Week 49 Chart News

[voxson]

In the UK charts:

ATYCLB drops a whole 19 places down to #83. This is the lowest position the album has been in the UK charts. It seems that this is going to continue and it will soon be off the top 100 since Walk On won't be released for the next month or so.

The Joshua Tree actually sits at a higher position than ATYCLB in the UK charts, in #82.

In the UK it's obvious that U2 have not received any boost like it happened in the US with the tragic events and the success of Stuck. With the continuing of the tour only in the US, what's left to keep the album going would only be the success of Walk On. Personally I wouldn't be surprised if the song was a success, however I doubt it will reach the levels of the previous 3 singles (all top 3) thus not supporting the album as much.

Let's also hope that a good performance at the MTV Europe awards would also give a nice boost to the album. I would presume Walk On would be the song to perform and if it coincides with its release things could be more optimist.

Andy



[This message has been edited by voxson (edited 10-07-2001).]

 

[STING]

Worldwide Chart positions for ATYCLB for week 48/49!

Sweden #57
Denmark #47
Austria #53
Switzerland #70
France #31
Belgium Out Of Top 50
Italy #46
Germany Out Of Top 100
Netherlands #43
United Kingdom #83
Ireland #11
Australia Out Of Top 50
United States #50
Canada #28
Spain Out Of Top 50

While U2 drops big in the UK, Austria, Switzerland and also has smaller
drops in the Netherlands, Ireland, and Belgium; U2 has increases in the United States, Canada, Denmark and Italy! The album also holds steady at #31 in France and has recently re-entered the Swedish album chart at #56 last week and this week at #57! Album sales world wide are again around 75,000 copies for the week bringing total Global sales for ATYCLB to 10,175,000!

 

[bullet the blue sky]

No single in Europe and tour is over. That is why there is no upturn in sales.

And U2 have never actually been that "big" in England, so they've done well to last this long. Remember, this is the country in which AB only got to #2!

 

[STING]

Uh, I think U2 has been very big in the UK. There is not another artist on the Planet that can fill as many Stadiums at a high ticket price as U2 can. They stayed indoors this time only because of the nature of the tour. POPMART defeated the Rolling Stones last tour in the UK. When it comes to albums sales U2 does very well, the band are in the top 5 for all time weeks on chart for albums!
Achtung Baby may have only made it to #2, but it has sold over 1,200,000 copies in the United Kingdom! Thats the equivalent of selling 6 million copies in the USA. U2 are also one of only 4 artist to have played the 72,000 capacity Wembley Stadium 4 or more times on one tour!

 

[Popmartijn]

Originally posted by STING:
Achtung Baby may have only made it to #2, but it has sold over 1,200,000 copies in the United Kingdom! Thats the equivalent of selling 6 million copies in the USA.

I think you're making a small mistake here STING (or you have a different way of extrapolating sales). To reach platinum in the UK you need to sell 300,000 copies. AB has sold 1,200,000 copies according to you. That makes AB a 4x platinum album. In the USA an album has to sell 1 million copies to reach platinum status. So 4x platinum is 4 million copies in the USA.

Oh, and bullet, why is it "only" #2? I think that is still a very strong debut. I believe that week Michael Jackson debuted at #1 with his album Dangerous, so it isn't that nobody bought AB, they just bought more copies of Dangerous. And didn't U2 conquer the top position some weeks later? (I'm guessing from memory now)

C ya!

Marty

P.S. Until 1997 (Oasis' Be Here Now) U2 held the record of fastest selling album in the UK with The Joshua Tree.
P.P.S. U2 has never been big in the USA. ATYCLB only reached #3!

------------------
People criticize me but I know it's not the end
I try to kick the truth, not just to make friends

Spearhead - People In Tha Middle

[This message has been edited by Popmartijn (edited 10-09-2001).]

 

[Jordi]

AB number 2? I?m pretty sure that album top the chart...Am I wrong?
I think that all U2 albums since "WAR" have been number 1 in UK...that makes 9 number one!...this makes U2 tie with Queen, be next to Rolling Stones...so U2 will be soon the band with more number 1 in UK, after Beatles.
Can anybody certificate what I?ve said?

ah!U2 have the record in Olimpic Stadium of Barcelona for a single concert ( the boggest crowd was in a concert for AIDS help or someting like Amnesty...) with 70.000 people....the second record is for Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd with 55.000

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the Dutch charts have already been updated. This week is a mixed bag with some good and some bad news (of which the bad isn't that surprising, but the good is). Anyway, here are the results, with again the numbers courtesy of http://web.planet.nl/music/charts/megatop100/
Last week I hoped the small drop of ATYCLB was part of the stabilisation process at it had risen the week prior. Unfortunately I was wrong as the album again falls, this time with 12 places landing at #55. This is the lowest position to date. Factors that contribute to this fall is that the album is out for almost one year, there is no tour to rejuvenate the album and it needs another single. Elevation has peaked (see for more info below) and it will be some time before Walk On will be released (December 3 say the latest rumours).
The total run of ATYCLB so far is:
1-1-1-1-1-3-3-3-6-7
6-5-7-6-6-6-5-6-1-2
8-12-16-25-30-36-38-40-45-48
49-43-39-39-45-42-36-27-15-7
6-6-14-25-29-39-37-43
(all information prior to week 40 with many thanks to Flying Padre Jr.)

Last week I was quite sad as The Best Of 1980-1990 had dropped off the charts. I also said I hoped the album would bounce back, as it has done it before. And it did! This week sees The Best Of... re-enter the charts again. It catches the tail of the Album Top 100 as it re-enters at #100. OK, so this is maybe not the strongest position for an album to have, but still... it IS on the charts (again). As last week didn't count as a chart week it is now in its 97th week (which is 50 weeks less than Eric Clapton's Unplugged which re-enters the charts at #99)
The last chart run of The Best Of 1980-1990 was:
57-43-9-10
22-31-48-64-82-96-out of charts
(sorry, don't have data for the other 86 weeks)
The new (3rd?) chart run of The Best Of 1980-1990 start with:
100

The #1 album in the Dutch charts still is V by Live.

On the singles front Elevation drops another 7 places to #43 in its 14th week. As I said last week I'm surprised Elevation is falling quite slowly on the charts. On the other hand, quite a few singles around Elevation are also dropping (#41-44 this week were #34-37 last week in the exact same order!)
Elevation's run on the charts is now:
11-7-13-17-1-2-3-11-17-17
23-31-36-43

The #1 song in the Netherlands is Kylie Minogue with her catchy song Can't Get You Out Of My Head. She dethrones Alicia Keys who drops to #2 with Fallin'.

C ya!

Marty




------------------
People criticize me but I know it's not the end
I try to kick the truth, not just to make friends

Spearhead - People In Tha Middle

 

[holyjoe5]

Originally posted by Jordi:

I think that all U2 albums since "WAR" have been number 1 in UK

All U2-albums since "War" have indeed been number 1 in the U.K., EXCEPT "Zooropa" which "only" got to #2.

 

[anitram]

Originally posted by STING:
Worldwide Chart positions for ATYCLB for week 48/49!
Canada #28

Very good. Fellow Canucks, be proud of your good taste!

 

[STING]

POPMartian,
I see what your saying and it makes since if you just go by what the UK considers to be platinum and compare to what the USA considers to be platinum. I simply did my comparison by looking at copies sold compared to the population of the country. The USAs population is 5 times that of the UK, so the UKs standard for platinum is very high compared to the USAs. It should be about 200,000 copies instead of 300,000 copies. I got my result by simply multiplying 1,200,000 copies by 5(population in the USA) to get an acurate feel of what selling 1,200,000 copies is in the UK compared to the USA. So its more like 6 million than the conventional notion of platinum is the same as platinum in any country adjusted for the size of the country.
The UK is the best example that that is not always true. The best way to compare from country to country, is copies sold and then look at the population. What is the per capita sales figure is what were going for here. Jeez, I could have saved two paragraphs with that last sentence.

 

[bullet the blue sky]

No my point about being big in the UK is this. U2 have always been respected without being loved by the mass media. For example, the media loves the likes of Oasis, Madonna, the Beatles, The Who, the Stones and contemporaries such as Travis. That's without even talking about the acts such as Britney, any of the Spice Girls and all that type of boy/girl band nonsense.

The music press itself isn't exactly complimentary in the most part but bears a grudging respect, ie NME. Q is more reasonable. Tabloid newspapers tend to ignore U2 while broadsheets tend to not like Bono so much.

U2 are like David Bowie in that respect.

 

[mike63]

Originally posted by holyjoe5:
All U2-albums since "War" have indeed been number 1 in the U.K., EXCEPT "Zooropa" which "only" got to #2.

This isn't quite correct. All albums from WAR onwards went to number 1 in the UK, except

Under A Blood Red Sky ...2 (Duran Duran went to number 1 the week of release)

Wide Awake In America ... only released as an import though so doesn't really count

Achtung Baby .............2 (Michael Jackson made number 1 the week of release, and Achtung DIDN'T later hit top spot.

Zooropa DID enter the chart at number 1, not number 2 as previously stated.

Mike

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by holyjoe5:
All U2-albums since "War" have indeed been number 1 in the U.K., EXCEPT "Zooropa" which "only" got to #2.

Trust me on this one - you are wrong.

"Achtung Baby" was the album which peaked at #2, not "Zooropa." It is a bit surprising that it didn't hit the top spot, but then, U2 albums don't linger near the top that long anyway in the U.K.

This is what was meant by the earlier comment that U2 hasn't done *that* well in the U.K. Yes, the tours have done great, but in terms of the charts, the albums and singles tend to fall rather quickly. With that in mind, I think ATYCLB did spectacularly on the U.K. charts.

 

[u2opia]

You gotta remember that U2 have been around for 20 years - and they are still close to the biggest band in the U.K. You sometimes forget that JT was the fastest selling album of all time back in 87 in the U.K - it sold 300k in 48 hours.
They have at last count at least 30 platinum discs (go to www.bpi.co.uk) and their album's apart from Pop and Zoorapa average triple or quadruple platinum. AB is 4x platinum, ATYCLB is triple platinum, Best Of is 4x platinum etc... JT is 6x platinum and would have to be really close to 7 platinum. Their album sales in the U.K alone account for approx 10m or at a very rough guess maybe around 10% of their worldwide sales.

As for touring and drawing fans - they would have to be close to number 1 as well as mentioned previously. I agree that their singles do not last long in the charts, but their albums certainly still do. Their albums certainly lasted longer in the UK charts in the 80's (refer War, JT, Live Under Blood Red Sky) than the 90's. This is mainly due to Zoorapa and Pop, however ATYCLB, Best Of and AB have all probably spent close to 1 year in the charts.

Media coverage don't know. NME and Melody Maker loved them in the 80's - not sure about now. Q still like them, don't know about the newspapers but U2 are not controversial like Oasis so probably right.

 

[u2opia]

US Chart News

ATYCLB drops 7 spots from 50 back to 57. Womanfish your suspicions/concerns were right.

Still double platinum - please go 3x platinum so Dr Who can sleep at night.

No sign of Stuck in the top 50.


There is some good news though. Stuck rose from 18 to 13 in the Adult top 40 charts (gold background). Gold background and all. Hopefully this will help the album out in the coming weeks. Why oh why no sign in the top 50 yet - this is the ultimate test. Any theories.

Best Of, drops from 8 to 14 in the Pop Catalogue Charts.

 

[mike63]

No sign of Stuck in the top 50.


There is some good news though. Stuck rose from 18 to 13 in the Adult top 40 charts (gold background). Gold background and all. Hopefully this will help the album out in the coming weeks. Why oh why no sign in the top 50 yet - this is the ultimate test. Any theories.

Stuck rises 3 places this week to number 52 - with Golden background.

Mike

 

[STING]

U2 falls 7 places this week but there were 6 debuts on the chart plus a couple of big moves up by other albums. I would estimate sales at 25,000 copies for the week in the USA. Thats 2,000 copies less than last week. The total now for ATYCLB in the USA is 2,910,000! While this could be slightly off by a few thousand I think this is very accurate. Perhaps U2 is waiting for 3 million in Soundscan sales to certify as Triple Platinum. I have heard of other artist doing this. I would put the shipment figure at about 3,035,000. So Triple Platinum certification could happen at any time now.

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by STING:
U2 falls 7 places this week but there were 6 debuts on the chart plus a couple of big moves up by other albums. I would estimate sales at 25,000 copies for the week in the USA. Thats 2,000 copies less than last week. The total now for ATYCLB in the USA is 2,910,000! While this could be slightly off by a few thousand I think this is very accurate. Perhaps U2 is waiting for 3 million in Soundscan sales to certify as Triple Platinum. I have heard of other artist doing this. I would put the shipment figure at about 3,035,000. So Triple Platinum certification could happen at any time now.

STING, you once said that you estimate stores to have 10x the weekly sales numbers in stock. In other words, if the album is selling approximately 25,000 copies a week, this would put about 250,000 copies in stores. Therefore, if U2 have actually sold 2.91 million copies, that would put the shipment number at 3.16 million - easily enough for 3x Platinum.

Someone wrote that the label should rush to certify this album as 3x Platinum so I "could sleep at night." LOL!

Fear not, the only time I think about U2's sales is when I'm posting in this boardroom.

Besides, I am now convinced that the album is 3x Platinum, even though it has yet to be confirmed. I would like to see the label confirm the 3x Platinum certification before the 1-year anniversary of ATYCLB, but clearly that's not my decision.

Although ATYCLB dropped to #57 on the U.S. charts (which surprised me a bit as I thought it would raise a bit this week before dropping), now that the tour has started, the album is in a perfect spot to hold relatively stable in sales for a while. It may still bounce around some on the charts, but this could be due to new releases more than actual fluctuations in sales. If ATYCLB can hold in the top 75 for a while, it may also significantly benefit from holiday sales. Depending on how strong those holiday sales are, we might even see ATYCLB get close to 3.5 million in U.S. sales before the year is over.

In other good news, "Stuck..." not only climbs to #52 in the U.S., but jumps to #5 on Canada's "The Hits" chart. These days, Canada's CD singles sales are so weak, that "The Hits" is a more accurate reflection of a song's success. This #5 ranking for "Stuck..." surpasses all other songs from ATYCLB in Canada. "Beautiful Day" went to No. 10 last November while "Walk On" peaked at No. 35 last April. "Elevation" stopped at No. 15. Looking back, "Discotheque" (No. 6, 1997), "Staring At The Sun" (No. 5, 1997) and "Sweetest Thing" (No. 4, 1998) all went top 10. If "Stuck..." can jump up to #3, it will be U2's biggest hit on "The Hits" in the last 5 years.

Although CD singles sales are low, both versions of "Elevation" remain in the Canadian Top 10. Both versions had reached #1.

The success of "Stuck..." has regenerated the album in Canada as well, as it jumps to #23 this week.

So while the album may be falling in Europe and Australia, it is doing well in Canada and the U.S.

.



[This message has been edited by doctorwho (edited 10-12-2001).]

 

[MacFly2]

What have been the chart positions for Stuck on the Hot 100 chart so far?? I know it debuted at #62

Thanks!

 

[STING]

Dr. Who,
5x the weekly sales figure not 10 for the estimate of the shipment figure. At least that is what I have seen in albums that have been out for several months. The album must be at 3 million now, so I guess their waiting for the right day to certify it.

 

[mike63]

Originally posted by u2opia:
You gotta remember that U2 have been around for 20 years - and they are still close to the biggest band in the U.K. You sometimes forget that JT was the fastest selling album of all time back in 87 in the U.K - it sold 300k in 48 hours.
They have at last count at least 30 platinum discs (go to www.bpi.co.uk) and their album's apart from Pop and Zoorapa average triple or quadruple platinum. AB is 4x platinum, ATYCLB is triple platinum, Best Of is 4x platinum etc... JT is 6x platinum and would have to be really close to 7 platinum. Their album sales in the U.K alone account for approx 10m or at a very rough guess maybe around 10% of their worldwide sales.

As for touring and drawing fans - they would have to be close to number 1 as well as mentioned previously. I agree that their singles do not last long in the charts, but their albums certainly still do. Their albums certainly lasted longer in the UK charts in the 80's (refer War, JT, Live Under Blood Red Sky) than the 90's. This is mainly due to Zoorapa and Pop, however ATYCLB, Best Of and AB have all probably spent close to 1 year in the charts.

Media coverage don't know. NME and Melody Maker loved them in the 80's - not sure about now. Q still like them, don't know about the newspapers but U2 are not controversial like Oasis so probably right.

Where on the BPI site can you find certifications for each CD ?

Mike

 

[STING]

Week 49/50 for ATYCLB.
This week ATYCLB falls off the chart in many countries around the world. In fact, there are only 8 countries where the album is still on chart. That does not mean that ATYCLB is not selling in the other countries, its sells have simply dropped to the point where it can make the top 50 in those countries. Unfortunately, since Walk On will not be released until December in Europe, ATYCLB will continue to fall off charts there. Here is this weeks list though for worldwide chart positions for ATYCLB.

USA #57
ITALY #46
DENMARK #58
NETHERLANDS #55
AUSTRIA #62
FRANCE #36
IRELAND #22
CANADA #23
ATYCLB is not listed on any other charts worldwide this week.
But, in ARGENTINA, Best Of 1980-1990 moves on to the album chart at #17!
Last week I mistakenly put total ATYCLB sales at 10,175,000. It should have been 10,150,000 copies.
I would estimate 60,000 copies sold worldwide this week of ATYCLB. That puts total sales worldwide of ATYCLB at 10,210,000 copies!
Although worldwide sales are slowing down. ATYCLB will probably still make it to 11,000,000 copies by Christmas!

 

[u2opia]

To Access the BPI website, after you log in, click on charts and a Charts Sub Menu will come up. Scroll down and select BPI Certified Awards and hit enter. You will then get the BPI Certified Awards Search engine and click where it says "click to launch". You can then choose any artist, year or other search criteria. What's interesting is that U2 are consistent over 20 years. Search for Simply Red, Dire Straits or Oasis and you will see they have a massive album that has gone platinum 13 times or something. U2 has stated earlier average 3x - 4x platinum. However JT must be very close to 7x and Best Of might be closing on 5x - been a while since they were re-certified.