Bomb's Weak Single #'s in the US

[STING2]

That's not completely true Sting2.

Remember the American Idol (AI) kids. The winner of each season would release a single (as would the second place contestant). The sales of that single - due to the massive exposure of AI - would be tremendous. While U2 and many other artists don't release CD singles, they still are out there in the U.S. - and these AI kids have some of the best CD single sales ever! The massive amounts of sales the first few weeks would be enough to push the song to #1 on the Hot 100 charts - even though airplay was heavily factored.

So while a song could and would reach #1 based on airplay alone, and while Billboard for a while tremendously discounted sales (as I actually wrote in my first post), sales never disappeared. If an artist had huge CD single sales (and we're talking sales of over 100,000 copies in a week - sometimes more like 200-400K!), even if the airplay wasn't there yet, the sales would be enough.

Now with iTunes and other sources, sales certainly play a big role. Coldplay's first single zoomed up to #8 on the charts based on sales alone - then dropped. Only later, after airplay finally kicked in did the song rise again on the charts. I would imagine that U2's next single might finally break into the Top 10 (as "Beautiful Day" and "Vertigo" should have done) because they'll have sales to help this time.

Before I-tunes and downloads, the AI Kids would have gone to #1 with or without single sales given the massive amount of airplay they received. Single sales in the early part of this decade were simply irrelevant. The HOT 100 chart noted which songs had a retail single or not, and the chart would be full of all these songs that did not have a single you could buy. When a song with no single jumps into the top 10 ahead of songs that do have singles, it sums up how relevant single sales were at the time in determining chart position on the HOT 100.

From 2000 to 2004, I don't know any artist that cracked the top 10 of the HOT 100 on sales alone.

U2 will probably make the top 10 with their next single with the new rules and climate that has downloading single songs as opposed to buying albums the new craze. But, in terms of album sales, it will be more relevant to pay attention to the airplay only chart since the level of radio airplay will have the biggest impact on album sales beyond the hardcore fanbase.

 

[U2girl]

How did Original of the species do on the Billboard top 100 chart?


So do you think it would be wise for U2 to start having CD singles in US again, or should they simply promote the post-first singles with more radio/video airplay? Or should they abandon both in light of the downloading?

 

[bsp77]

How did Original of the species do on the Billboard top 100 chart?

Absolutely nothing. It almost made the Adult Top 40 at about 41. That's it. It was a top 10 track on Triple-A radio which is not measured by Billboard, but pretty much every U2 song is a top 10 Triple-A hit. Nowhere close to the Billboard Top 100.

 

[cjboog]

What exactly is the Triple A chart and why isn't it counted on the Billboard 100?