UK Singles Positions

[Jarvio]

Just some stats for you all. Magnificent is the first u2 single since 'A Celebration' to not hit the top 40. I'm aware it hit 42 (please correct me if that's wrong). Here's how all the u2 singles performed in the UK. From best position to worst position...

1 - Beautiul Day
1 - Vertigo
1 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
1 - Discotheque
1 - Desire
1 - The Fly
2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
2 - City Of Blinding Lights
2 - Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
3 - Sweetest Thing
3 - Pride (In The Name Of Love)
3 - Elevation
3 - Staring At The Sun
4 - With Or Without You
4 - Stay (Far Away, So Close!)
4 - Where The Streets Have No Name
4 - Window In The Skies
4 - All Because Of You
4 - All I Want Is You
5 - Electrical Storm
5 - Walk On
6 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
6 - When Love Comes To Town
6 - The Unforgettable Fire
7 - One
7 - Please
9 - Angel Of Harlem
10 - New Year's Day
10 - Last Night On Earth
12 - Even Better Than The Real Thing
12 - If God Will Send His Angels
12 - Get On Your Boots
13 - Mysterious Ways
14 - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
18 - Two Hearts Beat As One
35 - Fire
42 - Magnificent
47 - A Celebration
48 - In God's Country (Import)
55 - Gloria
?? - I Will Follow
?? - A Day Without Me
?? - 11 O'Clock Tick-Tock

If anyone can shed light on those last 3 on the list feel free to.

In conclusion, I knew Magnificent would not do very well, but I admit I'm shocked it didn't make the top 40... I was expecting 20ish...

 

[Karlonthe2nd]

Well that's what they get for cancelling the CD release. Surely even the dimwits running the NLOTH promotions must have expected this?

 

[Irishteen]

Well that's what they get for cancelling the CD release. Surely even the dimwits running the NLOTH promotions must have expected this?

It probably would of struggled to make top 30 with a CD single, it would of only given it a few thousand extra sales at most

 

[Karlonthe2nd]

Clearly someone somewhere has made a cockup, whether it's in the promotion or the radio play time it's getting. The song is good enough to be top 3 at least. Even GOYB got to 12 FFS.

 

[Irishteen]

Clearly someone somewhere has made a cockup, whether it's in the promotion or the radio play time it's getting. The song is good enough to be top 3 at least. Even GOYB got to 12 FFS.

Promotion has been non-existent but it got good radio play 9 last week, 11 this week. It wasn't radio that held this song back

 

[digitize]

At least the situation isn't nearly as dire in the UK as it is in the US. Although this should probably go in Peeling Off Those Dollar Bills or whatever that forum is called (I can't stand BTBS).

 

[Irishteen]

At least the situation isn't nearly as dire in the UK as it is in the US. Although this should probably go in Peeling Off Those Dollar Bills or whatever that forum is called (I can't stand BTBS).

They were never a singles band in the US though, in the UK they had consistent hits, going from 4 top 4 hits with 2 number ones to missing the top 40 with your second single is pretty big change. Seems while the album is doing well everywhere else the UK doesn't seem to open to U2 this time around

 

[Karlonthe2nd]

So much for Magnificent giving NLOTH a new lease of life in the charts. It's pretty screwed now if even Magnificent can't significantly raise its (and its own) sales.

 

[digitize]

They were never a singles band in the US though, in the UK they had consistent hits, going from 4 top 4 hits with 2 number ones to missing the top 40 with your second single is pretty big change. Seems while the album is doing well everywhere else the UK doesn't seem to open to U2 this time around

That's true enough, I guess. I know U2 could have made Magnificent a respectable hit in the US if they had tried, and concert sales soaring over what most of us expected, so maybe that's a better indicator for the US.

 

[Irishteen]

So much for Magnificent giving NLOTH a new lease of life in the charts. It's pretty screwed now if even Magnificent can't significantly raise its (and its own) sales.

NLOTH has gone back to the top 20 in the UK though, that's the most positive thing we can say about the Magnificent's chart performance. Although that might only be a couple of thousand sales more than last week

That's true enough, I guess. I know U2 could have made Magnificent a respectable hit in the US if they had tried, and concert sales soaring over what most of us expected, so maybe that's a better indicator for the US.

I guess you really need to think of it all relatively. If a band always misses the top 40, then a number 40 single is a hit but when it comes to U2 who haven't missed the top 40 since A Celebration it's a fairly poor performance. While in the US hitting the Hot 100 is a hit for U2, which Magnificent did. They really should of promoted it more though

 

[Karlonthe2nd]

I honestly think GOYB has scared off a lot of people from buying the next few singles. What a monumentous cockup it was to release that as a first single instead of Magnificent.

 

[Irishteen]

I honestly think GOYB has scared off a lot of people from buying the next few singles. What a monumentous cockup it was to release that as a first single instead of Magnificent.

U2 had the whole world dying to hear their music, they could of gotten anything played on the radio. Seriously if Moment of Surrender was the first single it would of been played with no single edit, however Boots may have prevented them having that in the future

 

[Karlonthe2nd]

The only reason GOYB got to 12 was because it was U2's first single in years. If Magnificent had that going for it, as well as the fact that it is actually a pretty good song (even though boots is good too, just not commercially friendly), I think it would have broken the top 5.

 

[doctorwho]

GOYB and "Magnificent" are on a different chart system than the other songs, so no direct comparison can be made.

For years, the U.K. singles chart was based solely on sales of CD singles (or 45 rpm vinyl singles). As the CD singles market declined, it really only took sales over 10K or so copies to hit #1. Sales of just a few thousand were good enough for the Top 5.

Had a CD single been available (and I'm really not sure why it was cancelled at the last minute as even U2.com's website was advertising it), it probably would have helped the song chart higher. But these days, the singles chart is based on airplay mixed with CD singles and legal downloads (from iTunes and other sources). As a result, one can't compare the charts to days of the past.

This is similar in the U.S. "Vertigo", for example, only reached #31 based on airplay. But this song had a lot of downloads - in fact, it may be U2's biggest download hit. Had Billboard counted downloads, the song would have easily been a Top 10 hit (I say this because near the tail end of "Vertigo's" run, Billboard did count downloads and the song jumped 20 positions on the chart).

With these constant chart changes, it's really difficult to compare eras. As I just stated, "Vertigo" was released just a few months too early for it to be a Top 10 (or higher) hit. As a result, it gives the impression that it was a smaller hit for U2, which clearly isn't true. But all charts try their best to capture a song's popularity based on what's out there, hence why they change. Decades ago, jukebox play was monitored as a way of a song's success, but clearly that isn't true. Then the era of a single gave way to an album's success. The era of the single is back, but now in terms of downloads.

The trouble for U2 is that they are one of the few album bands out there. So once fans have the album, the likelihood of singles catching on is low - especially given how much downloads now count toward a chart position. I think the better monitor for U2's second single on anly album is the airplay chart. As IrishTeen stated, the song reached the Top 10 in the U.K. on that chart, indicating it was a hit. But people aren't downloading it because they already have the album.

In the future, it would behoove U2 to release one single - one of the more powerful tracks on the album - then wait about 2 to 3 months and release the second single. Then, they should wait about 4 weeks, then finally release the album. This strategy is what the bigger artists are doing, namely making their albums available after the second single. This helps the artist get one or two big singles. Big singles will then help the artist, in theory, have a big hit album. Sometimes this doesn't work (that is, many artists, especially in the U.S., have monster singles, but weak album sales), but I think this will help U2.

In U2's case, both songs need to be strong. The days of U2 releasing something funky like GOYB are over, at least as the first single. U2 were able to get away with that in the past ("The Fly", "Numb"), but these days, as the single dominates, a strong second single is not enough to overcome initial negative opinions of a first single. "Pop" sadly never fully recovered after "Discotheque" and it appears NLOTH will suffer because of GOYB. These are both fine songs, but as a lead single, they hurt more than help, and that's not what one wants from a first single.

Of course, all of the above is only true if U2 still care about having hit albums and songs. And I'm starting to wonder if they do. While U2 did ample promotion the week before and during the album's release, they have done nothing thereafter. It seems that even they realized that this album is less accessible for the mainstream audience, which is just fine by me. I feel NLOTH is one of their best album in years.

Lastly, it should be noted that the album is still the top selling album of the year, woldwide. In fact, it's the only album to have sold over 2M albums this year so far. I do expect strong competition from some, like Eminem (which will most likely take over the year), and holiday sales (had U2 released this album in November, they'd probably have 1.5 to 2M in sales in the U.S. already). After JT, it appears U2's spring releases just haven't worked out as big sellers, which is a shame.

 

[doctorwho]

Oops! Above I meant to write, "Decades ago, jukebox play was monitored as a way of a song's success, but clearly that isn't true NOW." My point being what was true years ago, has changed depending on the media.

 

[andyuk]

Don't people realise the charts have changed! U2 no longer have a gaurenteed top 5 hit whatever the song!

Look at Green Day i would say they were both about the same in terms of popularity here in the UK in 2004/05 on their last albums both had big hit singles and sold out stadiums. They both take 4 or 5 years off and come back with new singles which in 2005 would of both got to no1 but now GOYB went in at no12 and green day new single from their new album Know your Enemy only got to mid 30's in the charts. Also look at Oasis 2nd/3rd singles and they got know where as well so its not just U2 here who are having bad chart postions on singles its most of the rock industry! in order to have a big single u need it to appel to the general public like KOL sex on fire which is still in the top 40 (8 months after release)

 

[andyuk]

Rock Bands now make their money mainly from touring then secondly from album sales. Singles mean next to nothing basically they are there to promote the album and get more people to buy the album which magnificent must have done as it jumped about 20 places in the chart to the top 20 last week

 

[andyuk]

It will also be very interesting to see how Kasabian new single 'fire' does when its released in 2 weeks time. Kasabian are a very big act here in UK and the single was released to radio 2 weeks ago but it is not being available to download till 1st June (similar to Boots) so lets see where this enters the chart as a comparison

 

[bram]

If Boots hit #12, then Magnificent would have easily been top 3 as a first single. A shame really because it likely would have opened the door for future singles (as BD and Vertigo were able to do).

 

[jules]

Breathe should have been the first single IMHO.

It breaks new ground and is far better than GOYB...

jules.

 

[Flaming07]

I don't think Breathe would make a good single - it's not radio-friendly. Boots was always going to be the first single. I think they wrote it as if it was going to be just that - a first release, and they had their hearts set on it. Trouble was, it wasn't that great and no one had the guts to tell them that.

Main flaw in the promotion of Magnificent was the lack of a video prior to release.

 

[super fly guy]

Manificent is U2 by numbers,thats why it bombed. Boots is much better,in my opinion.

 

[MadForIt]

Don't people realise the charts have changed! U2 no longer have a gaurenteed top 5 hit whatever the song!

Look at Green Day i would say they were both about the same in terms of popularity here in the UK in 2004/05 on their last albums both had big hit singles and sold out stadiums. They both take 4 or 5 years off and come back with new singles which in 2005 would of both got to no1 but now GOYB went in at no12 and green day new single from their new album Know your Enemy only got to mid 30's in the charts. Also look at Oasis 2nd/3rd singles and they got know where as well so its not just U2 here who are having bad chart postions on singles its most of the rock industry! in order to have a big single u need it to appel to the general public like KOL sex on fire which is still in the top 40 (8 months after release)

By Oasis standards the 2nd and 3rd singles were not massive hits but I'm Outta Time at #12 and Falling Down at #10 is still way better than #42 for a song which deserved top 20 at least

Still potential for a 4th single as well for Oasis

Only u2 song which could do something now is Stand up Comedy as its pretty damn catchy

 

[Danny Boy]

Only u2 song which could do something now is Stand up Comedy as its pretty damn catchy

I'm betting this is the third single.

 

[u2search]

I'm hoping for Crazy Tonight. Unknown Caller is a great song but doesn't sound like it will do well on the radio. Breathe has already been released in a live version so that wil probably not be a single by itself.

Crazy Tonight is catchy, especially the second half, and will make a great great live song which might help single sales & radio requests as well.

One reason a song fails on the radio charts might be a lack of requests for it?

 

[KUEFC09U2]

oasis sold physical copys of their singles though didnt they?

 

[MadForIt]

oasis sold physical copys of their singles though didnt they?

Yea for Falling Down and I'm Outta Time they were #1 on physicals
they shifted a few downloads for Falling Down as they were on TOTP

Hope they release Bag It Up as 4th single soon as the summer gigs are on the horizon

 

[Irishteen]

oasis sold physical copys of their singles though didnt they?

Falling Down actually did really well as a digital EP as well, a lot better than Magnificent did. I think the second single didn't do well at all digitally

 

[fedeu2]

Yea for Falling Down and I'm Outta Time they were #1 on physicals
they shifted a few downloads for Falling Down as they were on TOTP

Hope they release Bag It Up as 4th single soon as the summer gigs are on the horizon

How many copies did Oasis latest album sell worldwide?
I mean, they´re not in the same league as U2 anymore, if they ever were.

 

[MadForIt]

How many copies did Oasis latest album sell worldwide?
I mean, they´re not in the same league as U2 anymore, if they ever were.

They were in u2's league from 1995-7 (morning glory/be here now)

Dig Out Your Soul has sold over 1.5 million but it has shipped 1.8 million. These are incredibly low. But there South American tour has been massive and they are back at #1 in Peru lol
I think they could reach over 2 million sold by 2009 which is not to bad for them. The tour is helping the album stay alive. It deserved to sell 25 million though...