Sometimes may be done in the U.S.

[beLIEve]

Unless mediabase is way off, it appears that Sometimes has peaked on all formats. There is the outside chance that it is still getting more airplay on Mainstream radio, as mediabase only tracks the top 20 or 30 per format. However, on all the formats where it is charting, the song is now losing spins.

Mediabase updates every day, and this is now a 3-day trend. The song has been noted for "starting and stopping" on the charts, but it usually has been just one format or so. This appears to be across the board. It did rise on the video charts, barely, but when a song is done on radio it seems that the video charts are quick to drop it.

I hope I'm wrong and the song is just taking another breather. Here's the website, though, so look at the 7 day formats and let us know what you think http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/

I had high hopes for the song, and with a little record company promotion, it could have done much better. It did get a decent amount of radio play and has been number 1 on Triple A for 2-5 weeks, depending on the data source. Ironically, ABOY may just have been a bigger hit on radio, as it reached 101 on the Hot 100 versus 99 but did better on most individual formats other than HAC. Oh well, the song has been impossible to predict, so maybe it can still make a comeback. However, as I've been posting, COBL is gaining airplay, especially in the Northeast, which is where the tour will be soon. I think COBL will take the spotlight in 3 or 4 weeks unless Sometimes hangs around a while longer.

 

[fitz]

Sometimes - Don't give up!

 

[neutral]

Promo for Sometimes has seemed so weird and "off" to me. NOW I'm hearing it on MTV all the time...They have this thing where they play a clip of a current video during the credits at the end of a show and I'm seeing Sometimes on there all the time. Too late?

 

[beLIEve]

It is doing better as a video

Promo for Sometimes has seemed so weird and "off" to me. NOW I'm hearing it on MTV all the time...They have this thing where they play a clip of a current video during the credits at the end of a show and I'm seeing Sometimes on there all the time. Too late?

I am surprised at the amount of airplay Sometimes has gotten on MTV in the last 10-14 days. It justifies it's number 5 ranking on their Top 20 countdown. It's also up to 9 on VH1 but is actually losing plays/week. The song has had such a start/stop chart run everywhere else...and Vertigo went through a few phases like this, too. However, it's already peaked on certain radio formats, and mainstream radio may be the only format left where it has not peaked. I'll keep posting the song's progress or lack of...I wish they'd just play the album cut, though. MD is about 3:45, which seems to be the perfect limit for a single. COBL will be butchered worse that Sometimes to get it to under 4:00.

 

[04072511]

Re: It is doing better as a video

Sometimes may look finished on the hot 100 but it climbing very impressively on the ARC Weekly Top 40 where it is # 29 after 4 weeks on the charts. The Hot 100 doesn't seem to tell the full story of a songs popularity anymore.

 

[Tallarico]

I think that Sometimes is a beautiful and great song but is not the ideal song for increase the album's sell.And I don't understand why the u2 management released the song in different times....ok in Usa and Europe they use to release 2 different singles (like Elevation and Stuck) but in Germany ,for example but it is not alone,the song was released after uk,italy....My hope is that the next single (COBL?It is confirmed?)will release in all the countries in the same period.

 

[beLIEve]

COBL has to be it...

I think that Sometimes is a beautiful and great song but is not the ideal song for increase the album's sell.And I don't understand why the u2 management released the song in different times....ok in Usa and Europe they use to release 2 different singles (like Elevation and Stuck) but in Germany ,for example but it is not alone,the song was released after uk,italy....My hope is that the next single (COBL?It is confirmed?)will release in all the countries in the same period.

U2 has asked several people to remix COBL in the last month or so, and have been turned down by at least one up and coming DJ, I might add. The song is getting heavier airplay than Sometimes in parts of the Northeast U.S. My bet is that it's the next single.

Now, Sometimes is about to lose it's number 1 spot on Triple A after 4-5 weeks at the top. However, that's a very small part of the total radio format pie. It's also losing ground on Rock formats, including mainstream and alternative/modern rock. However, it has turned it around again on the Adult Rock/Adult Top 40 formats. The only format I don't have a good idea on right now is Mainstream hits/Pop, but we'll see about that later on this week.

I agree, this releasing of singles at different times in different parts of the world is a losing strategy...Sometimes would have made it to the top 3 on the Global chart had it been released worldwide on Feb 7. Then, inside the U.S., the song has a staggered release to various radio formats...what does that accomplish?

Triple A has had the song since it's UK/R.O.W. release date of Feb 7, and got ABOY on 11/21/04, and Vertigo on 9/26/04. From there, after watching to see if each song succeeded on this smallest of formats, other formats were gradually given the radio promo, except for Vertigo, where it appears all of radio got the song at around the same time. All this does is cause the song to come and go at different times on all these different formats, keeping any song from becoming a significant mainstream hit to really boost album sales. Sometimes wasn't given to Mainstream Radio until March 15. This strategy gets several U2 songs on the radio at the same time across most formats, but it keeps the band from having a breakthrough hit like Vertigo or Beautiful Day.

As I listen to some of the Vertigo concerts, I have wondered if U2 slipped ABOY into the U.S. and then let Sometimes take over just to get more songs from the new album on the radio before the tour...especially 3 songs that were a lock to make the setlist. Perhaps since they will be leaving the U.S. for a while to go tour Europe, COBL can get a good single release strategy and if it were up to me, we'd get LPOE, in July/August, and Miracle Drug in October/November.

One problem with Sometimes IF IT does continue to rise on the BB Hot 100...the R.O.W. is in need of a new single NOW, so if Sometimes lingers on in N.A., then I see another split release strategy coming. Oh well, enough already.

 

[Tallarico]

Thank you!