Sometimes was a hit in Canada and in parts of the R.O.W.
On the other hand, Sometimes was an international hit, and it is still a hit in Canada and a few other countries. It is at #4 on Canada's Top 100 airplay chart (by Billboard), and U2 still has 5 of the Top 15 songs in the Singles sales chart. As a result, partly, HTDAAB is at 29 on the Top 50 Albums chart (also compiled by BB).
Can you imagine what Sometimes could have done for the album had it hit #4 on the BB Hot 100 Airplay charts in the U.S.?
The reason I mention videos so much is that in the U.S., w/o any commercial release of a single, it's almost like they choose to let their singles start off as videos, and then hope for the best on airplay. I remember when VH1 debuted Sometimes, and it was the "video of the week", played 52 times. The song wasn't even on radio at the time.
I really don't see COBL doing better, unless it breaks through to the top on Modern Rock AND Adult Top 40...and that's what Sometimes couldn't do - when Modern Rock dumped the song it's brief run on the BB Hot 100 was over.
The commercial singles available on CD for COBL...why not make them available for something like $1.99 to download? I've heard Speed of Sound and it's OK, but honestly, it's no better than any of the three singles released by U2 in N.A. It had so many downloads that it debuted on the BB Hot 100 at #8. It was behind Sometimes on the radio on all formats at that time. It's dropped to 30 now on the Hot 100, but it created a buzz about the song, and now it's rising pretty fast on radio. I don't think it will ever return to the BB Top 10, but it will hang around on the BB Hot 100 and get enough radio play to make it even rise again at some point.
Granted, Speed of Sound, like Vertigo, was a lead single made available before the album. We all know the BB Hot 100 changed a lot when it started counting downloads, and that Vertigo could have charted much higher, but honestly, the song did it's job, as it was a hit across all of the radio formats it was played on. Throw in the I-pod thing and a decent video and 3 grammies...they got a lot of mileage out of the song. After seeing a show in Chicago, I'm surpised at the energy generated by Vertigo AND ABOY. In fact, U2 has played 7-9 songs of off HTDAAB on most shows, and most of them come off very good live, and the crowd knows them. So, regardless of chart positions and album sales, since "Live is where they live", this album is very good for the tour.
If U2 would have released Sometimes globally at the same time, it would have climbed even higher than #9 on the Global Singles chart, too. In fact, it might have hit #1. Then ABOY could have been release in April with the MTV live thing and it would have done well globally. Just my opinion, but U2's singles strategy sucks, especially in the U.S.
As for U2 being the most pirated band, I read plenty of stuff about this when the illegal downloading was in the news all the time. U2's indifference (relative) to the issue got them some negative comments from other artists...I remember it clearly, when Metallica and several other bands formed some sort of effort to stop downloading, U2 was criticized for not taking a stronger stand on the issue, and several sources questioned why since the general data showed U2 was THE most pirated band in terms of illegal downloads. U2 was accused of already having made it so big that they didn't really care about downloading, which hurt newer artists. Bono then made some public comments about the issue, saying something like "we've always been flattered that people make bootlegs of our shows, but if we find out you're illegally downloading our music, we're coming to your house to find you...". Also, I've always thought that in addition to being smart with the initial HTDAAB marketing using I-pod, that U2 also did that to help the music industry find a way to make downloading easy and legal. Coldplay can thank U2 for their Top 10 hit, IMO.
Sorry for rambling on...at this point it probably makes no difference to U2 if HTDAAB sells 12M or 15M or ???, as it's been generally well-received critically and commercially, and the tour is a smash hit despite what some critic in Chicago thinks. Part of Pop's commercial failure had to due with the rough start to the tour as well as the album, and it wasn't really considered a failure outside the U.S. Now that's all behind them, though, with two Best Of's introducing their music to a whole new generation, and two well received studio albums to boot. They are by far the biggest band in the world, and have been since 1987.
