A 25-Year-Old Coldplay Song Hit The Hot 100 For The First Time After Viral TikTok About Chris Martin And Dakota Johnson’s Breakup

In the new movie Materialists, Dakota Johnson is torn between a pair of love interests. In real life, she is single again. Johnson and her boyfriend of nearly eight years, Coldplay's Chris Martin, broke up recently. While Johnson seeks "a meaningful life on all levels," her ex has been gifted a surprise quarter-century-old hit.

"Sparks," a pastoral slow jam from Coldplay's 2000 debut album Parachutes, is one of those love ballads that feels less like a song than a cozy blanket. It makes me feel like I'm watching a wistful arthouse romantic comedy set in a small town. "Sparks" has never been a hit, but it's enough of a fan favorite that Coldplay have kept it in their setlists throughout their endless Music Of The Spheres Tour. Their performance of the song in Vegas has led to an unexpected viral surge.

On June 6 and 7, Coldplay played Allegiant Stadium in Vegas. They were the first shows since news of the Martin-Johnson breakup broke. One fan posted footage of the June 7 "Sparks" performance, featuring a particularly emotional-looking Chris Martin, to TikTok with the text overlay "When you don't want to believe the breakup rumors but this was Chris during sparks tonight 😭💔."

The clip has been viewed millions of times, and it sparked an explosion of clips using the song. As Billboard points out, "Sparks" now soundtracks more than 500,000 video on TikTok. This has in turn led to a a near-doubling of weekly streams compared to three weeks ago, up from 3 million to 5.7 million. It was enough of a boost to send "Sparks" to the Hot 100 for the first time; the song debuted this week at #93.

Truly, everything old is new again. Watch the original viral "Sparks" TikTok below.