Viva la Vida by Coldplay is an alternative rock song that appeared on the band’s fourth album. The song was written by all members of the group and was released as a single. In Spanish the term Viva la Vida translates into “Long live life.”

The tune is constructed around a percussion background with a repetitive string section. Its lyrics include Christian and historical references and the song was featured on an episode of the Simpsons cartoon show. The single’s B side was called “Death Will Never Conquer.”

The tune was released as the second single from the album on June 12th 2008. It was well received both critically and commercially as the song soared to the top of singles charts in Britain as well as the Hot 100 on Billboard. The song became Coldplay’s first chart-topping single in both America and the UK.

It also won a Grammy Award in 2009 when it was honored as the best song of 2009 during the 51st annual awards. In addition, it sold four million copies online in digital format. This made it the sixth tune in history to achieve that figure.

The album version tune clocked in at a time of four minutes and one second. The edited radio version was cut down to three minutes and 45 seconds in length. It was released on the Parlophone, Capitol record label and written by Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Will Champion, and Jonny Buckland.

Viva La Vida by Coldplay was produced by the band along with Markus Dravs, Brian Eno and Rik Simpson. Eno made his name as one of the world’s best record producers by producing several albums by the popular Irish band U2. The song remains one of the most popular by the band and it achieved gold record status in numerous countries around the world.