[4] After facing high anticipation globally, X&Y received positive reviews overall and was a significant commercial success, reaching the number-one position on the charts of 32 countries, including the United Kingdom (where it had the third-highest sales week in history at the time) and the United States (where it became Coldplay's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart).

Despite its success, the band's opinion of the album has soured over time, largely due to the turbulent dynamic they experienced during recording, as well as their disappointment in the final product.

Lead singer Chris Martin stated, "We really feel that we have to be away for a while and we certainly won't release anything this year, because I think people are a bit sick of us."

Guitarist Jonny Buckland has said that the band had pushed themselves "forward in every direction" in making the album, but they felt it sounded like they were going backwards compared to their earlier works.

[13] Drummer Will Champion later admitted that Coldplay did not rush to complete the album "because the prospect of touring again was so daunting that we felt we should take our time, and also we wanted to make sure that it was the best it could possibly be".

That of German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk is evident on the song "Talk", which borrows (with permission) its hook from 1981's "Computer Love", with the riff being played on electric guitar instead of on a synthesizer.

[8] Also present is large electronic musical influences, from some of the likes of English musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno.

The first single, "Speed of Sound", also takes inspiration from the drumbeat of English singer-songwriter Kate Bush's song "Running Up that Hill".

[18] The opening track "Square One" also features the famous motif from Also sprach Zarathustra, known better as the title theme of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kevin Devine from Hybrid Magazine wrote that Buckland's "gleaming guitar sound gives X&Y a euphonic radiance", and thematically, the album contains a "running thread of importance of trying, as well as the need for basic communication amongst the cacophony of confusion in the world".

The final page of the booklet contains the slogan "Make Trade Fair" in the Baudot code, a reference to the name of the international organisation which Chris Martin continues to support.

The band made a headlining performance at public radio station KCRW-FM's annual A Sounds Eclectic Evening, playing five new songs and some of their old favourites.

[35] In addition, Chris Martin performed an acoustic rendition of the track at the funeral of former Attorney General of Delaware Beau Biden in 2015, accompanied by a church organ.

"[40] NME described it as "confident, bold, ambitious, bunged with singles and impossible to contain," and added that it reinforces Coldplay as "the band of their time".

[39] Spin magazine's Mikael Wood praised Coldplay for "recasting their nerdy-student Britpop as Important Rock Music" without having to compromise Martin's unpretentious songwriting style.

[46] In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised it as "a good record, crisp, professional, and assured, a sonically satisfying sequel to A Rush of Blood to the Head", stating it as "impeccable" and "a strong, accomplished album".

[1] In a less enthusiastic review for Entertainment Weekly, David Browne felt that Coldplay's attempt at more grandiose music works "only part of the time", even though he found their effort to mature commendable.

[39] In a negative review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau named X&Y "dud of the month" and called Coldplay a "precise, bland, and banal" band, giving the album a B grade.

[18][1][45] Kelefa Sanneh of Rolling Stone magazine was less contented with X&Y, writing it "is something less exciting" compared to A Rush of Blood to the Head that "was a nervy bid for bigness".

Sanneh notes that the album is "the sound of a blown-up band trying not to deflate" and "a surprising number of songs here just never take flight".

[83] It debuted atop the UK Albums Chart with 464,471 units, becoming Coldplay's third chart-topping work and the third-biggest opening week in the country's history at the time.

[84] As of January 2025, X&Y remains the sixth-fastest-selling album in the United Kingdom, behind Take That, the Beatles,[85] Ed Sheeran, Oasis and Adele.

[87] In July 2013, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the record 9× Platinum,[88] while Music Week ranked it at number nine on their "Biggest-Selling Albums of the 21st Century" editorial.

[91] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 737,000 copies sold during a highly competitive week at retail, which included releases from the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and the White Stripes.

[92] They spent three weeks atop the Billboard 200, marking the longest stay for a British group since the Beatles in December 2000 and January 2001.

[96] Discussing the album on Pitchfork, Paul de Revere credited it with solidifying Coldplay's status as one of the biggest rock groups in the world.

[97] On the other hand, Carl Williott from Idolator mentioned that "in the garage rock-reviving times of 2005, flaws were still a marker of authenticity for guitar-wielding acts, so the clinical and calibrated richness of X&Y was immensely uncool" upon release, which made the band a subject of backlash.

[98] Stereogum's Ryan Leas said that "the original Coldplay template" reached its logical endpoint with the album, leading to the experimental approach for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008).

[101] Guitarist Jonny Buckland described the American leg of the Twisted Logic Tour as the lowest point of their career, since they were "quite miserable" and "confused".

"Talk" includes Ralf Hütter, Karl Bartos and Emil Schult as co-writers due to using a hook from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love".