Something Just Like This


"Something Just Like This" is a song by American electronic music duo the Chainsmokers and British rock band Coldplay. It was released on February 22, 2017, as the second single from the former's debut album, Memories...Do Not Open, and as the lead single of the latter's thirteenth extended play, Kaleidoscope EP.
The track reached the Top 10 in over 30 countries worldwide, including number two on the UK Singles Chart and the ARIA Charts, as well as number three on the Billboard Hot 100. It has the fifth highest digital sales of any song at over 21.5 million sales. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background

In September 2016, the Chainsmokers shared three short clips of an upcoming song featuring vocals from Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer. On February 22, 2017, Spotify prematurely posted a banner ad at the top of the site's home page with a Listen Now button.
On the same date, Coldplay premiered "Something Just Like This" with the Chainsmokers on stage at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London, England. They then performed the song at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Forum in Inglewood, California on March 5, 2017 and on their A Head Full of Dreams Tour since the Singapore show on March 31. It was performed again at the One Love Manchester benefit concert for the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing on June 4.

Lyric video

A lyric video for the song was also released on February 22, 2017, on the Chainsmokers' Vevo channel. As of October 2025, it has received over 2.4 billion views on YouTube. It was directed by James Zwadlo.

Composition

The song is written in the key of B minor and has a tempo of 103 beats per minute in common time. It follows a chord progression of G–A–Bm–A, and the vocals span two octaves, from G2 to G4.

Chart performance

"Something Just Like This" debuted at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and soared to number five on its second week, becoming the Chainsmokers' third top five after "Don't [Let Me Down (The Chainsmokers song)|Don't Let Me Down]" and "Closer". Meanwhile, the song was Coldplay's second top five after "Viva la Vida", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the sixth best-selling track of 2017 in the United States with over 1.34 million copies. In the United Kingdom, "Something Just Like This" debuted at number 30 on 24 February 2017, reaching number two in the following week. It spent nine consecutive weeks in the top 10 and became the ninth biggest song of the year in the country. It also set a new record for most weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. In 2024, PPL ranked "Something Just Like This" as Coldplay's fourth-most played song on British media. A year later, the track was placed at number 53 on the list of most streamed songs of all time on Apple Music.

Critical reception

Philip Cosores from Consequence named "Something Just Like This" one of the best releases of February 2017, mentioning that "the track is a warm, sentimental, uplifting anthem" where Martin "steals the show, punctuating his verses with enough sap and self-confidence that we remember why we like pop music in the first place". 3voor12 and Uproxx listed it among the best songs of 2017. KROQ-FM placed the single at number 314 on their "Top 500 Songs from the Last 30 Years" ranking.

Covers

In 2018, The Piano Guys released a mashup on piano and cello called "Something Just Like Liszt", combining the song with Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2".

Credits and personnel

The Chainsmokers
  • Andrew Taggart – keyboards
  • Alex Pall – keyboards
Coldplay
Production

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Hungary 19
Portugal 130
Romania 99
South Korea International 9
US Adult Contemporary 11
US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 3
Worldwide 8

Chart Position
South Korea 196

Chart Position
Global 200 singles of 2021|Global 200] 134

Chart Position
Global 200 92

Chart Position
Global 200 158

Chart Position
Australia 91
Global 200 117

Chart Position
Global 200 82