Week 53 Chart News

[voxson]

In the UK charts:

ATYCLB jumps up another 10 places to #50!! After a long time of going down it has been climbing the UK charts for the last few weeks now. This album's run at the charts will keep amazing us for a long time. I think this clearly shows that this album WILL be a classic one day

I don't usually make any chart comments besides for U2 but I will this time. In the UK singles chart at #5 there is a new entry from the Dandy Warhols called Bohemian Like You. For those of you who know the band this is not a new song. It's long been one of my favourite tracks and it was released as a single more than a year ago, but didn't chart very successfully. Here is the comment on the track by dotmusic:

"Never underestimate the power of television advertising. The Dandy Warhols' only real brush with fame came back in 1998 when their album Come Down spawned three Top 40 hits, the biggest being their anthem Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth which made Number 13, and a series of concerts marked them down as the band with the woman who takes her bra off halfway through. Their chart comeback last year wasn't quite as successful, Get Off making Number 38 in June 2000 and their last single Godless limping to Number 66 earlier this summer. Between those two releases was the enormously appealing Bohemian Like You which was widely praised as one of their best singles ever and proved it by racing up the charts to, er Number 42. A couple of months ago the track reappeared as the music to a series of TV commercials for mobile phone company Vodaphone. Just as in 1999 when the same tactic worked for Bran Van 3000 and Drinking In LA, this prompted a re-release of the single and a mobilisation of the band to come over and help re-promote it. Hence the power of television has turned an underrated classic into the smash hit it probably always should have been. Never mind the irony-free way the cynical track is used in the TV advert, the Dandy Warhols are now genuine Top 10 stars."

Just a small taste of how powerfully TV can influence charts (although this is something we already knew by monitoring U2's chart performance around TV appearances).

Andy

 

[doctorwho]

That's great news about Dandy Warhols. I've been a fan of this song for a while too! I did hear it in the U.S. (early this year on the radio as I was driving from Chicago to Boston), so it did receive *some* recognition. However, I was surprised that it didn't achieve more success.

Well, Moby and Sting both used television to assist them and we all know that whenever U2 is on television these days their album gets a boost. I'm glad another good song can benefit from television as well!

As for the charts, not only does ATYCLB climb in the U.K., but it does so in Ireland as well. I can only imagine that "Walk On" is now having an effect. I'll give a more detailed report later.

 

[POPMUZZZIK]

ATYCLB is climbing, again! in the UK. Well, it's doing great here in the U.S., and here's some more proof that shows how well it's doing.

"Stuck..." hasn't entered the Billboard Top 50 yet, but I just found out today that it's been charting on the American Top 40. This is the countdown by Casey Casem done every Sunday morning.

This Sunday, Nov 4, the song came in at # 31. Casey said the song was in its seventh week on the chart!

Why is "Stuck" charting on this countdown, while it hasn't made the Top 40 on the Billboard hot 100?? I always thought American Top 40 on Sunday mornings and the Billboard hot 100 were similar in rankings. Doen anyone have any thoughts on this??

The fact is, since mid-Sept, "Stuck" has been anywhere from number 20 to 30 on the American Top 40. This means that "Stuck" is U2's biggest hit since BD! Both songs have achieved almost the same amount of great success in the U.S.!

"Stuck" was number 56 on the Billboard hot 100, but number 31 on the American Top 40. Doesn anyone know why there's such a big difference? Thanks

 

[STING2]

The Top 40 on Sunday is just that, top 40 radio. The Billboard Hot 100 airplay comes from Top 40, Modern Rock, Mainstream Rock, Rap, R&B, Country and a few other formats. That is the difference.

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by STING2:
The Top 40 on Sunday is just that, top 40 radio. The Billboard Hot 100 airplay comes from Top 40, Modern Rock, Mainstream Rock, Rap, R&B, Country and a few other formats. That is the difference.

Plus, the Hot 100 counts CD sales into the equation. This is why Whitney Houston's version of the National Anthem (re)climbed the charts - thanks to monstrous sales the past few weeks. While sales may not count for as much as they used to, they do make a difference in the rankings.

 

[WHYWHY]

I have but a simple 2 questions:

Firstly, if U2 were to release Stuck as a single and if they released Beautiful Day as a single in the US, would the chart peak for the singles change significantly eg. would Beautiful Day peaked much higher than no. 21?

Secondly Numb was released as a video single, yet no one seems to know it's peak. Obviously people can access the video charts, but is it possible to access video charts from 8 years back? If so, we may be able to find out some chart info on Numb and possibly other U2 videos. Just a thought

Womanfish once said that singles usually have one track on the charts: up then down, but sshe also mentioned that beautiful Day was different, could Stuck do the same as Beautiful Day?

Finally: STING, WOMANFISH and DOCTORWHO where do you believe Stuck will peak on the US charts (realistically).

Thanks to everyone who goes after and posts this information, it is much appreciated!

WHYWHY

 

[womanfish]

Yes Beautiful Day and Stuck would chart MUCH higher if they had an actual single for sale in the U.S. BD would have easily been top ten if not higher. Just look at Discoteque. It never received an overwhelming amount of airplay except maybe on Modern rock for the first two weeks, but it charted I believe at number 10.

I don't know where Stuck will end up. Probably not much higher than 50. It may be climbing a bit on adult top 40, but I think it will start to slow down on Pop radio.

I spoke generally about the trajectory of singles on the Hot 100. Usually up, up, up, and then down, down, down. Beautiful Day was lucky enough to bounce around a while. But I think awards shows, and ultimately the grammys gave it such an unusual ride.

Stuck is looking more traditional. It rose from where it debuted (around 68??) and it's now near 50. I think there's a chance it could pop up over 50, but then slide down again and probably for good.

Don't really know anything about Numb video charting.

 

[womanfish]

As for upcoming week 53 news in the U.S. Hitsdailydouble has U2 sticking at number 50 on their chart. That's with 9 albums debuting ahead of them!! So they look pretty solid again. Even better is the horrible showing of the Backstreet Boys!! Read what hits wrote:

>IS TEENPOP POOPED? The Backstreet Boys' greatest hits record, Jive's The Hits?Chapter One, is seriously under-performing at retail this week. With a little less than 50% of all retail reports in, the teenpop idols' album is under 100k in sales, trailing not just Michael Jackson and DMX, but management stablemate Enrique Iglesias. The record includes one new single, "Drowning," which has been requesting, but languishing in the lower part of the Top 20 in major-market plays. Another measure of the genre's strength will come tomorrow, when Britney Spears' new Britney hits the streets. (11/5p)<


WHOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[POPMUZZZIK]

Thanks for clearing that up Sting and Doctor Who. I didnt realize the hot 100 was a combination of all the radio formats.
I think that "Stuck" has done great in the U.S. It's done great on top 40 radio, and it's stayed in the countdown now for 2 months.
It's definately been played as much, if not MORE, than BD on radio of various formats. BD became a huge hit for U2, and now "Stuck..." is in that category. Even if it doesnt crack the billboard top 40, it still did great on the pop stations.

I saw U2 on their Oct. 30 show. I sat about 10 rows up from the Edge on the left, and the band sounded great. I was interested to see if Bonos voice stood the test of this tour, and it seems as if they have! They did a GREAT acoustic of Please.
I saw in JUne also in Boston, and I think this show was better. (I know this isnt the forum for concert reviews, but I thought somke might be interested)

 

[STING2]

Here is Week 52/53 International Chart News! Here are the countries around the world where ATYCLB is still on a given chart.

United Kingdom #50
Australia #43
Ireland #19
Canada #31
United States #58
Denmark #74
Netherlands #65
France #87

While things are going well in the English speaking countries, ATYCLB after a year has now nearly disappeared from the charts of most non English speaking countries. The exceptions this week are Denmark, Netherlands, and France. Walk On needs to be pushed quickly through out the world for the album to regain a chart position in these countries.
World Wide sales this week are about 50,000 copies bringing the worldwide total for ATYCLB in one year(52 weeks) to 10,370,000! Worldwide sales should be very close to 11,000,000 by the end of 2001.

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello,

We now have officially passed the one year mark! On the Dutch charts ATYCLB has stayed in the charts for 53 weeks. And hopefully it will be in the charts for a long time. My usual source has again updated everything rather quickly this week, here are the numbers, courtesy of the Mega Top 100 (http://web.planet.nl/music/charts/megatop100/).
As ATYCLB dropped a lot last week I feared for its position this week. During my search for ATYCLB on the charts I found a pleasant surprise, but more of that later. The good news is that the album climbed 5 positions to #60.

Although it is still too low for my liking, the album fortunately has not dropped even further. This rise of 5 positions is even more striking as no fewer than seven new albums debuted above ATYCLB.
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
6-6-14-25-29-39-37-43-55-47
38-65-60
(all information prior to week 40 with many thanks to Flying Padre Jr.)

On a more surprising note...
When searching for ATYCLB I was looking at the artist names so I quickly spotted U2 at position #46. To my surprise, this wasn't for ATYCLB, but for The Best Of 1980-1990!

You read it correctly, this album sold more copies than U2's latest effort. This marks thus the first time since its release that ATYCLB is outsold by another U2 record. Oh well, at least people are still buying U2... FYI, The Best Of 1980-1990 is now in its 99th week on the chart and after re-entering it last week at #86 the album rises 40 positions!
The Best Of 1980-1990's (4th?) chart run is:
86-46

As (maybe) expected, Michael Jackson enters the charts at #1. However, the difference is only 10% with the #2 record (the new album by Dutch band Kane who did a U2 covers tour last Fall and released a CD/DVD of those concerts). Last weeks #1 Andrea Bocelli is #3. BSB's Greatest Hits - Chapter 1 enters the charts at #19. Maybe they should have named it The Final Chapter or The End.

There are no Britney or NSUCK albums on the charts. Michael Jackson's You Rock My World drops on the singles chart from #7 to #13 (after peaking at #2).

The singles charts still has some U2 content. Elevation remains on the charts. It is dropping, but quite slowly in my opinion. This week it drops 8 places to #70, again not bad since there are 12 debuts above Elevation. The single has now been on the charts for 18 weeks. Hopefully it will reach the 20.
Elevation's run on the charts is:
11-7-13-17-1-2-3-11-17-17
23-31-36-43-53-55-62-70

Interestingly, the All-Star Tribute's version of What's Going On? enters the charts at #61. I hadn't seen the single in the shops yet, but apparently it is out and people are buying it. While #61 isn't that high for a debut entry, it is still respectable. The single at least has potential to rise much further.

This is getting boring, but the #1 song in the Netherlands remains Kylie Minogue with her Can't Get You Out Of My Head. And apparently not many people can as I think she's #1 for 5 or 6 weeks now. I still like the song though, even though it won't get out...
There is good news and bad news on the teenybopper-front. After one week Britney's I'm A Slave For You already has to leave the top 10 as she drops from #9 to #11.

Also the Backstreet Boys drop as their The Drowning slips one spot to #14. That #13 was indeed unlucky for them.

Unfortunately, there is a new danger. J-Lo's I'm Real debuts at #7.

YUCK! (BTW, I always feel a little giddy when somebody's proclaiming that (s)he is (for) real. Yeah, right... And when you try to look tough and fake all those rap-codes then certainly think Yeah, right... That's why I like Bono's comment so much: "I'm very secure with the fact that I'm not black. I'm white and rosy, but I've got soul.")
Oh and Kylie's album Fever drops out of the top 10 of the album charts to #13.

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

 

[Popmartijn]

Hello (again),

Oops, I accendentally double-posted my chart news. And that isn't some tiny message. Anyway, let's see if I can use this post intelligently...

Well, I can only agree with womanfish. Looking at the chart by Hitsdailydouble it seems as if U2 will experience another strong week. With 60% in it is at 18,600 copies sold, so maybe they reach the HDD 30,000 (which would translate to about 25,000 for Billboard, based on my own guestimate). Oh, and NSUCK is rapidly reaching ATYCLB positions (as their album is #39 on the HDD chart). Hopefully it will drop below ATYCLB in a few weeks.

Marty

(having sales of 20,000 for a full year is also more than 1 million!)


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

[This message has been edited by Popmartijn (edited 11-06-2001).]

 

[voxson]

Concerning back-catalogue sales...

How do you explain that in the UK charts, for instance, every time there is much publicity for U2 it's always the Joshua Tree that is benefited more concerning sales. After a new single, TV apparances etc in the UK we will first see the Joshua Tree pop up in sales somewhere at the end of the chart. If The Best Of charts, it will do so at a lower position. I was kind of amazed at this fact cause I'd expect a "Best Of" album to be the main seller when it comes to catalogue sales. If I was not a U2 fan and one day saw U2 on TV and liked them I would go and buy a CD at the store and that CD would probably be The Best Of (the most reasonable choice for someone who doesn't know much about the band). If I'm not mistaken this is what happens in the US if you look the pop catalogue charts. So what makes the Joshua Tree sell more than the other albums in the UK? Is this album THAT famous after all?

Andy

 

[STING2]

Well, U2s most popular album in every corner of the planet is the Joshua Tree. So it does not surprise me that it does so well.

 

[mike63]

" World Wide sales this week are about 50,000 copies bringing the worldwide total for ATYCLB in one year(52 weeks) to 10,370,000! Worldwide sales should be very close to 11,000,000 by the end of 2001."

First thing to say is that I love all this discussion/debate/speculation on sales & chart positions. But, how do you calculate total worlwide sales figures e.g. what do you estimate for the UK (I will tell you the figure after you reply), and how do you calculate weekly sales (easy for the US I know, but other countries ?

Thanks

Mike

 

[STING2]

First, I have used reports from Paul McGuinness himself in the press to help determine sales. Example: mid May 8.7 million, somewhere over 9 million in August.
On a weekly basis, I take the actual sales in the USA with Soundscan, and adjust those sales based on the population of the country. So last week I believe the number 50 position in the USA sold 22,500 copies. The UKs population is 1/5 that of the USA. So with ATYCLB at #50 in the UK, I estimated UK sales to be 4,500 copies.
Its a very rough estimate but the best way to achieve an estimate without hard sales data. So I total up all the chart positions and sales figures I detect. Then I take 1/5 of that total and add it on top, to represent sales in countries that do not have a reporting chart or where U2 has dropped bellow the top 50 or top 100.
So I guess you can tell me if 4,500 copies sold is an accurate guess for sales at #50 in the UK this week.
If you have the true figure please tell where you got it.

 

[mike63]

Originally posted by STING2:
First, I have used reports from Paul McGuinness himself in the press to help determine sales. Example: mid May 8.7 million, somewhere over 9 million in August.
On a weekly basis, I take the actual sales in the USA with Soundscan, and adjust those sales based on the population of the country. So last week I believe the number 50 position in the USA sold 22,500 copies. The UKs population is 1/5 that of the USA. So with ATYCLB at #50 in the UK, I estimated UK sales to be 4,500 copies.
Its a very rough estimate but the best way to achieve an estimate without hard sales data. So I total up all the chart positions and sales figures I detect. Then I take 1/5 of that total and add it on top, to represent sales in countries that do not have a reporting chart or where U2 has dropped bellow the top 50 or top 100.
So I guess you can tell me if 4,500 copies sold is an accurate guess for sales at #50 in the UK this week.
If you have the true figure please tell where you got it.

What I have seen in the last few days is the
total sales of ATYCLB in the UK - just over 1 million. With decent marketing (this would be a first in the UK if the marketing was used wisely)then the increas in sales at around xmas couls push it towards 4 x platinum (1.2 million). Not bad for a (relatively) small place like the UK.

Mike

 

[zoomerang II]

Originally posted by voxson:
Concerning back-catalogue sales...

How do you explain that in the UK charts, for instance, every time there is much publicity for U2 it's always the Joshua Tree that is benefited more concerning sales. After a new single, TV apparances etc in the UK we will first see the Joshua Tree pop up in sales somewhere at the end of the chart. If The Best Of charts, it will do so at a lower position. I was kind of amazed at this fact cause I'd expect a "Best Of" album to be the main seller when it comes to catalogue sales. If I was not a U2 fan and one day saw U2 on TV and liked them I would go and buy a CD at the store and that CD would probably be The Best Of (the most reasonable choice for someone who doesn't know much about the band). If I'm not mistaken this is what happens in the US if you look the pop catalogue charts. So what makes the Joshua Tree sell more than the other albums in the UK? Is this album THAT famous after all?

Andy

I think the reasons are as follows:

1. Price. The Joshua tree earlier this year was much lower in price than best of and indeed other back cat albums. For some months it was priced in many stores at ?7.99, compared to around ?11-14 for instance.

2. Non-u2 marketing - JT this year featured on channel 4's greatest albums of all time - the documentary on the making of it and also in the top 100 - people are therefore aware of it sans atyclb marketing. It was also in q magazine for same reason.

3. Peripheral fans - when the best of came out many people who bought it would have had no other U2 at the time. Then with the new stuff, these type of fans are more likely to purchase the back catalogue stuff.

4. Album/tape fans upgrading to cd. More likely with JT as it was originally released before cd domination (1987).

Anyone agree?

 

[voxson]

US CHARTS - Week 53

In the albums ATYCLB drops 4 places to #62.

In the singles, Stuck In A Moment improves slightly by one position to #55 and does receive increased airplay.

Adult top 40: Stuck loses one position but increases in airplay. It's now at #13.

Quite a weird week in the US charts. By the way, when did we expect the boost from the TV appearance to take place? This week?

Andy

[This message has been edited by voxson (edited 11-08-2001).]

 

[STING2]

I'd put sales in the USA this week again at 22,000 since the only reason the album went down was because of 12 debuts. That puts the soundscan total for ATYCLB at 2,992,000 in the USA!