Depends if you mean Vertigo-level success by intangible exposure, which was massive, or by chart position, which was comparatively weak (thanks to MP3 downloads not being counted). Let's be honest, if The Best Thing could replicate Vertigo's chart position on Billboard U2 would do cartwheels. Has it even snuck into the Hottest 100? Because I haven't seen anybody mention that. Woop-dee-doo that it's #5 on some random minor chart nobody looks at.
It's dead. Put it this way: I am not a fan of Taylor Swift, I don't listen to Taylor Swift, I have no interest in what she is doing, but within 12 hours of her dropping a new single I not only knew about it but knew all kinds of details about the song and its context. By comparison, I know actual U2 fans who, days after The Best Thing came out, either had no idea U2 had a new song or were vaguely aware but hadn't heard it.
Nobody gives a shit outside of Interference and your occasional fuckhead Boomer who's all "yeah here's some REAL MOOSICK not that Imagine Dragons rip-off shit hurrrr millennials and their avocados lol".
Yep. That's the problem the band has. When Swift came out, you had the album details, available to pre-order on iTunes, album cover, etc...
Now she has the fortunate position to be picked up by EVERY music site, blog, new outlet, etc... so that exposure is done by itself.
But U2 puts out a song, you see a little bit in your FB and Instagram feed, and that's it.
Maybe the second single will come with more of a full album promotion, who knows.
Either way, I think that the fact that U2 has a song charting on rock, alternative and hot AC at this point in their career is success enough. Like I've said before, it would take a fluke of some sort (like the CEO of ClearChannel thinking its the best song ever and mandating his stations play it), or some really insane promotional thing like a superbowl halftime performance that would ever get them back into the top 40.
I think what is really sad is that the whole Apple SOI thing really did some long lasting damage. A 5 year wait and then the album gets completely shit on and overshadowed by the release, so it just kind of put the nail in the coffin of ever being popular again with a decent sized group of younger listeners. NLOTH / Boots sort of set the nail up, and the Apple deal pounded it in.
I loved SOI and have high hopes for SOE. Not expecting "hits" but hoping for quality material I can feel good about listening to for years to come.