(07-11-2005) U2 Set Album Chart Record -- hotpress.com*

[dsmith2904]

U2 Set Album Chart Record

In what is almost certainly an all-time record, U2 currently have no less than eleven albums in the Irish Top 75, as compiled by IRMA.

The unprecedented explosion in sales by the band comes in the wake of their similarly record-breaking three-night run at Croke Park, which saw them play to a total audience of around a quarter of a million, and last week’s Live 8 appearance in Hyde Park.

U2’s current album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, which has already gone multi-platinum in Ireland, leads the charge at No. 4, and The Joshua Tree – voted the No. 1 Greatest Irish Album of All Time this year by Hotpress readers – follows at No. 12.

Both of their Best Of… collections also feature in the Top 20, with …1980-1990 at No. 13 and …1990-2000 at No. 19.

The other chart placings are: All That You Can’t Leave Behind (32); Achtung Baby (35); Rattle And Hum (43); Live: Under A Blood Red Sky (48); The Unforgettable Fire (53); Boy (63); and War (67).

Of their entire recorded output to date, only October, Pop and Zooropa are outside the Top 75 cut-off.

Meanwhile, they also have three titles in the Music Video Top 10, with Go Home: Live From Slane Castle at No. 1, The Best Of 1990-2000 at No. 6 and Rattle And Hum at No. 9.

--hotpress.com

 

[U2democrat]

cool

 

[doctorwho]

As impressive as this was, it pales when compared to the Slane concert era. Back then, ATYCLB shot back to #1 and U2 had ALL of their catalog in the Top 75. As strong as this era is, it seems ATYCLB and the Elevation tour were a bit stronger.

 

[ur i's make a O]

Good point Doctor Who but although performance may not be as good as 4 years ago(in the charts) maybe it just means that people have got better at looking after their CD collection

 

[lady luck]

i wonder why when summer arrives all the magazines tend to do the most incredible lists...

 

[STING2]

As impressive as this was, it pales when compared to the Slane concert era. Back then, ATYCLB shot back to #1 and U2 had ALL of their catalog in the Top 75. As strong as this era is, it seems ATYCLB and the Elevation tour were a bit stronger.

I actually do not recall U2's entire catalog making it back on chart that week after Slane 2001. Do you have the chart positions for all the albums?

 

[STING2]

i wonder why when summer arrives all the magazines tend to do the most incredible lists...

This was NOT a list. This was Ireland's top 75 selling albums in the week after the Croke Park shows. 11 of U2's albums sold enough copies to make the album chart that week.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I remember the last time U2 dragged their butts to Australia for Popmart, it pulled back into the top 50 (along with Pop already sitting in there) 2 or 3 of their older albums. Achtung, Joshua Tree and Zooropa I think.

 

[doctorwho]

I actually do not recall U2's entire catalog making it back on chart that week after Slane 2001. Do you have the chart positions for all the albums?

Edit!

I found the information!

When U2 returned to Ireland in 2001 for the Slane shows, there was a monstrous impact on the Irish charts:

1. All That You Can't Leave Behind: #1;
2. The Joshua Tree: #5;
3. The Best Of (1980-90): #10;
4. Achtung Baby: #11;
5. Rattle and Hum: #17;
6. The Unforgettable Fire: #33;
7. Zooropa: #35;
8. Pop: #37;
9. War: #40;
10. Under A Blood Red Sky: #43;
11. Boy: #45;
12. October: #60

Compare this with U2's recent visit (2005):

1. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: #4
2. The Joshua Tree: #12;
3. The Best Of (1980-90): #13;
4. The Best Of (1990-2000): #19
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind: #32;
6. Achtung Baby: #35;
7. Rattle and Hum: #43;
8. Under A Blood Red Sky: #48;
9. The Unforgettable Fire: #53;
10. Boy: #63;
11. War: #67

When the two eras are compared, it's clear that the ATYCLB/Elevation Tour era had a larger effect on the charts. Not only did ATYCLB return to #1, but two other albums returned to the Top 10 and U2 had a whopping nine albums in the Irish Top 40!

In contrast, "only" 11 albums charted this time - and that included two new releases (HTDAAB and the 90's "Best Of") - several albums did not make the Irish Top 75 ("October", "Zooropa" and "Pop"), HTDAAB did not return to #1, no other album returned to the Top 10 and U2 had "only" six albums in the Top 40.

This is not to say that what just happened on the Irish charts isn't fantastic! No other artist could have nearly their entire catalog rechart simply due to a concert performance. However, when compared to 2001, it's clear that the impact was not quite as successful.

So while U2 did set a record on the Irish charts, it was in 2001, not 2005.

 

[Renrut]

It would beinteresting to see the number of albums sold in each case. Ireland ain't got that many people! If you sell so many albums in 2001, its even more impressive that they almost repeat themselves again (one would presume that a lot of the same people attended each event. ...Either that, or drunks are hitting record shops on the way home from the concert - and they have forgotten they already own the albums...

 

[ShellBeThere]

It would beinteresting to see the number of albums sold in each case. Ireland ain't got that many people! If you sell so many albums in 2001, its even more impressive that they almost repeat themselves again (one would presume that a lot of the same people attended each event. ...Either that, or drunks are hitting record shops on the way home from the concert - and they have forgotten they already own the albums...

good points!
It really is amazing, to have done that sort of thing, not just once but multiple times...
cheers!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Yes, it can be done in countries like Ireland and Australia because of the relatively low populations. You might find, for example, that the sales needed to get you the #15 album in Ireland may not even get you in the top 100 in the US. An album sitting at #60 in Ireland or Australia isn't actually selling a great deal at all. Considering how many tens of thousands of people went to the gigs, if only 10% of them buy a single U2 album afterwards, something to plug a hole in the collection maybe, it's enough of a spread to do that.

 

[STING2]

Yes, it can be done in countries like Ireland and Australia because of the relatively low populations. You might find, for example, that the sales needed to get you the #15 album in Ireland may not even get you in the top 100 in the US. An album sitting at #60 in Ireland or Australia isn't actually selling a great deal at all. Considering how many tens of thousands of people went to the gigs, if only 10% of them buy a single U2 album afterwards, something to plug a hole in the collection maybe, it's enough of a spread to do that.

Ireland is a country of 4 million people and can only have its album sales compared to the USA on a "per capita" basis. Just because the country has a smaller population does not make it any easier to have ones entire catalog in the charts.

The fact that all of U2's albums charted in 2001 and nearly all of them charted in 2005, is do to the incredible popularity of the band in Ireland, not the small population. Foreigners who make the effort to see the band in Ireland already own most if not all the albums. The success is do to the Irish youth, many who may have just seen their first U2 concert, or just started to listen to music and have been overwhelmed with the level of media coverage in the week before and after the concert. Also, older fans especially casual ones may decide to add to their collection or replace old records or lost or broken CD's at such times.

New Zealand is just as small as Ireland, but U2 have never come close to having this level of success in a single chart there, or in any other country.

 

[STING2]

It would beinteresting to see the number of albums sold in each case. Ireland ain't got that many people! If you sell so many albums in 2001, its even more impressive that they almost repeat themselves again (one would presume that a lot of the same people attended each event. ...Either that, or drunks are hitting record shops on the way home from the concert - and they have forgotten they already own the albums...

Ireland like all other countries have young people who have never been to a concert before or just started listening to music. The vast majority of the people who bought the albums that week were Irish and under the age of 25.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Ireland is a country of 4 million people and can only have its album sales compared to the USA on a "per capita" basis. Just because the country has a smaller population does not make it any easier to have ones entire catalog in the charts.

Umm, yes it does. U2 did something similar here in Australia as well with 4 of them in the charts at one time. Australia has a population of 20 million. To get in the bottom end of the top 50, it actually only takes a couple of hundred sales nationaly (excluding peak times such as Christmas). That means that if, out of the 100,000 or so who saw Popmart in Sydney or Melbourne in that one week chart period, only maybe 200 of them needed to go out and buy Achtung Baby for it to chart again. It is precisely because of the small populations, because that means it takes far less sales to chart.

The fact that all of U2's albums charted in 2001 and nearly all of them charted in 2005, is do to the incredible popularity of the band in Ireland, not the small population. Foreigners who make the effort to see the band in Ireland already own most if not all the albums. The success is do to the Irish youth, many who may have just seen their first U2 concert, or just started to listen to music and have been overwhelmed with the level of media coverage in the week before and after the concert. Also, older fans especially casual ones may decide to add to their collection or replace old records or lost or broken CD's at such times.

I wasn't suggesting it was something that could happen in any given week. It happens there and then because of the concerts and the hype surrounding them, which is larger in some countries than others (and of course is at it's peak in Ireland). I'm sure after a 5 night stand at Madison Square Garden U2 have sold enough albums in the New York area to feature 4 or 5 of them on an Irish or Australian sized chart. I'm also sure that if you collected all the sales data in every city U2 visits in the US in the week after they visit that city, and pretend they visited every city within a week, those sales figures would significantly impact the way they chart in the US. Maybe still not enough to pull more than one album up there, but I'd bet you'd see a big jump by The Bomb. And that's effectively what U2 do in these smaller countries. The whole 'tour' of the country is done in a week or two max. Several thousand people run out and buy U2 CD's that next week and presto.... they're charting all over the place.

New Zealand is just as small as Ireland, but U2 have never come close to having this level of success in a single chart there, or in any other country.

New Zealanders have no taste.
And I bet if you look back at their charts immediately post the ZooTV concert there, or the Lovetown concert there, and more than one U2 album is in the Top 50.

I'm telling you, it happens here in Australia semi-frequently with those massive bands that don't visit that often. For example, the Chili Peppers snuck two albums in the Top 50 a couple of years ago, and they visit a lot more regularly than U2. I bet you $100 that the next time Coldplay visit, Rush Of Blood sneaks back in there while X&Y gets a big boost. And when U2 visit here next year, at least 2 other albums will push in there as well.