Big year for kylie, I wonder did got to be certain loose out on top 20 by much, all huge hits which is more impressive when we look at how successful the album was aswell.

OCC have posted the Top 40 best selling songs of 1988 as revealed on Channel 5's Britain's Favourite 80s Songs:

Would have been great if 'Got to Be Certain' could have just sneaked into the Top 20 too, but what a year 1988 was for Kylie!

 

Iconic year :heart: Kylie mania at its highest

Real Groove re-entered the UK singles chart at #97!

 

It sold 4,734 copies [3,410 vinyl / 1,086 streaming / 238 downloads]. Total sales stand at 47,271.

1989 best sellers have been posted by the OCC:

 

Official Top 40 best-selling songs of 1989

10 HAND ON YOUR HEART KYLIE MINOGUE 1

21 WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING KYLIE MINOGUE 2

32 ESPECIALLY FOR YOU KYLIE MINOGUE & JASON DONOVAN 1

Especially for you due its time of release would have its main sales split over 2 years.

I am very surprised HOYH outsold LAP by Madonna

I didnt expect that either but always like to see kylie doing well although like a prayer is my fave madonna single.

I am very surprised HOYH outsold LAP by Madonna

I didnt expect that either but always like to see kylie doing well although like a prayer is my fave madonna single.

 

According to Wikipedia, it was the same situation in the UK albums chart - Enjoy Yourself outsold Like a Prayer in 1989. Enjoy Yourself was 6th in the EOY chart, while Like a Prayer was 7th. That's pretty remarkable!

 

To be fair, Enjoy Yourself was a Q4 release and achieved a fantastically consistent chart run throughout October, November and December: 1-3-3-3-2-2-3-3-3-4-6-3.

 

Like a Prayer was released in March 1989 (Q1). It did stay Top 75 for the whole year, but in the run up to Christmas it was only in the 60s area of the chart, so missed out on majorly boosting its sales in that market.

 

I hope it's not contentious to say that in the UK in 1989, it appears that Kylie was bigger than Madonna. Just for a brief moment. For people old enough to remember, did it feel that way?

 

Considering what a huge couple of years Kylie had in the late 80s... her decline in sales and chart success with the third/fourth albums seems incredibly sudden. Enjoy Yourself's chart run/sales was huge, yet just one year later she only made it to #9 with Rhythm of Love. I also wonder, for fans old enough to remember, did that feel shocking back then?

According to Wikipedia, it was the same situation in the UK albums chart - Enjoy Yourself outsold Like a Prayer in 1989. Enjoy Yourself was 6th in the EOY chart, while Like a Prayer was 7th. That's pretty remarkable!

I think there may have been a week or so missing from the year end chart linked to on Wikipedia, Music Week at the time places 'Like a Prayer' 9th, behind albums from Tina Turner and Fine Young Cannibals (their albums were in the Top 10 and Top 20 weekly charts respectively at the end of 1989, which would support that there was indeed some sales missing). From Gezza's 1980s end of decade chart, he's estimated 'Enjoy Yourself' to have completed 1989 with 878k and 'Like a Prayer' with 792k. 'Like a Prayer' has been a far bigger trickle seller though and now has a quarter of a million lead over 'Enjoy Yourself'!

 

Gezza also estimates 'Hand On Your Heart' to have completed 1989 with 419k and 'Like a Prayer' with 412k, so not much in it at all!

 

These are Gezza's estimates for the weekly sales of 'Hand On Your Heart' and 'Like a Prayer' whilst in the Top 10:

 

Hand On Your Heart

02 67,400 (est.) (lost 11k sales from discounted cassette sales)

01 103,000 (est.)

02 83,000 (est.)

02 67,000 (est.)

04 41,000 (est.)

 

Like a Prayer

02 66,000 (est.)

01 87,000 (est.)

01 81,000 (est.)

01 59,000 (est.)

03 44,000 (est.)

08 29,000 (est.)

 

It's definitely strange to see such a decline between 'Enjoy Yourself' and 'Rhythm of Love'. I've not got an 1990 estimate for 'Rhythm of Love', but it finished the year as the 82nd best seller and I have an estimate of 200k for #70 (The Rolling Stones - 'Hot Rocks'). I know there was a shift in image but it's strange to think it alienated her audience that much.

It's easy to overlook how huge kylie was back then, madonna has done much better with trickle sales over the years but I genuinely thought like a prayer both single and album had much higher original sales than they had, I'm not hugely surprised kylie initially sold more as I'm old enough to remember the 80s Kylie mania. I still find it weird the sharp decline in the rhythm of love sales from enjoy yourself especially as the singles were so strong, it was the crossover time for kylie and she was losing the girl next door appeal which is what I put down to as it sure as hell wasnt to do with a decline in quality

Interesting to see those week by week comparisons for the singles, thanks Liam - both huge hits! :wub: Oops at Kylie's cassettes... thankfully the second week proved to be an even bigger week, but I bet her label panicked over that blunder!

 

Given how huge and iconic Like a Prayer is, it does look funny to see Enjoy Yourself quite significantly ahead of it in 1989. Based on my preference I think it was deserved that Like a Prayer outsold it in the end. Enjoy Yourself is charming in how completely of its time it sounds, whereas Like a Prayer feels timeless to me.

 

Strange that the UK public/fanbase was seemingly turned off by Kylie's image change (to me it doesn't seem like it was drastic/shocking at all, just that she was coming across more like a young woman...). Like you say Feel the Fever, it seems that people heavily bought into the "girl next door" image and didn't like that she had lost that vibe about her. A shame that it had an impact on her sales, considering how great the music from that era was. Better the Devil You Know, Step Back in Time, What Do I Have to Do and Shocked... an iconic run of singles which should belong to a #1 studio album! http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/angel.gif

If it wasn't for those discounted sales, it would debuted at #1 ('Eternal Flame' was #1 that week with 69k)! The cassette sales were sold at a lower retail price than was eligible, however I believe the eligible retail price was lowered soon after this. It would have been the first single from a female artist to have debuted at #1.

 

I would have thought 'Better the Devil You Know' and 'Step Back in Time' would have introduced to a new audience who would be interested in purchasing her album, but clearly not enough to make up for the loss of her previous audience. Perhaps there was less promo for the album?

Kylies audience from the first two albums probably grew up and tastes changed.

 

She would have had many girl fans initially too like Madonna in her first few eras before her audience changed to the gay community (mainly).

Interesting Enjoy Yourself Vs LAP!

 

LAP feel like such a huge album, culturally important moment so to see EJ up there with it for the end of year charts is pretty remarkable.

2 huge number 1 albums followed by a number 9 with a huge sales decline despite having what is often is seen as a golden run of singles just baffles in some ways, I think better the devil you know is probably a kylie song people assume was a number 1 but it was also seen as the time we got introduced to kylie as a woman rather than a girl and people didnt take to it aswell.

I find the decline with Rhythm of Love perplexing and bizarre.

 

Do you think waiting for such a long time for 'Step Back in Time' to follow 'Better the Devil You Know' and releasing the album off the back of that might have harmed it? I think it probably could have done better if released after the first single, although I assume the album wasn't finished by that point.

I agree i still think its bizzare and while i understand some of the reasons that we have came to for it happening i still think its a bit of an out of the blue under performamnce especially due to the strength of the singles released from it. I know the album was successful in its own right but it was a sharp drop in sales and it didn't exactly pick up huge amounts of trickle/casual sales over the years despite having the singles that many people refer to as some of her very best.

The rhythm of love era appears to be more of a fan favourite era but most of the general public don’t connect with the album in the same way as her first two PWL albums. This was the start of Kylie’s decline during PWL even though the music was actually her best output.

Its probably the case, outside devil the casual wouldnt remember the other 3 songs of the bat and to the general public I think lucky, loco motion, especially for you and hand on your heart are all very well known both in and out of the fanbase.

I suppose one could argue it's incredibly rare for any song to be remembered by a casual audience 30 years on.