Did Coldplay's viral fan-cam moment really cause a 25% spike in their streams?

Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour has arguably given birth to one of the best memes of 2025. The fan-cam moment, which went viral all over social media, united almost all of America to discuss the cheating couple and, in turn, Coldplay’s concert. The moment has given visibility to Coldplay’s otherwise controversy-free world tour.

Coldplay’s gain from the viral moment has extended to its streaming numbers. Before the fan cam moment, Billboard reports that the British boy band’s catalog received 28.7 million official U.S. on-demand audio streams, which is normal as streams spike during an ongoing concert/tour. However, things got interesting when the band’s streaming numbers saw a 25% to 35.7 million increase after the concert. The band’s listeners were steady before the viral moment but experienced a surge of 15% from 6.6 million to 7.6 million immediately after the meme spread.

According to Billboard, the song that experienced the most surge was the group’s 2005 hit song Fix You, which went from 1.1 million to 1.5 million, an impressive 34% increase. The next songs were the 2015 Hymn for the Weekend and the 2002 The Scientist. They both experienced a 27% increase. Sparks also saw an 18% increase

More details on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour

Music of the Spheres is Coldplay’s ongoing eight-concert tour. It began at San José's Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on March 18, 2022, as the promotional tour of the group’s ninth and tenth studio albums: Music of the Spheres (2021) and Moon Music (2024).

After 225 shows that spanned Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania, the band will conclude the long tour on September 8, 2025, at London's Wembley Stadium. Music of the Spheres won Tour of the Year at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards. It also holds the Guinness World record for Highest Attendance for a Music Tour Record and Highest-Grossing Music Tour by a Group.

The tour also won several Ticket Master Awards for Best International Concert – France, Most Anticipated Event of 2023 – Italy, Most Anticipated Event of 2024 – France, Most Anticipated Event of 2024 – Germany, Most Anticipated Event of 2024 – Italy, Most Anticipated Event of 2024 – New Zealand, Event of the Year 2025– Austria, Music Event of the Year 2025– Greece, and International Concert of the Year 2025– France.

Coldplay recently completed a performance at Nissan Stadium on July 22 and is scheduled to continue the tour on July 26 in Miami Gardens and Kingston upon Hull, before returning to Europe to conclude the event.

Music of the Spheres World Tour holds the record for the bestselling tour in history, selling over 11.4 million tickets and grossing $1.26 billion in revenue.

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