U2 mention in Billboard chart column

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

In this week's Chart Beat Chat column by Billboard chart specialist Fred Bronson, there is some info about U2. Specifically, it lists the peak positions of Walk On. Apparently, together with Here We Go Again by Ray Charles & Norah Jones, it is the only song that won a Grammy for Record Of The Year while not charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
Since the column will change this Friday, here's the excerpt:
http://www.billboard.com/bb/chartbeat/chat.jsp

HERE WE GO AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

Hi Fred,

"Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles and Norah Jones is the second Grammy winner for record of the year that did not chart on the Hot 100. The first was the 2001 winner, U2's "Walk On" (which may have "bubbled under," I'm not sure).

Counting all record of the year winners, 27 out of 47 have been No. 1 singles. So far every song that has won song of the year has charted.

Take care,

Todd Abrams

Dear Todd,

You're right about "Here We Go Again." The track, credited to Ray Charles with Norah Jones, peaked at No. 26 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart in September 2004, but that is the only chart where the song has appeared to date. Perhaps the Grammy win will stir up new interest in the duet, a remake of a song that peaked at No. 15 in 1967 when it was a solo recording by Charles.

I checked our chart archives, and U2's "Walk On" peaked at No. 18 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in March 2001. "Walk On" also appeared elsewhere, peaking at No. 10 on the Modern Rock Tracks tally, No. 19 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks list and No. 21 on the Adult Top 40 chart.

C ya!

Marty

 

[beLIEve]

U2 mention in Billboard Biz Section

This Week's Billboard

Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own
U2
Producer(s): Chris Thomas, Steve Lillywhite, Nellee Hooper
Writer(s): U2
Publisher(s): Universal Music Publishing; Blue Mountain Music; Mother Music
Genre: ROCK
Label/Catalog Number: Interscope 11362 (CD promo)
Source: Billboard Magazine
Originally Reviewed: March 05, 2005

Fresh from its Grammy Awards performance of "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" (not to mention three wins), U2 releases the tender ballad as the third single from its global smash "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." The cut is already off to a fast start at adult top 40 and modern AC, and certainly modern rock can't be far behind. The song's chorus, sung in Bono's familiar falsetto, is a knockout: "And it's you when I look in the mirror/And it's you when I don't pick up the phone/Sometimes you can't make it on your own." The singer penned the emotional track for his late father, though the sentiment of the cut should hit home with just about anyone with a heart. While it's a no-brainer that rock stations will play this, we hope mainstream top 40 will also come onboard.—KC

 

[doctorwho]

I would gladly sacrifice a #1 on the Modern Rock charts if "Sometimes..." could break into the Top 20 on the Hot 100!

It's really a shame Billboard didn't count downloads when "Vertigo" was at its peak - U2 would've so had another Top 10 hit. Sigh...

 

[beLIEve]

U2 has to be one of the most "downloaded" bands

This delay is unfortunate, but if U2 is going to have an unprecedented 3rd consecutive #1 single off of the same album (in the UK, mind you), every little bit helps!

BILLBOARD BIZ

NEWSROOM - DIGITAL

February 28, 2005, 5:45 AM ET
U.K. Delays Download Inclusion In Singles Chart

By Lars Brandle, London
The Official U.K. Charts Co. will begin incorporating download sales data into the weekly U.K. singles chart starting April 17, a month after originally planned. The British Phonographic Industry said today (Feb. 28) that the original March 20 launch date has been postponed due to concerns that independent repertoire is not adequately represented through legitimate online sources.

BPI chairman Peter Jamieson says the extra time was essential to help establish "a realistic level playing field" of opportunity for the indies.

"The inclusion of download formats in the official U.K. singles chart is the most significant development in the charts for 20 years," says Jamieson. "But for a multitude of reasons, the current chart representation of independent repertoire at the major download outlets is poor."

In a show of cohesion with the independent labels sector, the BPI has asked OCC charts director Omar Maskatiya to present plans for the new chart in the coming weeks to representatives of the Assn. of Independent Music. The BPI recently began a lobbying initiative to urge online music services to give priority to indie releases.

Plans for the inclusion of download data in the national singles survey have been in the works for more than a year. Britain's first download chart was launched Sept. 1, 2004, by the OCC, a joint venture of the BPI and British retail association BARD.