A list of U2's most successful single in the UK

[04072511]

I have done out a list of U2's most successful Top 40 singles in the UK. I have compliled this list based on the number of weeks each song spent in the top 40. A week at number 1 = 40 pts, a week at number 2 = 39 pts and so on. So for example Beautiful Day spent 5 weeks in the Top 40. Its chart run was 1-3-14-25-38. Therefore its points total equals 40 + 38 + 27 + 16 + 3 = 124. I hope this chart is of use to ye all.


UK Top 40 Hits Peak Points
1 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 2 355
2 Pride (In The Name Of Love) 3 251
3 With Or Without You 4 226
4 Vertigo 1 200
5 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 6 159
6 Desire 1 156
7 Sweetest Thing 3 142
8 Stay (Faraway, So Close) 4 141
9 All I Want Is You 4 131
10 New Years Day 10 131
11 The Fly 1 129
12 Beautiful Day 1 124
13 Angel Of Harlem 9 122
14 Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own 1 119
15 Discotheque 1 116
16 Where The Streets Have No Name 4 113
17 The Unforgettable Fire 6 113
18 Even Better Than The Real Thing (Remix)8 108
19 When Love Comes To Town 6 106
20 One 7 101
21 Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of 2 93
22 Elevation 3 89
23 Electrical Storm 5 88
24 Even Better Than The Real Thing 12 80
25 Mysterious Ways 13 73
26 Staring At The Sun 3 69
27 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 14 69
28 Two Hearts Beat As One 18 59
29 Walk On 5 50
30 Please 7 49
31 Last Night On Earth 10 43
32 If God Will Send His Angels 12 38
33 Fire 35 17

 

[edge3]

Wow! That must have got the brain cells working. Cool list though & great to see Vertigo right up there at #4.

 

[ybird3k]

good effort!
great to see that 2nd single from HTDAAB "sometimes" isnt far behind 1st single from ATYCLB "beautiful day"

hopefully the rest of the singles form 'bomb' will do better than all of the singles from ATYCLB.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Great idea........and it makes sense that "HMTMKMKM" would do so well, considering that it wasn't on a U2 album.

 

[04072511]

Here is the same for U2's top 40 US Hits

US Top 40 Hits Peak Points
1 With Or Without You 1 368
2 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 1 354
3 Mysterious Ways 9 309
4 One 10 308
5 Desire 3 307
6 Beautiful Day 21 195
7 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 16 194
8 Where The Streets Have No Name 13 164
9 Angel Of Harlem 14 143
10 Staring At The Sun 26 94
11 Discotheque 10 89
12 Vertigo 31 76
13 Even Better Than The Real Thing 32 29
14 Pride (In The Name Of Love) 33 22
15 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 35 21

 

[BigMacPhisto]

15 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses

Reason enough for the band to leave it off the last Best Of.............of course, there's also the fact that they never felt they got the song right and that it's a bitch to play live.

 

[fitz]

I have done out a list of U2's most successful Top 40 singles in the UK. I have compliled this list based on the number of weeks each song spent in the top 40. A week at number 1 = 40 pts, a week at number 2 = 39 pts and so on. So for example Beautiful Day spent 5 weeks in the Top 40. Its chart run was 1-3-14-25-38. Therefore its points total equals 40 + 38 + 27 + 16 + 3 = 124. I hope this chart is of use to ye all.


UK Top 40 Hits Peak Points
1 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me 2 355
2 Pride (In The Name Of Love) 3 251
3 With Or Without You 4 226
4 Vertigo 1 200
5 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 6 159
6 Desire 1 156
7 Sweetest Thing 3 142
8 Stay (Faraway, So Close) 4 141
9 All I Want Is You 4 131
10 New Years Day 10 131
11 The Fly 1 129
12 Beautiful Day 1 124
13 Angel Of Harlem 9 122
14 Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own 1 119
15 Discotheque 1 116
16 Where The Streets Have No Name 4 113
17 The Unforgettable Fire 6 113
18 Even Better Than The Real Thing (Remix)8 108
19 When Love Comes To Town 6 106
20 One 7 101
21 Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of 2 93
22 Elevation 3 89
23 Electrical Storm 5 88
24 Even Better Than The Real Thing 12 80
25 Mysterious Ways 13 73
26 Staring At The Sun 3 69
27 Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses 14 69
28 Two Hearts Beat As One 18 59
29 Walk On 5 50
30 Please 7 49
31 Last Night On Earth 10 43
32 If God Will Send His Angels 12 38
33 Fire 35 17

One more proof, that the singles from HTDAAB have more success than the singles from ATYCLB. Hope that COBL will also outperform Elevation.

 

[04072511]

It is clear from these charts that WOWY was the U2's most successful single in the US in terms of chart performance, and HMTMKMKM in the UK in terms of chart performance. However I find it hard to decide what is U2's most sucessful song WORLDWIDE ever taking everything into consideration: chart performance, sales, airplay, popularity polls etc. What does everyone think? I'd think i'd have to go for Desire.

 

[mikeuk]

It is clear from these charts that WOWY was the U2's most successful single in the US in terms of chart performance, and HMTMKMKM in the UK in terms of chart performance. However I find it hard to decide what is U2's most sucessful song WORLDWIDE ever taking everything into consideration: chart performance, sales, airplay, popularity polls etc. What does everyone think? I'd think i'd have to go for Desire.

I believe that WOWY is widely regrded as U2s most popular single - with sales of more than 4 million.

Mike

 

[04072511]

I believe that WOWY is widely regrded as U2s most popular single - with sales of more than 4 million.

Mike

Where did you get this info?Do you have sales info for U2's other singles worldwide?

 

[edge3]

I've also read/heard that WOWY sold 4M worldwide - I've actually got a book which says this.

Also I've just found some interesting sales stats for some of U2's most recent singles in UK :

Discoteque was the 55th best selling single of 1997 with sales of 230K

The Sweetest Thing was the 69th best selling single of 1998 with sales of 241K

Stuck In A Moment.... was the 119th best selling single of 2001 with sales of 106030

Elevation was the 136th best seling single of 2001 with sales of 89070

Vertigo was the 44th best selling single of 2004 with sales of 101K

Sometimes is currently the 18th best selling single of 2005 with sales close to 60K

Also, you may already know, but about 2 years ago Channel 4 did a list of the 50 best selling single artists ever. About 2 days later The Times newspaper published the list with the exact sales figures of each artist. U2 were 47th with sales of 4,663,427. But since then I would say U2 have now passed the 5M mark :

4,663,427 + 223K (sales of last year's LMCvU2) + about 110K (sales of Vertigo. I added on 10K from 101K 'cos it spent a few more wks on chart in 2005) + about 60K (sales of Sometimes) = about 5,056,427 overall single sales in UK.

This would move U2 up to #36 on the All-Time list (between The Jam & Frankie Goes To Hollywood). Although Robbie Williams & Westlife have probably now gone above #36. So U2 are probably now at about #38 on the All-Time list.

 

[04072511]

So U2 are probably now at about #38 on the All-Time list.

Thats pretty impressive as U2 are mainly considered an album band. Does anyone have any sales info for U2's singles in the US as well as worldwide?

 

[edge3]

I think WOWY, maybe ISHFWILF, Desire, Discoteque & HMTMKMKM are all cerified Gold (500K) in US. So that's 2-3M just for those 5 singles. Vertigo is cerified Plat but that's mainly for downloads. This is probably the same for BD & other U2 singles since 2000. But I still reckon U2 have sold about 4M *physical singles in US overall and maybe 20M worldwide.

*physical single sales have been virtually non-existant in US for last 5 years.

 

[04072511]

Here are U2's chart positions in Ireland. U2 hold the record for the most number 1's in Ireland with 18. However Ireland is a very small market although there is a very high single sales per capita compared to other countries.

Date Position Weeks Artist Title
28/10/1979 19 2 U2 OUT OF CONTROL
26/07/1981 4 9 U2 FIRE
18/10/1981 10 4 U2 GLORIA
04/04/1982 15 4 U2 CELEBRATION, A
30/01/1983 2 4 U2 NEW YEARS DAY
03/04/1983 2 3 U2 TWO HEARTS BEAT AS ONE
09/09/1984 2 7 U2 PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)
28/04/1985 1 4 U2 THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE
22/03/1987 1 6 U2 WITH OR WITHOUT YOU (RE 1)
28/05/1987 1 6 U2 I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND…
27/08/1987 1 6 U2 WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
22/09/1988 1 4 U2 DESIRE
08/12/1988 3 5 U2 ANGEL OF HARLEM
15/06/1989 1 6 U2 ALL I WANT IS YOU
25/10/1991 1 6 U2 THE FLY (RE 1)
05/12/1991 1 3 U2 MYSTERIOUS WAYS
29/02/1992 1 9 U2 ONE (RE 1)
11/06/1992 3 9 U2 EVEN BETTER THEAN THE REAL THING
09/07/1992 10 8 U2 EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING (REMIX) (RE 1)
26/11/1992 4 9 U2 WHO'S GONNA RIDE YOUR WILD HORSES
25/11/1993 1 11 U2 STAY (FARAWAY, SO CLOSE) (RE 1)
08/06/1995 1 15 U2 HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME
06/02/1997 1 7 U2 DISCOTHEQUE
17/04/1997 4 8 U2 STARING AT THE SUN
24/07/1997 11 8 U2 LAST NIGHT ON EARTH
25/09/1997 6 8 U2 PLEASE
11/12/1997 11 5 U2 IF GOD WILL SEND HIS ANGELS
22/10/1998 1 11 U2 SWEETEST THING
12/10/2000 1 7 U2 BEAUTIFUL DAY
01/02/2001 1 9 U2 STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF
19/07/2001 1 8 U2 ELEVATION
22/11/2001 7 7 U2 WALK ON
24/10/2002 2 6 U2 ELECTRICAL STORM
06/04/1989 1 5 U2 With BB King WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN

 

[04072511]

Vertigo also made it to #1 and Sometimes made it to #3.

 

[edge3]

Here are U2's chart positions in Ireland. U2 hold the record for the most number 1's in Ireland with 18. However Ireland is a very small market although there is a very high single sales per capita compared to other countries.

Date Position Weeks Artist Title
28/10/1979 19 2 U2 OUT OF CONTROL
26/07/1981 4 9 U2 FIRE
18/10/1981 10 4 U2 GLORIA
04/04/1982 15 4 U2 CELEBRATION, A
30/01/1983 2 4 U2 NEW YEARS DAY
03/04/1983 2 3 U2 TWO HEARTS BEAT AS ONE
09/09/1984 2 7 U2 PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)
28/04/1985 1 4 U2 THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE
22/03/1987 1 6 U2 WITH OR WITHOUT YOU (RE 1)
28/05/1987 1 6 U2 I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND…
27/08/1987 1 6 U2 WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
22/09/1988 1 4 U2 DESIRE
08/12/1988 3 5 U2 ANGEL OF HARLEM
15/06/1989 1 6 U2 ALL I WANT IS YOU
25/10/1991 1 6 U2 THE FLY (RE 1)
05/12/1991 1 3 U2 MYSTERIOUS WAYS
29/02/1992 1 9 U2 ONE (RE 1)
11/06/1992 3 9 U2 EVEN BETTER THEAN THE REAL THING
09/07/1992 10 8 U2 EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING (REMIX) (RE 1)
26/11/1992 4 9 U2 WHO'S GONNA RIDE YOUR WILD HORSES
25/11/1993 1 11 U2 STAY (FARAWAY, SO CLOSE) (RE 1)
08/06/1995 1 15 U2 HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME
06/02/1997 1 7 U2 DISCOTHEQUE
17/04/1997 4 8 U2 STARING AT THE SUN
24/07/1997 11 8 U2 LAST NIGHT ON EARTH
25/09/1997 6 8 U2 PLEASE
11/12/1997 11 5 U2 IF GOD WILL SEND HIS ANGELS
22/10/1998 1 11 U2 SWEETEST THING
12/10/2000 1 7 U2 BEAUTIFUL DAY
01/02/2001 1 9 U2 STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF
19/07/2001 1 8 U2 ELEVATION
22/11/2001 7 7 U2 WALK ON
24/10/2002 2 6 U2 ELECTRICAL STORM
06/04/1989 1 5 U2 With BB King WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN

Vertigo also made it to #1 and Sometimes made it to #3.

Wow! That's impressive - I would have thought The Beatles or Elvis would have the most #1's. I wonder how many copies all of these have sold. My guess would be about 500K-1M.

That would add up to about 9-10M single sales in US, UK & Ireland & these 3 countries probably make up about 50% of U2's worldwide market.

Thanx for this info.

 

[edge3]

Sometimes is currently the 18th best selling single of 2005 with sales close to 60K

Just a small correction - at this point Sometimes had actually sold 60870 copies in the UK.