Coldplay hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Viva La Vida” on June 28, 2008. It served as the title track from their fourth studio album and followed their single “Violet Hill,” from the same album.
When the track hit number one, it claimed the top spot from "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major. Katy Perry eventually upended the English rockers with her breakout hit song “I Kissed A Girl.”
Bassist Guy Berryman spoke with Q magazine following the song’s release, saying:
“It's a story about a king who's lost his kingdom, and all the album's artwork is based on the idea of revolutionaries and guerrillas. There's this slightly anti-authoritarian viewpoint that's crept into some of the lyrics and it's some of the payoff between being surrounded by governments on one side, but also we're human beings with emotions and we're all going to die and the stupidity of what we have to put up with every day. Hence the album title."