Mysterious Ways UK chart position

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Jarvio

War Child
Joined
Jun 29, 2003
Messages
692
It's just occured to me how poorly Mysterious Ways did in the uk charts back in '91.

It got to number 13.

The Fly, before it, got to number 1.
One, after it, got to number 7.

MW was the second single off an album. Let's look at the first 2 singles from U2 albums from TUF onwards (excluding War because they had only just broken the top 10 for the first time back in the War days, and excluding Boy and October because they were hardly charting at all back then).

Pride - 3
The Unforgettable Fire - 6

WOWY - 4
ISTHFWLF - 6

Desire - 1
Angel Of Harlem - 9 (this didn't do as well, did it?)

The Fly - 1
Mysetrious Ways - THIRTEEN

(Zooropa didn't have 2 singles in the UK)

Discotheque - 1
SATS - 3

BD - 1
SIAMYCGOO - 2

Vertigo - 1
SYCMIOYO - 1

From NLOTH onwards, the charts have changed dramatically, and U2 are now nowhere near as popular, regardless of the quality of the songs they put out.

So basically, from U2's "era of charting", MW performed unusually poorly, and I am wondering why?

In fact, it is the second lowest charting U2 song from TUF-HTDAAB, the first being WGRYWH.

But, WGRYWH was released as the 5th single, when AB had been out for ages, therefore it was at an automatic disadvantage, as are all 5th singles from any album. Furthermore, WGRYWH got to number 14, only 1 place lower than MW, and spent 8 weeks on the charts whereas MW spent 7. So you could argue that WGRYWH still did better than MW!

The only other one to note is THBAO, which got to number 18, but I wasn't sure whether to include War or not, seeing as NYD was their first ever top 10 hit at number 10.

From NLOTH, the charts have been weird and messy and confusing, and they have changed dramatically, that I don't even know what's going on anymore! GOYB 12, Magnificent 42, IGCIIDGCT 32..... and then the SOI singles didn't chart at all????? I'm confused,

But yes, my initial question, why did MW get a bad chart position in the uk when it was only the second single from the album?

PS - Yes I'm aware that IGC got to number 48 as an import. But import, so can't be compared.
 
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