Are u2 really still THE biggest band in the world?

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gman

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I was just thinking of a suitable question to ask...and i came up with this. Its not negative....just i am interested in your views.
When i ask this.....I ask you to consider album sales, are they still contempary etc. People bang on about NLOTH poor sales...but in this day and age, is anyone selling albums by the bucketloads?
And this is part of the reason i ask the question, coz i have little or no idea of goings on in music these days outside the acts i enjoy (none of which are modern acts). I couldnt even name two No 1 singles for the last 3-4 yrs! Thats no exhageration.
So....where does u2 really sit these days (in the overall scheme of things)?
 
I don't know who else would come close? Coldplay? Green day?The White Stripes? Kings Of Leon? The Chilli Peppers?
Which band creates the biggest buzz when concert tickets are released? Ditto when a new album comes out? Who's face on the cover sells the most magazines? Whose albums are the most relevent to fans and neutrals alike? I guess these are all factors, and I guess no band comes close to U2 really. Possibly the Rolling Stones, but they're just a touring greatest hits jukebox aren't they?
The biggest selling artists now seem to be solo artists, r and b artists etc, U2 are the only band who can consistently grab the music world's attention and have been doing so for as long as I can remember.
 
they're the biggest band in MY world. i don't really care about anyone else's.
 
Overal they are I think. Coldplay and Kings Of Leon sell more albums now but when it comes to ticket sales U2 is the biggest band in the world.
 
Excuse me while I'm emotional for a bit, but this year has been downright incredible for U2, at least where I'm concerned. It just makes me sad that there probably won't be too many U2009s left... so I try to soak it up while I can. :heart:
 
U2 sell the most concert tickets, AC/DC, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, and Metallica all sell more albums. So decide for yourself
 
Their singles haven't been as ubiquitous, but you can blame that on Paul McG as much as on the cognitive dissonance against them in some people's minds, the box scores for 360 say it all, $300m+ for 44 shows, it'll easy topple the record for biggest tour of all time before it's even finished. That's a lot more money than can be squeezed out of record sales, which is why they just shouldn't care anymore, no more second guessing, no more overcooking, just release what you create, and mix it in with some huge hits, and you've got the best of both worlds, and lots of money/screaming fans haha.

Seriously, no one in their right mind should think CP are bigger, sure they sold a couple million more copies of their latest album, but in the end the Viva La Vida tour has been going on for like 2 years now, with about $100m to show for it, nothing to sneeze at, but not even remotely in the same league.
 
Why is that important? I love them, I care for them, they are the biggest and most important band FOR ME, I don't care about what anyone else is saying. But, yes, when it comes to touring and doing live shows, I guess they still are.
 
I don't think it's entirely fair to say that those other bands "sell more albums."

Only By The Night, Black Ice, and Death Magnetic were all released at various points throughout 2008.

Album sales this year have fallen something like an additional 20% from last year. NLOTH has sold roughly 3.5 million alums worldwide at this point. It's not done yet either - the tour is not over and there will be a second leg next year. If NLOTH had been released last year, might we assume that it would have sold 4.2 million? Also, it has not had a Christmas season boost like these other albums have.

I think a better measure is how did the sales for each album correspond to others released in the same year? I honestly don't know how that works out for 2008 and other years, but NLOTH is the #2 selling album worldwide this year. They've beat out Pearl Jam, Green Day, Dave Matthews Band, Eminem, The Black Eyed Peas, and a lot of other big acts.

Not to mention the tour has been a smashing success and will likely be the biggest in history.

So I think U2 is still the biggest. I think the "U2 sells less albums" line is less important because of the state of the music industry in 2009. #2 in the world this year. No one can match the tour that U2 is putting in putting on. It means that people are willing to come and pay $100 or more to see them and they are selling out some of the biggest stadiums in the world. None of those other bands can match this. So yah, NLOTH wasn't a smashing success in terms of sales, but no one is selling CD's in 2009 and no one can match U2's tour demand. U2 still (barely) the biggest. :)
 
Like it or not, the biggest artist in American popular music today is Taylor Swift. Check the numbers. Walk down the street and see what song is bumpin out of the stereos. Check the cultural impact and, yes, relevance.

Now, that doesn't exactly answer the original question, because she's not a "band." And, I'm only intensely familiar with the popular music scene in America.

Other artists that are legitimately bigger than U2 in America right now:

Lil Wayne
Kanye West
Jay-Z
Lady Gaga
Miley Cyrus
Rihanna

All are more relevant and more on the pulse of the youth of America.

Again, none of those are "bands", per se...but they're close enough. If we're looking at bands specifically, it's Coldplay. Indeed Coldplay has trumped U2.

For a band that hasn't had a radio hit in America in over 4 years, U2 is still doing alright for themselves, though. Still putting on a fantastic live show.
 
Other artists that are legitimately bigger than U2 in America right now:

Lil Wayne
Kanye West
Jay-Z
Lady Gaga
Miley Cyrus
Rihanna

All are more relevant and more on the pulse of the youth of America.

our children are fucking stupid, there is no hope. Bring on 2012!! :angry:


:sexywink:

Seriously, if that list is accurate, and im sure it is, what terrible company to keep. What a waste of talent, records, videos, airwaves, oxygen, etc. Awful, horrible music that is consumed by stupid stupid people.

Not one of those "acts" above could fill a stadium by themselves. It would probably take all of them just to fill one. And not one of those hacks has THE CLAW, not to mention three motherfucking CLAWS. Eat that bitches. U2 are the Godfathers of Biggest Band in the World. everyone else can suck it.
 
our children are fucking stupid, there is no hope. Bring on 2012!! :angry:


:sexywink:

Seriously, if that list is accurate, and im sure it is, what terrible company to keep. What a waste of talent, records, videos, airwaves, oxygen, etc. Awful, horrible music that is consumed by stupid stupid people.

Not one of those "acts" above could fill a stadium by themselves. It would probably take all of them just to fill one. And not one of those hacks has THE CLAW, not to mention three motherfucking CLAWS. Eat that bitches. U2 are the Godfathers of Biggest Band in the World. everyone else can suck it.

:applaud:
 
Depends how you measure it. Do you look at popularity as overall, or based on the performance of the most recent output? If the album sold enough to be one of the year's top releases but didn't generate any big hits and didn't really resonate in the wider mainstream, is it truly a success? Does it matter if the band fills the stadiums largely on the back of their older material? Is it really fair to compare the bands like U2, who rose to popularity in a completely different musical climate, to the newer bands from this decade?
 
It's an outdated title which probably had some relevance a couple of decades ago, but now it's hard to give a shit.

I suppose Coldplay and Kings of Leon are more popular at the moment, even though U2 are always there.
 
U2 right now are exactly like they were in 1997. And all those artists mentioned above -- Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Rihanna, etc. -- are exactly like Hanson, Jewel, and Puff Daddy were in 1997. That is, 12 years from now, they'll be minor artists with small profiles.

Whether U2 makes another jump back into the pop charts remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet against them as they seem to be like Jason in Friday the 13th -- they just never go away.
 
Since they are not catering to the current generation of young music fans who follow the current trends I'd say NO.

Not that it's a bad thing. Most people I know don't follow today's music and have no idea what's going on in the charts. Man, I'm getting old. :sad:
 
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