Coldplay announnced as Godlike Genius Award winners

NME has announced that Coldplay will be this year's recipients of the prestigious NME Godlike Genius Award at the NME Awards 2016 with Austin, Texas and will be attending on the night to collect the award and give a show stopping performance.

Tickets for the ceremony, held at London's O2 Academy Brixton on 17 February, are on sale now at NME.com/tickets.

Coldplay, who recently released their seventh studio album 'A Head Full of Dreams' and have sold 80 million records worldwide, will perform an exclusive set of their greatest hits to close the show.

Speaking of their win, Chris Martin said: "We're extremely grateful to the NME for giving us this award. It's a huge honour and it means everything to us as Coldplay would be nothing without the NME. Appearing in the magazine for the first time in 1998 - in the smallest font - was the biggest thing that ever happened to us, and their love and support changed our world. Thank you so much NME."

The NME Godlike Genius Award, now in its 22nd year, recognises and celebrates the careers of the most pioneering music icons of our time. Previous Godlike Genius winners include The Clash, Paul Weller, The Cure, Noel Gallagher, Manic Street Preachers, New Order & Joy Division, Dave Grohl, Johnny Marr, U2, Ian Brown and Blondie. Last year's ceremony saw Suede take home the gong after a career spanning 25 years.

The NME Awards with Austin, Texas season kicks off on January 29 with NME Awards Tour 2016 with Austin, Texas, renowned for showcasing breaking acts such as The Killers, Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood, and way back in 2000, newly crowned Godlike Geniuses, Coldplay. This year's NME Awards Tour 2016 with Austin, Texas will mark the return of Bloc Party as they showcase both their new line up and new material from their forthcoming album 'Hymns'. First championed by the NME Awards Tour back in 2005, Bloc Party's return to the line-up marks a new era for the band, now 17 years into their career. Supporting Bloc Party will be the hotly tipped Drenge, Rat Boy and Bugzy Malone.

The NME Awards Shows 2016 with Austin, Texas has once again delivered an incredible line-up of music's brightest stars for 2016. The NME Awards Shows 2016 with Austin, Texas will see acts such as Blossoms, Kid Wave, Spring King , Alex G, VANT, Boots, , Together Pangea, Crows, Pretty Vicious, Suede, The Magic Gang, Declan McKenna, Mystery Jets, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Swim Deep and The Strypes descend on London venues throughout February.