Posted May 22, 201114 yr http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x311j On 3rd January of this year, Tony Blackburn returned "...with another bank holiday chart rundown specially compiled by The Official Chart Company for BBC Radio 2, and this time it's The UK's 50 Bestselling Duets of All Time. To be eligible for the chart, a duet has to be a collaboration between two singers, who are equally billed, and don't normally record as a duo." No sales were given in the rundown but I have tried to estimate them. There are certain "markers" (bold numbers), that is, songs which have sales confirmed in the music press or official chart rundowns. Then I estimate the songs between using year-end lists and add an average amount for downloads. From experience, sales should be correct within 20-30,000 if not better. I would be interested if anyone has any sales suggestions: Title / Artist / Year / Est. Sales 1 You’re The One That I Want - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John 1978 2,015,000 2 Summer Nights - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John 1978 1,570,000 3 I’ll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy, Faith Evans feat. 112 1997 1,470,000 4 Especially For You - Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan 1988 990,000 5 Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee 1976 980,000 6 Whispering Grass - Windsor Davies and Don Estelle 1975 875,000 7 I Know Him So Well - Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson 1985 820,000 8 Ebony And Ivory - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder 1982 680,000 9 Dancing In The Street - David Bowie and Mick Jagger 1985 665,000 10 Easy Lover - Philip Bailey (duet with Phil Collins) 1985 565,000 11 The Boy Is Mine - Brandy and Monica 1998 555,000 12 I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) - Aretha Franklin and George Michael 1987 515,000 13 Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro) - Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli 1997 485,000 14 Changes - Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne 2003 480,000 15 Je T'aime … Moi Non Plus - Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg 1969 470,000 16 Say Say Say - Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson 1983 465,000 17 No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) - Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand 1979 455,000 18 The Best Things In Life Are Free - Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson with Special Guests BBD and Ralph Tresvant 1992 450,000 19 Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - George Michael and Elton John 1991 440,000 20 Endless Love - Diana Ross and Lionel Richie 1981 435,000 21 Tonight I Celebrate My Love - Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack 1983 425,000 22 Tell Him - Barbra Streisand and Céline Dion 1997 420,000 23 Never Be The Same Again - Melanie C and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes 2000 415,000 24 Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie and Bing Crosby 1982 405,000 25 On My Own - Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald 1986 395,000 26 Beautiful Liar (Freemasons Remix) - Beyoncé and Shakira 2007 385,000 27 All I Ask Of You - Cliff Richard and Sarah Brightman 1986 380,000 28 Islands In The Stream - Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton 1983 370,000 29 Somethin' Stupid - Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman 2001 365,000 30 Barcelona - Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé 1987 360,000 31 With You I'm Born Again - Billy Preston and Syreeta 1979 355,000 32 Somethin' Stupid - Frank and Nancy Sinatra 1967 350,000 33 True Love - Elton John and Kiki Dee 1993 345,000 34 Don't Know Much - Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville 1989 340,000 35 You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Barbra and Neil 1978 340,000 36 Too Much Too Little Too Late - Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams 1978 335,000 37 Back Together Again - Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway 1980 330,000 38 You Got The Dirtee Love - Florence + The Machine and Dizzee Rascal 2010 325,000 39 Especially For You - Denise and Johnny 1998 320,000 40 Did You Ever - Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood 1971 315,000 41 I'm Your Angel - Céline Dion and R. Kelly 1998 315,000 42 The Long And Winding Road - Will Young and Gareth Gates 2002 310,000 43 Me Julie - Ali G and Shaggy 2002 300,000 44 Separate Lives - Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin 1985 290,000 45 I've Had The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes 1987 285,000 46 Grease Megamix - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John 1990 280,000 47 Pie Jesu - Sarah Brightman and Paul Miles-Kingston 1985 275,000 48 Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes 1983 270,000 49 All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell 1969 265,000 50 When You Believe - Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston 1998 260,000 Edited May 22, 201114 yr by SimonW
May 22, 201114 yr The sales for eboyn and ivory seem a bit low-it is listed on the official best selling songs of the 80's as selling over 750,000.
May 22, 201114 yr No telephone? I think because it was credited as Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce? Although if it was included, it'd be like #13 or something! :o
May 22, 201114 yr Author The sales for eboyn and ivory seem a bit low-it is listed on the official best selling songs of the 80's as selling over 750,000.You've picked on the early 1980s, one of the most difficult periods to estimate! The top 100 published in Guinness Hits of the 80s gave no sales information, so we can only surmise total sales to 1989 using data from sources like Record Mirror ["RM"], which provided some BMRB and Gallup figures. Ebony And Ivory was the 67th seller of the 80s. The 66th was Living Doll by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones feat. Hank B Marvin. RM in its year-end list for 1986 gave the song 671,398 sales. Music Week reported on 19-11-08 that sales were now 746,183. RM's sales for The Only Way Is Up by Yazz and the Plastic Population, the 65th seller of the 80s was 671,500 in 1988. Assuming that the RM figures are relatively accurate then Ebony And Ivory sold about 670,000 in the 1980s. It does not figure on any best-selling catalogue download list, nor has it charted in the top 200. I have given it a miserly 10,000 download as I prefer to underestimate unless proven otherwise, but it could very well have sold slightly more in the range 670,000 to 740,000. Edited May 22, 201114 yr by SimonW
May 22, 201114 yr Surprised to see Say Say Say there but not The Girl Is Mine - which I had always imagined sold a lot more copies.
May 23, 201114 yr Author Didn't think Don't Go Breaking My Heart had sold that much!Nor did I! But the latest OCC figures to September 2010 are 978,000 - http://fatherandy2.proboards.com/index.cgi...2719&page=9
May 23, 201114 yr Endless love seems to have very high sales-i'm assuming that it must of sold a lot of downloads cos it wasnt even in the top 50 best selling singles of 1981.
May 23, 201114 yr I think because it was credited as Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce? Although if it was included, it'd be like #13 or something! :o No it wouldn't because you'd have to include a whole load of other A featuring B songs in the list. Some of them would be above Telephone.
May 23, 201114 yr seems weird that duets that were billed as "X feat Y" are not included then....as both artists are listed and goes towards their own lists of number 1s. e.g. Madonna/Justin Timberlake : 4 Minutes. (over 500,000 sold) whereas these ARE included... 10 Easy Lover - Philip Bailey (duet with Phil Collins) 1985 565,000 ("duet with") 3 I’ll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy, Faith Evans feat. 112 1997 1,470,000 ( a duet!!??) 18 The Best Things In Life Are Free - Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson with Special Guests BBD and Ralph Tresvant 1992 450,000 (a duet??) 38 You Got The Dirtee Love - Florence + The Machine and Dizzee Rascal 2010 325,000 (a group and Dizzee, does not make a duet!) a dubious list indeed!!
May 23, 201114 yr 38 You Got The Dirtee Love - Florence + The Machine and Dizzee Rascal 2010 325,000 (a group and Dizzee, does not make a duet!) TBF Florence + The Machine is as good as a solo artist. They're considered a solo artist by the BRITs at least. I agree 3 and 18 shouldn't be there as they include more than 2 artists though. But then 4 Minutes also has 3 artists (Timbaland being the third) Edited May 23, 201114 yr by Bray
May 23, 201114 yr Did Timbaland get official credit on 4 Minutes? I often see it as just Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake. I never know when he's credited and when he isn't on other people's tracks. Similar with Ayo Technology; I often see it as 50 Cent ft. Justin Timberlake.
May 23, 201114 yr Did Timbaland get official credit on 4 Minutes? I often see it as just Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake. I never know when he's credited and when he isn't on other people's tracks. Similar with Ayo Technology; I often see it as 50 Cent ft. Justin Timberlake. Well, on the single sleeve, it's billed as Madonna and Justin
May 23, 201114 yr Timbaland is credited on iTunes. On both 4 Minutes and Ayo Technology? Also, I don't think iTunes has them correct anyway, wince What's My Name?, Telephone and Love the Way You Lie are all credited as duets there (e.g. Rihanna & Drake, Eminem & Rihanna, etc.), yet aren't on the list. And I'm sure I've seen the same song with different credits on iTunes anyway.
May 23, 201114 yr On both 4 Minutes and Ayo Technology? Also, I don't think iTunes has them correct anyway, wince What's My Name?, Telephone and Love the Way You Lie are all credited as duets there (e.g. Rihanna & Drake, Eminem & Rihanna, etc.), yet aren't on the list. And I'm sure I've seen the same song with different credits on iTunes anyway. iTunes credits lots of songs that are features as duets. I personally think it looks better. For example: 12. I'm Into You (feat. Lil Wayne) - Jennifer Lopez vs. 12. I'm Into You - Jennifer Lopez & Lil Wayne It also means that when I read it I don't get stuck with the word 'feet' in my head :P
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