Ghost Stories is the sixth studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 19 May 2014 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and Atlantic in the United States. Co-produced by the group along with Paul Epworth and Mylo Xyloto collaborators Dan Green and Rik Simpson, it was their first album to be distributed by Atlantic in North America, as Coldplay were transferred from Capitol after Universal Music purchased EMI in 2012, a transaction which required the sale of Parlophone to Warner Music.

The album was recorded by the band throughout 2013 at the band's purpose-built home studios in London, England, and in Los Angeles. It features guest producers Avicii, Timbaland and Madeon, and the band's frequent collaborator Jon Hopkins. It was promoted by the band with an accompanying prime time TV special, a visual album, and a special six-date promotional tour of the album, as well as various appearances on television and radio. The album was promoted by five singles: "Magic", the lead single, released in March; “Midnight”, released in April as a promotional single for Record Store Day; "A Sky Full of Stars", released in May; "True Love", released in August; and "Ink", released in October. The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Grammy Awards and named Top Rock Album at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.

The album received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising the band's return to the more somber and melancholy style of their earlier music, though some found the album repetitive and lacking direction. Several media outlets reported that Chris Martin has said the album was inspired by his divorce from Gwyneth Paltrow in 2014.

In 2011, Coldplay released their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto. Originally conceived by the band as a "stripped-down, more acoustic collection", the album became one of Coldplay's most experimental and pop-oriented records to date; it was described as "luxuriously colourful" where "the choruses are bigger, the textures grander [and] the optimism more optimistic." Produced by Markus Dravs, Brian Eno, Rik Simpson and Dan Green, the album peaked at number one on 18 national album charts and was certified Platinum in 16 countries. Mylo Xyloto had also sold 8 million copies within the first year of release. Coldplay's 2011 single, "Paradise", became the band's second UK number-one single after 2008's "Viva la Vida". Coldplay's subsequent world tour in promotion of Mylo Xyloto visited North America, Europe, Australia and Africa, raising $99.7 million in revenue.

Going into the creative process for their sixth studio album, the band wanted to return to the "stripped-down, more acoustic collection" they had stated their fifth album would be, returning to the original idea of an acoustic-orientated album, with less of the production and sound that made Mylo Xyloto. At the 2013 Brit Awards, drummer Will Champion spoke to Jo Whiley of BBC Radio 2 fame, saying in response to a question about Coldplay's sixth album being more stripped-back: "Yeah, that might be nice, actually. There's only so far you can go without becoming pompous and a bit overblown, so we'll tread that line very carefully. Reset. Recalibrate."

Ghost Stories has been described as featuring electronica and synth-pop throughout. It is a spiritually driven album that revolves around two major themes mentioned by lead singer Chris Martin. The album explores the idea of past actions, and the effects they can have on your future and one's capacity for unconditional love. To him, Ghost Stories represents "a journey learning about unconditional love" (as said in the televised Making Ghost Stories with Fearne Cotton).

The idea of Ghost Stories, for me, was "how do you let the things that happen to you in the past – your ghosts – how do you let them affect your present and your future?" Because there was a time when I was feeling like they were going to drag me down and ruin my life, and the lives of those around me. I was very lucky to meet a very good sufi teacher who started to introduce the idea of "if you sit with your experiences and the things you've been through, they alchemize." At the time he said that, I didn't really know what that meant, but I trusted that it would work, and the more that I was learning about that, the more music just started flowing through.

— Chris Martin to Zane Lowe