COBL, On the USA Charts

[U2WaTCher]

Does anyone know what spot or how good COBL is doing in the USA charts, also does anyone know how good sometimes did in the USA. I have a friend that broadcasts music to stores in the backround IBN (In store Broadcasting Network) www.ibnads.com which competes with Muzak, which IBN is my provider where I work. Anyways he bases music he plays off the charts so can someone give me some info on if "sometimes" did in the USA, and "COBL"

Thanks
Thomas

[JOFO]

well, since it's a great tune, it's probably somewhere around #147.


if I farted in a bag, it'd probably go to #1.

[STING2]

Originally posted by U2WaTCher
Does anyone know what spot or how good COBL is doing in the USA charts, also does anyone know how good sometimes did in the USA. I have a friend that broadcasts music to stores in the backround IBN (In store Broadcasting Network) www.ibnads.com which competes with Muzak, which IBN is my provider where I work. Anyways he bases music he plays off the charts so can someone give me some info on if "sometimes" did in the USA, and "COBL"

Thanks
Thomas

The album "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" has done amazingly well in the USA. Unfortunately, the single "Sometimes" peaked at #97 on the HOT 100 chart. It did better on the Adult Top 40 chart where I believe it cracked the top 20 but not the top 10.

But the HOT 100 is the national chart which considers airplay from all formats as well as the sale of singles and downloades of single songs to determine chart position. This chart is the true guage of a songs success.

COBL unfortunately has not cracked any of Billboards charts in the United States. But COBL has done well outside the United States in other countries and on the World Chart.

Remember to call your local radio station and tell them to play COBL!

[ybird3k]

i dont understand that in every country apart from the USA, ALL U2 singles are recieveing a huge amount of airplay, and chart success. and in the US, the radio stations just arent playing the songs. why is america so diffrent to everywhere else?

[BigMacPhisto]

Because rock stations here play mostly loud songs and U2 doesn't fit in with that unless it's "Vertigo" or something similar....plus, pop stations here don't play the band because they're "old"

[ybird3k]

why does america have to have diffrent radio formats. the only country in the world to do it, and its crap!

[beLIEve]

Originally posted by U2WaTCher
Does anyone know what spot or how good COBL is doing in the USA charts, also does anyone know how good sometimes did in the USA. I have a friend that broadcasts music to stores in the backround IBN (In store Broadcasting Network) www.ibnads.com which competes with Muzak, which IBN is my provider where I work. Anyways he bases music he plays off the charts so can someone give me some info on if "sometimes" did in the USA, and "COBL"

Thanks
Thomas

I haven't been posting the radio play charts, but since there is now download or CD available for the COBL release, that's the best way to see how the song is doing on radio in the U.S...by looking at each radio format. Also, the video has only been out in the U.S. for several weeks, and it's at 19 on VH1's countdown, up one spot from 20, and MTV just put it into their rotation.

Here is how the song is doing on radio according to Mediaguide:

Triple A Rock Format

Triple A (C)
LW TW Artist Song Label
1 1 Coldplay Speed Of Sound Capitol
2 2 Jack Johnson Good People Universal
3 3 Dave Matthews Band
4 4 Snow Patrol Chocolate A&M
6 5 U2 City Of Blinding Lights Interscope

and...

16 15 U2 Sometimes You Can't Make It... Interscope

Mainstream Rock Format
LW TW Artist Song Label
23 22 U2 City Of Blinding Lights Interscope

Alternative Rock Format (Top 50)
LW TW Artist Song Label
-- 50 U2 City Of Blinding Lights Interscope

As usual, Triple A grabs the latest U2 release and puts it in high rotation. While this format does cover over 50 of the top markets in the U.S., the typical listener to this format already has the album. As for Billboard, they still don't have Triple A covered in their chart system. Also, they combine these two formats, Mainstream and Active (i.e., harder) Rock, into one chart, and call in Mainstream Rock on the BB charts page. COBL is not going to make a dent on the Active Rock charts, so unlike the "harder" edge songs like Vertigo and ABOY, COBL won't make it on this BB chart, unless it goes to #1 on the Mainstream FORMAT, which I doubt will happen.

Finally, Billboard's Modern Rock Chart is picking up Radio Play from Alternative Radio Stations, and while COBL doesn't seem to be an Alternative song to me, it did debut at #50 on Mediaguide's chart, and it showed up at #52 on Radio and Records Alternative Radio play chart last week as well. IF COBL makes it into the Top 40 on the Alternative Radio play charts, then it should chart on Billboards's Modern Rock. That's really the only way COBL will get any exposure on Billboard.

If U2 wants to generate and "buzz" from singles here in the U.S., they have to at least make it available for download with some good b-sides. Seargent Pepper's is at #48 on the BB Hot 100 based only on downloads, as it's radio play is almost nil. I hope that the next single(s) are released for download in the U.S., with something like this to garner a hit song and hopefully album sales:

Original of the Species (Single Version)
OOTS acoustic live from London (or wherever)
Mercy (best b-side ever)

and then

Miracle Drug or Crumbs (Single Version)
Yahweh acoustic live from New York (or wherever)
Smile (very good b-side)

This seems so easy for U2 to do...but I doubt it will ever happen.

[beLIEve]

Mediabase.com is another radio play chart system that actually gets updated twice a day, and it's used by people in the music business to see what's happening on U.S. radio almost in real time. Here is their Triple A chart, based on the last 7 days and updated this morning:

7 Day Charts AAA Rock Mediabase - All Stations
Past 7 Days - by Overall Rank

^ = Up In Spins
LW: Jul 4-10 TW: Jul 11-17 Updated: Mon Jul 18 3:18 AM PST

Rank lw TW Artist Title Spins TW lw Move Aud./mill

1 1 COLDPLAY Speed of Sound 588 601 -13 2.936
2 2 JACK JOHNSON Good People 584 574 10 2.905
6 3 U2 City of Blinding Lights 372 329 43 1.619

Relatively speaking, COBL has raced up this chart, and it may well end up being their 3rd #1 song from HTDAAB on this format. However, as you can see, even if the song tops out at #1, it won't be reaching an audience that's even bigger than their U.S. record sales, and again, 90% of these listeners already have the album. U.S. radio sucks, period, and whether Bono likes it or not, most U2 songs do get radio play but on Niche formats. That would only change if they marketed each single like it was the lead single. COBL has been the least marketed release yet for the U.S., but it's doing well where U2 normally does well. As for the ROW, it's a very big hit, topping the charts across the globe as usual.

Triple A has become too big of a format to be excluded from BB, so I expect BB to shake things up soon to keep up with the constantly evolving state of U.S. radio. Here is the Year to Date chart for Triple A rock, and COBL will probably end up in the Top 30 as well if it has some staying power. Sometimes is STILL on this chart today at #15, and if it hangs around another 4-5 weeks, it could be the #1 song for the year.

January 1, 2005 through July 17, 2005

Rank Artist Title Total Spins
1 JACK JOHNSON Sitting, Waiting, Wishing 12308
2 U2 Sometimes You Can't Make It... 10193
3 GREEN DAY Boulevard of Broken Dreams 9390
4 DAVE MATTHEWS BAND American Baby 9119
5 BLUE MERLE Burning In The Sun 9097
6 SNOW PATROL Chocolate 8594
7 COLDPLAY Speed of Sound 7995
8 JET Look What You've Done 7546
9 TORI AMOS Sleeps With Butterflies 7473
10 KEANE Somewhere Only We Know 6692
...
21 U2 All Because of You 5622
...
29 U2 Vertigo 4340

[U2WaTCher]

well I talked to my friend, he said COBL was adding but just barley he said because of it lacking nothing on the USA charts and on bottom of AC Charts keeps it from being played. That goes the same for sometimes. U2 really needs to try to promote this one its really a rich song. The edit sucks they got out it cuts out the end and time part is messed up. Does anyone know any cool sites that show playlists from diff music companys. I would like to see what muzak has or a way to find out there playlists. they wont tell you if you called or whatever just was curius if you guys knew if you can find them online somehow just like you can do with sirius and dmx and music choice

[BigMacPhisto]

Originally posted by U2WaTCher
The edit sucks they got out it cuts out the end and time part is messed up.

Luckily, the promo has both the album and edit version, so the stations can play the longer version if they choose.

[Irishteen]

In a way i love radio here, i am gonna get one u2 song a day on 98fm maybe New years Day, SBS, WTSHNN,WOWY,ISHFWILF,One, Desire, AIWIY, MW, BD, Elevation, Stuck(Both verisions), Vertigo, SYCMIOYO, COBL, and it sounds so great, last monday it was MW,and i listened for 4 hours and only 1 song was better then that, BS by The Verve, Songbird by Oasis came in third, overall we get 1 good song a hour on the radio, and it might be a U2 song, even a old one, so Im happy.

[ybird3k]

does COBL look as if it will make it onto the Hot 100 at all?

[BigMacPhisto]

No, it'll be lucky to sneak onto the Heatseekers chart.

[beLIEve]

One other thing that may help COBL in the U.S. is video play. With no commercial releases, U2 generally "kicks off" a new single in the U.S. with a video. I remember the launch of Sometimes on VH1, where it was named "video of the week" as soon as it came out, and was played some 50+ times and debuted on their Top 20 Countdown. Not that people watch videos, but this is the primary way U2 generates a little "buzz" about their "new single".

For whatever reason, the COBL video was not picked up in the U.S. to coincide with the release of the song to radio. In fact, VH1 just picked it up 3 weeks ago. It debuted at #20 in it's first week, and it moved up one spot each of the last two weeks and now sits at #18.

MTV didn't add COBL until last week, and somehow, the video debuted at #15 on yesterday's updated Top 20 list.

This is totally backwards for U2's release of ABOY, which really was hyped on the MTV jammed program and got it's publicity with the stunt in New York on the truck, and then the concert. The timing of the release was poor, though, but in retrospect, ABOY's run into the Top 10 on BB's rock charts may have been pretty good compared to COBL.

Anyway, the point is that if the video gets a lot of play (relatively speaking, of course) and stays on the video charts for a while, COBL just might pick up some steam on some other formats besides Triple A rock. If it's a flash in the pan on the video channels, then the song is all but done in the U.S. already.

[BigMacPhisto]

If only the video for "COBL" was actually good..........unfortunately, it isn't that great........they could've made a FANTASTIC concept vid, but instead opted for a mediocre (why so little lighting?) performance clip.....