’t skip ahead. There are 49 equally (well, almost) as good covers to get through first, spanning genres and sounds and eras and ages. Here we go.

Cover art by Hope Silverman

The Best Cover Songs of August & September 2025

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Sep 302025

Benson Boone — When We Were Young (Adele cover)

Benson Boone gets clowned on, but dude can sing (and, yes, backflip). “When We Were Young” is not exactly an easy song to nail. But, at a tour stop in Columbus, he did just that—one of many covers he’s been doing on the road.

BRAINSTORM — The Boys Of Summer (Don Henley cover)

Every summer comes, inevitably, more “Boys of Summer” covers. This metal-ish version comes from German power-metal vets BRAINSTORM (all caps so you know they’re serious). Singer Andy B. Franck says: “Even though ‘The Boys Of Summer’ deals with rather nostalgic themes of ‘summer love’ and the memory of a past relationship, for me – at the time a 13-year-old – it was, beyond the metal anthems of the 80s, a great song that I associated with summer, girls and the corresponding feeling for many, many years…Even today, this song still evokes great memories for me, and since it’s also a song about questioning the past, this track fits perfectly into our times.” Continue reading »

The 30 Best Black Sabbath Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Sep 262025

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

When Black Sabbath held their “Back the Beginning” show in Birmingham this summer, no one disputed it represented Ozzy Osbourne’s way of saying goodbye. They just didn’t know how soon that final goodbye would come. Seventeen days after singing with both Sabbath and his own band to a packed stadium of superfans (and sounding not bad, considering), he was gone.

So today, we honor Sabbath in our own way, giving them the Best Covers Ever treatment. There are some heavy covers below, appropriately enough. But there are also a bunch that translate Sabbath songs into surprising genres, from slocore to bluegrass, retro soul to Finnish trad-jazz. No one, however, sings them the same way Ozzy did. Attempting to do so would be a fool’s errand. He was one of one, and will be missed.

Wisp Makes Coldplay’s “Yellow” Go Shoegaze

Posted by Aleah Fitzwater at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Sep 222025

Wisp (aka Natalie Lu) is a musician known for combining nu-metal with shoegaze sounds. The resulting combination is something completely unique—and this time, the artist took on Coldplay’s post-Britpop hit from Parachutes. “Yellow” is romantic already, but in this sonic light, it takes on a completely new feeling. Continue reading »

The 30 Best Pearl Jam Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Aug 012025

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

Earlier this month, Matt Cameron announced he was leaving Pearl Jam. He wasn’t their first drummer—or their second, or third, or fourth—but he’d been there longer than all the rest combined. So it felt like the end of an era. Or, at least, an opportunity for us to celebrate their catalog through covers.

As big as Pearl Jam was, and is, they don’t get covered as much as you might expect. No doubt they’re sick of constant comparisons to Nirvana, but, in this respect, Kurt and co. get ten covers for every one of Pearl Jam. But that means the artists who do bother to cover Pearl Jam really care. Find 30 such artists below.

Photo by Danny Clinch

Coldplay Cover “Changes” in Tribute to Ozzy

Posted by Luke Poling at 11:00 am No Responses »

Jul 302025

With the passing of Ozzy Osbourne, music fans have been able to see first-hand the effect his music has had on generations of fellow musicians around the world.

Case in point: Coldplay. At the band’s Nashville gig on the day of Osbourne’s passing, they performed Black Sabbath‘s ballad “Changes.” “We’d like to dedicate this whole show to the incredible genius, talent, and character-full gift to the world who was Ozzy Osbourne,” said lead singer Chris Martin. “We send our love to his family.”

Coldplay’s take on Vol. 4‘s classic ballad got only a passing performance, with Martin singing the chorus. That said, even just the chorus can give you goosebumps and truly appreciate the emotion contained with Osbourne’s one of a kind vocal skills. Martin played the song as the wrap up of the “Planets” section of their current “Music of the Spheres” tour. After the song, Martin added, “Ozzy, we love you, wherever you’re going.”

While credited to the whole band, the Black Sabbath song is about the end of drummer Bill Ward’s first marriage. The song is one of the more touching in Osbourne’s catalogue, and clearly special to Osbourne. (He recorded a new version of the song in 2003 with daughter Kelly.)