With the help of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the song received a special performance featuring dancing alien “holograms”.

Pesquet was flown to the station at the end of April in a landmark launch for SpaceX who used both a recycled rocker booster and capsule for the first time.

Prior to the performance, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin chatted to the ESA astronaut where he showed him a view of the Earth from outside one of the Space Station’s windows. Martin told Pesquet: “Right now we aren’t able to play for anybody on Earth, so we thought we’d just play for you. It’s like our one-man concert.”

Their conversation also included a discussion over the similarities between life on tour and life on the ISS, how planet Earth looks from space and its fragility, and how Pesquet listens to music in microgravity.

During the recorded performance, Coldplay performed in colourful outfits in front of shipping containers while holographic figures danced in front of them.

Last week, the band wrote on its Twitter page that the song, produced by Swedish songwriter and producer Max Martin, “arrived on a little keyboard and a bathroom sink at the start of 2020”.

Coldplay will open next week’s BRIT Awards, Britain’s pop music honours, with a performance of “Higher Power” on the River Thames near the ceremony’s venue: the O2 arena in London.