comments on sometimes' UK no1

[all_i_want]

By all accounts we are just a few weeks away from the grand day when some form of meaning is finally returned to the singles chart with the integration of downloaded sales. Predicting exactly what effect this will have is actually quite tricky as the widespread availablity of a particular track online appears at first glance to have little effect on the way it performs at retail. U2 are a case in point. Their last single 'Vertigo' could have got away with being the biggest ever download-only track thanks to its use in a famous series of adverts for iPods. Available as a download well ahead of its commercial release, it duly topped the download chart for several weeks, only to also soar to Number One when released as a single proper back in November. Now 'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own' arrives as a second single from the acclaimed 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' album but the impact it has had as a download has been negligible, either as a single or as an album track. Instead it sells strongly enough as a retail single to fly to the top of the sales chart to give U2 back to back Number One hits for the first time in their long and distinguished career. In total it is their sixth Number One single but you can see how hard it is to work out what download success does to a single - U2 have now topped the charts within the space of a few months both with a single that sold thousands online and with another whose sales have almost totally been in the shops.

--james masterton, dotmusic.com

 

[voxson]

What is impressive about "sometimes" going to UK #1 is that it's their first UK #1 that is not the first single off the album. Desire, The Fly, DIscotheque, Beautiful Day all were first singles meaning they were not available on an album at the time plus that they attracted much more attention and publicity. Really great news for "sometimes" which may not be my favourite song but it surely did prove up to be a good choice at least for the UK.

 

[U2 addict]

 

[beLIEve]

Very timely observation, as I just read a similar article regarding the success of Green Day's Boulevard versus A.M., as A.M. had 10x more downloads than Boulevard yet has still succeeded against itself and other competitors even after downloads have now been added to the singles chart.

 

[-Macphisto-UK]

What is impressive about "sometimes" going to UK #1 is that it's their first UK #1 that is not the first single off the album. Desire, The Fly, DIscotheque, Beautiful Day all were first singles meaning they were not available on an album at the time plus that they attracted much more attention and publicity. Really great news for "sometimes" which may not be my favourite song but it surely did prove up to be a good choice at least for the UK.

I've got to be honest, I think they could have released any other single off the album and it would have got to number 1. I beleive there is about 5,000 fans in the UK so blind in loyality towards U2, that they have bought at least 3 copies of the latest single release.

I think potentially if COBL 9although by no means my favourite song of the album) it will appeal commercially to U2 fans, as it is a lot of people'#s favourite track. If another 5,000 go out and buy their 3 copies each, it has a big advantage in getting to number 1.

 

[voxson]

However this didn't happen with Elevation, Walk On or Stuck In A moment. None went to #1 although we can assume the blind loyal fanbase of U2 was pretty much the same 3 years ago.

 

[-Macphisto-UK]

they didnt market it the same though, and from what i can recall they didn't release three different versions of both singles and market it to fans to buy all three.

 

[voxson]

Elevation sure had three versions, including a DVD one, and it was marketed a lot also through the "tomb raider" movie.

 

[U2girl]

Walk on had two versions (that I saw in our stores), plus a DVD single.
Stuck also I think had two versions, if not more.

 

[Axver]

Beautiful Day had two versions too, the one with Always and Summer Rain as b-sides and the other with a couple of live Popmart tracks.