What is U2's most popular song ever?

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Nick66 said:
You're making my point for me.

U2 knows which songs their audience wants to hear, and those are the songs they play (more or less). You see Headache, people LOVE Bad and NYD. They love to hear those songs. Those songs go off live. People crank those songs up when they're out driving. Those songs are great songs, and important part of U2's history.

No one cares if they leave a U2 concert without hearing Fake Mandela Song. And before you get pedantic about "no one", I mean most people. And that's because Fake Mandela Song sucks. Fake Mandela Song doesn't go off live. Fake Mandela Song isn't an important part of U2's history (except as the song that lost the Oscar).
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Bad and New Year's Day weren't a part of the regular I/E set you dip shit
 
I really got very emotional after hearing ORDINARY LOVE for the first time and when Edge's short but sweet solo started, some tears of joy dropped from my eyes. I think OL is a very good song taken to special heights acoustically at the Fellon show. Non-U2 fans all over the world who saw the performance loved it and word of mouth spread its view exponentially specially in YouTube.
 
I had the same experience seeing Kate McKinnon sing "Hallelujah" on SNL!

I think we can all agree the Oscar & Fallon exposure accounted for a good number of the plays for that song across various mediums.
 
I always try to distance my opinions of songs from the reviews here. I've liked Ordinary Love from day one. I was extremely disappointed when it wasn't somehow included in the Songs of Innocence second disc. The only people I've ever seen shit all over the song are people on this forum, who like to shit on lots of U2 songs. People I have talked to in real life have thought it was just fine; nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering, but another solid U2 song. It got about the same reception from those people as Mercy did.
 
It's hard to extrapolate just how impressively more popular WOWY is than all the rest.

Said another way, it had a solid 15 years of popularity that isn't rightfully measured by any of those digital counts...and yet still is #1 in those counts. Popularity is finite. It can end and it can spike... especially when it's fairly new.

It was also the lead single and vehicle for U2's biggest selling album of all time. It also hit #1 on the Billboard charts, which while only representing one area of the globe, still represents a large slice of the worldwide (western culture) audience. U2 hasn't cracked the top 10 in 20 years. WOWY (and btw, Still Haven't Found, as well) was a #1. Indicative of how popular it was circa 87-88, extrapolating out from not only NA but from that time period.

WOWY is so far and away more popular than anything released since 1991, it's a wonder there even needs to be a discussion.

Said most simply, there are probably millions of people who bought either TJT or the WOWY single that are not represented in those numbers, and it's still #1 next to modern songs which, in relative senses (there to be heard all the same, old and new) still drag behind WOWY despite larger representation of their true popularity.

The idea Ordinary Love is even a mouse fart stacked next to a song like One but only in digital tracking only exposes modern listening habits. I'll put it like this. You could easily find scores and scores of people that love Sunday Bloody Sunday or Pride or Streets or Mysterious Ways that would not seek it out, multiple times, in those formats. But in the modern era, you almost couldn't find a fan of a U2 song over the last decade, maybe back to HTDAAB and Vertigo who didn't so that very thing. This isn't remotely apples to apples.

Or you can just ignore all that if you want and go with it.
 
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Headache in a Suitcase said:
got it.

but how many actual active users does last.fm still have? i couldn't find any information, other than web views (which were rather low).
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No idea, and it took a bit of a hit with the last redesign a couple of years ago, but it'd still be well into the millions. I can't seem to find the 2016 year-end overall charts any more but some artists and songs had pretty impressive listener numbers.

Nick66 said:
People love Fake Mandela Song so much that U2 can't be bothered to add it to the regular setlist!
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I honestly don't think this is a good argument, Nick, even though I agree with you that it's not as popular as Headache suggests.

Let's take a similar example - Sweetest Thing. Nobody's going to deny that it was a popular single. Back in the early 2000s when people at high school found out I was a huge U2 fan, it was usually the second or third song they'd mention they liked after Beautiful Day and maybe Elevation or Stuck in a Moment.

But Sweetest Thing's live track record is piss-poor. It showed up at 29 out of 113 Elevation Tour shows, or about 25% of them. Ordinary Love was at 11 out of 76 IE shows, or about 15%.

And look at other big hits that have surprisingly poor live records: HMTMKMKM not played once in the 2000s; WLCTT only played at four regular gigs in the last two decades, and even then as a tribute; hell, even All I Want Is You has only been played eighteen times in the last decade!

U2 play the shit out of some hits and singles, and neglect others. Ordinary Love, as a non-album single, is especially likely to experience neglect. The only songs not on a standard album to pass fifty performances are 11 O'clock Tick Tock (393, the massive outlier), Party Girl (192), Miss Sarajevo (190), HMTMKMKM (140), Invisible (81), and Boy/Girl (73). Of those six, three are from the band's early days when they had limited material and two appeared on a Best Of.

U2DMfan said:
It's hard to extrapolate just how impressively more popular WOWY is than all the rest.

Said another way, it had a solid 15 years of popularity that isn't rightfully measured by any of those digital counts...and yet still is #1 in those counts. Popularity is finite. It can end and it can spike... especially when it's fairly new.
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:up:

It's really quite impressive.
 
Axver said:
I honestly don't think this is a good argument, Nick, even though I agree with you that it's not as popular as Headache suggests.

Let's take a similar example - Sweetest Thing. Nobody's going to deny that it was a popular single. Back in the early 2000s when people at high school found out I was a huge U2 fan, it was usually the second or third song they'd mention they liked after Beautiful Day and maybe Elevation or Stuck in a Moment.

But Sweetest Thing's live track record is piss-poor. It showed up at 29 out of 113 Elevation Tour shows, or about 25% of them. Ordinary Love was at 11 out of 76 IE shows, or about 15%.

And look at other big hits that have surprisingly poor live records: HMTMKMKM not played once in the 2000s; WLCTT only played at four regular gigs in the last two decades, and even then as a tribute; hell, even All I Want Is You has only been played eighteen times in the last decade!

U2 play the shit out of some hits and singles, and neglect others. Ordinary Love, as a non-album single, is especially likely to experience neglect. The only songs not on a standard album to pass fifty performances are 11 O'clock Tick Tock (393, the massive outlier), Party Girl (192), Miss Sarajevo (190), HMTMKMKM (140), Invisible (81), and Boy/Girl (73). Of those six, three are from the band's early days when they had limited material and two appeared on a Best Of.
.
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Well all that's fair enough.

But my point was, that the song is not as popular as some of us are suggesting, based on data taken from online spins...and if it was really that popular, they'd be playing it. If we use the data you posted, you could conclude that OL was about as popular as One, and twice as "popular" as Streets. Now we can quibble about how to define "popular", but I don't think any reasonable person would suggest OL has anywhere near that level of popularity. But I suppose they could do an experiment and delete Streets from the setlist and play OL and see what the reaction is.

So that's my point about them playing it live...the data suggesting the songs popularity is misleading, and U2 knows that I believe.

And your point about Sweetest Thing, for example, is well taken. But let's remember, U2 had an incredibly popular record they were supporting on the Elevation tour, buttressed by a smash hit, along with other well received songs. As far as I know, at the time of the I+E tour, OL was supposed to be U2's most popular song, even better received than anything from the record...or Invisible for that matter. Yet U2 chose not to make it a regular part of the set list. In spite of it being an Oscar nominated song, their first song in 5 years, and their supposedly best performing song at the time.

I don't want to make to much of this, my original point was just that the song isn't really that popular or well loved as some suppose, and that if it was U2 would be playing it. It's not like they didn't try, I just don't think many people care about hearing it.

Then again, maybe I'm completely out of touch with what people love these days. I'm told here that everyone in "real life" loves TBT and that it's doing quite well, whereas I think the song sucks. So maybe it's just me.
 
For fucks sake

The song being high in YouTube plays, and also high in current day iTunes rankings means that it's a fairly popular won't amongst a younger crowd, and over the past 10 years, relative to other U2 songs.

That's the only thing I've started, and it's not an argument, it's a fact, as the stats bare that out.

The argument that the views are so high only because of some fluke because of it being on the Oscars is silly. Of course the Oscars helped the song gain an audience. But if the people who saw it thought it was shit, they wouldn't pursue it in other mediums.

I don't believe ordinary love is one of U2's most popular songs of all time. YouTube stats don't take into account a majority of U2's fans... the olds. Neither does iTunes rankings (although it's a better barometer than YouTube).

All I've said are two things

A) it's their most successful song of the I/E era thus far, statistically (YouTube views, iTunes rankings, only song to hit the Hot 100), and is possibly the most successful since the No Line/360 era, but that's harder to judge.

B) the idea that nobody actually likes the song and it only got views from being on the Oscars is silly. Yes, people who wouldn't have otherwise heard the song got to because of the Oscars. But if they thought it was shit, they wouldn't have gone to find it again. Clearly people liked what they heard and wants to hear it again, in a large number. That it was the 10th popular U2 song on iTunes 2 days ago clearly shows that people actually liked the song, much to the chagrin of interference. The Oscars were 5 years ago.


It is not a top 10 all time popular U2 song. It's not even top 20. But it's their most successful song of this era, and yes, it's because there are people out there who actually like it.
 
Its clearly With or Without You as has already been pointed out :up:. At least if measured in the general population and not among hardcore U2 fans :D.

After that I think the following are contenders:
Pride (In the Name of Love)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
One
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
 
Interesting that no one has mentioned Desire in their list. It was their 3rd biggest Hot 100 hit in the US and seemed to kill it WW too. I personally wouldn’t put it above Still Haven’t, One, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Pride or Blood Sunday but I don’t think I would argue with anyone who threw it in the mix
 
Jarvio said:
Who am I kidding, the most popular U2 song is Father Is An Elephant.
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I think it's a toss up between FIAE (there's one you don't see often) and Jack in a box.
JACK IN A BOX!
JACK IN A BIG BOX!!
CUT IT, SEND IT, IT'S ALREADY A HIT!!!

If I were U2 right now, I would find it irresistible to randomly break out a song like one of those 2 in concert, just to fuck with the hardcore fans minds!!! Imagine, U2 just bust out "Father is an elephant" on the e-stage, don't make any mention of it at all, and then never play it again!!! We would all lose our shit!
 
CosmoKramer said:
Interesting that no one has mentioned Desire in their list. It was their 3rd biggest Hot 100 hit in the US and seemed to kill it WW too. I personally wouldn’t put it above Still Haven’t, One, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Pride or Blood Sunday but I don’t think I would argue with anyone who threw it in the mix
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Desire is definitely one that most casual fans or even non-fans know. It's very recognizable and easy to remember the hook. It's definitely in the upper reaches of their top 10 most popular songs.
 
CosmoKramer said:
Interesting that no one has mentioned Desire in their list. It was their 3rd biggest Hot 100 hit in the US and seemed to kill it WW too. I personally wouldn’t put it above Still Haven’t, One, Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Pride or Blood Sunday but I don’t think I would argue with anyone who threw it in the mix
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Excuse me, Cosmo!

From just before I got out the last.fm stats:

Axver said:
WOWY, One, Pride, ISHFWILF, probably in that order.

Then Beautiful Day, Vertigo, NYD, SBS, and Mysterious Ways, again probably in that order. Desire and AIWIY would be the two remaining contenders to round out the "most popular" top ten.
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And then this became the Ordinary Love Goodtimes Statistical Party Thread.
 
giphy.gif
 
Nick66 said:
But my point was, that the song is not as popular as some of us are suggesting, based on data taken from online spins...and if it was really that popular, they'd be playing it. If we use the data you posted, you could conclude that OL was about as popular as One, and twice as "popular" as Streets. Now we can quibble about how to define "popular", but I don't think any reasonable person would suggest OL has anywhere near that level of popularity. But I suppose they could do an experiment and delete Streets from the setlist and play OL and see what the reaction is.
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This is why I find the last.fm data looks like quite a fair assessment of each song's popularity despite the obvious methodological issues. It basically looks like what you'd expect across a broad sweep of people - not just the younger crowd who gravitate to YouTube, and not just the hardcore fans who actually forked out for the song, or whatever. You can probably also conclude that last.fm gravitates more towards U2's core demographic when you note that Radiohead, Coldplay, and U2 all outdo the likes of Taylor Swift for total listeners - which, you know, is not going to be the case on Spotify or YouTube!

And your point about Sweetest Thing, for example, is well taken. But let's remember, U2 had an incredibly popular record they were supporting on the Elevation tour, buttressed by a smash hit, along with other well received songs. As far as I know, at the time of the I+E tour, OL was supposed to be U2's most popular song, even better received than anything from the record...or Invisible for that matter. Yet U2 chose not to make it a regular part of the set list. In spite of it being an Oscar nominated song, their first song in 5 years, and their supposedly best performing song at the time.
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I'm still surprised Sweetest Thing didn't have a more regular spot on Elevation, all that considered. Perhaps it was different in Europe and North America, but the impression I had in Australia was that it was one of the biggest songs of that period. I listened heavily to the radio back then and it's the only single between Achtung and ATYCLB that I recall getting any decent play. And it certainly did better than Walk On, which pissed me off because it was my favourite from ATYCLB back then and I kept waiting for it to get played even half as much as the first three singles or Sweetest Thing.

Though it's worth noting one of the reasons Sweetest Thing didn't get more live performances is that Bono didn't like being stuck behind the keyboard for it.

A fair point about Invisible vs Ordinary Love. The counterpoint, I suppose, is that Invisible fit the thematic narrative and Ordinary Love didn't.

Then again, maybe I'm completely out of touch with what people love these days. I'm told here that everyone in "real life" loves TBT and that it's doing quite well, whereas I think the song sucks. So maybe it's just me.
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I know serious U2 fans - including one with thousands of posts here - who have literally not heard Best Thing.

Headache in a Suitcase said:
The song being high in YouTube plays, and also high in current day iTunes rankings means that it's a fairly popular won't amongst a younger crowd, and over the past 10 years, relative to other U2 songs.

That's the only thing I've started, and it's not an argument, it's a fact, as the stats bare that out.

The argument that the views are so high only because of some fluke because of it being on the Oscars is silly. Of course the Oscars helped the song gain an audience. But if the people who saw it thought it was shit, they wouldn't pursue it in other mediums.

I don't believe ordinary love is one of U2's most popular songs of all time. YouTube stats don't take into account a majority of U2's fans... the olds. Neither does iTunes rankings (although it's a better barometer than YouTube).
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I'll pay all of this. Though it has felt like you've veered towards that last paragraph.

A) it's their most successful song of the I/E era thus far, statistically (YouTube views, iTunes rankings, only song to hit the Hot 100), and is possibly the most successful since the No Line/360 era, but that's harder to judge.
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But the chart forum's trying to tell us Best Thing is the most successful song since HTDAAB and it's a HIT!
 
Axver said:
Excuse me, Cosmo!



From just before I got out the last.fm stats:







And then this became the Ordinary Love Goodtimes Statistical Party Thread.
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Fair enough, I must have missed that. You have restored my faith in this forum....for now!
 
Axver said:
But the chart forum's trying to tell us Best Thing is the most successful song since HTDAAB and it's a HIT!
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No one said it's a hit song (yet) but it is on its way to becoming the biggest RADIO hit since Vertigo in the US. We all know there are more successful songs from a Hot 100 perspective (which is the true bar of success) including STYCMIOYO, ABOY, Magnificent and of course Ordinary Love(although it really only charted because....never mind).
 
CosmoKramer said:
Fair enough, I must have missed that. You have restored my faith in this forum....for now!
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I am with you, though, that it's a bit odd it hasn't been named much in this thread. Every time the band bust it out there's one hell of a singalong that few other songs can equal.

CosmoKramer said:
No one said it's a hit song (yet)
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You can take out the "yet".

Ordinary Love(although it really only charted because....never mind).
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:lol:
 
It's really strange to me that people have mentioned Pride or Mysterious Ways.

U2's most popular song ever. EVER. Sure, we established that it's With or Without You. But if you were to put up an argument otherwise, those two are not in the conversation.
 
I'd say Pride is way up there. Everybody knows that one. It's fucking massive, definitely in the conversation with WOWY and One. It's why the fucker won't go away live despite how bad it sounds on most tours.

Mysterious Ways is further down the top ten, sure.
 
I love Pride, but it still doesn't belong in this conversation. Your point clouds popular with U2 fans versus popular overall. If you played Pride versus, say, Vertigo... most people wouldn't be able to identify Pride. I'm still even hesitant about One, though I definitely see it as WOWY-lite in terms of its sort of karaoke/cover culture. Not that that determines everything, but I feel like an argument can be made. I really don't see one with Pride.
 
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