Avicii's Wake Me Up sits at number 9 in the iTunes chart through pre-orders only. I wanted to know what is the most pre-ordered single of all time in the UK. It would also be nice to know how many pre-orders this song got.

Edited July 13, 201311 yr by Rhys Ivey

Other than charity/XF winners singles, I think One Direction hold the record with What Makes You Beautiful (or Live While We're Young) - it's impossible to tell how much a pre-order has sold sadly.

I'm fairly sure Live While We're Young is at least the most pre-ordered single for Sony, which is quite odd considering it only made #3 and sold ~80k :lol: WMYB definitely broke the record back when that was out though, but LWWY has since broken it again.

Couple of questions really.

 

Firstly, why is it some chart and some dont?

 

And secondly, do they go on the same basis as normal sales on a rolling chart that represents the amount in the last 48 hours and then all go on in a big bulk when it comes to midnight saturday? Because if thats the case avicii could have a MASSIVE lead sunday

 

From the other topic, but I can't reply to the questions as it has been locked.

 

Only the "single" pre-orders chart in the singles chart and the "EP" pre-orders chart in the albums chart. I'm not sure why all of the pre-orders aren't made "singles" as even though Lucy Spraggan's 'Lighthouse' pre-order has 3 tracks (and the music video), it is still allowed to be classed as a single. Maybe any pre-orders with 4 or more tracks (often remixes) have to be classed as EPs.

 

Yeah, as far as I'm aware all of the pre-orders Avicii will have accumulated since the pre-order was put up a couple of weeks ago will all be added together at midnight tonight and 'Wake Me Up' will end up with a massive lead just like 'Blurred Lines' did.

Personally, I wish pre-orders weren't included on the iT chart - I can no longer easily tell which are actual newly released singles.

Band Aid? Elton John?

Other than charity/XF winners singles, I think One Direction hold the record with What Makes You Beautiful (or Live While We're Young) - it's impossible to tell how much a pre-order has sold sadly.

 

Recently though, wouldn't Blurred Lines and Avicii's song sold more as pre-orders? One Direction's pre-order showed up in the album chart didn't it? So less sales are needed to get high on that chart.

Band Aid? Elton John?

 

Yeah, I wanted to ask about pre-orders before the download era. Does anyone know?

I just got a chart book from the library, and through the 60s the book mentions record-breaking "advance orders" from time to time.

Is that the equivalent to a modern-day pre-order? Here are four examples that I've seen, and the numbers are massive:

 

1. Spring 1961-"Surrender" by Elvis Presley has a record 460,000 advance orders

2. Jan. 1962- "The Young Ones" by Cliff Richard racked up 500,000 advance orders before entering at #1

3. Summer 1963- "She Loves You" by The Beatles breaks the record for advance orders (but the book doesn't give a number)

4. 1964- "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles has advance orders of over a million

 

Those numbers just seem too big to be the same as a pre-order of today...even too big to be just the first-week sales!

Is it too hard to confirm as accurate, since it's 1960s data? (the book says it's courtesy of NME and Music Week)

Yeah, I wanted to ask about pre-orders before the download era. Does anyone know?

I just got a chart book from the library, and through the 60s the book mentions record-breaking "advance orders" from time to time.

Is that the equivalent to a modern-day pre-order? Here are four examples that I've seen, and the numbers are massive:

 

1. Spring 1961-"Surrender" by Elvis Presley has a record 460,000 advance orders

2. Jan. 1962- "The Young Ones" by Cliff Richard racked up 500,000 advance orders before entering at #1

3. Summer 1963- "She Loves You" by The Beatles breaks the record for advance orders (but the book doesn't give a number)

4. 1964- "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles has advance orders of over a million

 

Those numbers just seem too big to be the same as a pre-order of today...even too big to be just the first-week sales!

Is it too hard to confirm as accurate, since it's 1960s data? (the book says it's courtesy of NME and Music Week)

 

Won't those numbers be the amount ordered by the record shops in total prior to it bring released?

Band Aid? Elton John?

 

Definitely *not* the latter, since no-one could have foreknowledge of Princess Di's death (unly you believe the batty conspiriacy theories)... :P

Won't those numbers be the amount ordered by the record shops in total prior to it bring released?

 

:o

Probably! That would make a lot more sense! Thanks :D

Personally, I wish pre-orders weren't included on the iT chart - I can no longer easily tell which are actual newly released singles.

 

Not only that but it makes the chart a bit too predictable now. :(

Not only that but it makes the chart a bit too predictable now. :(

 

Not really. Laura Mvula's "Green Garden" did really well on pre-orders, and was A-Listed on Radio 1, yet it could only manage a top 40 position overall.

Not only that but it makes the chart a bit too predictable now. :(

 

It's only slightly more predictable than it already was. The majority of pre-orders are still EPs and we've been able to largely predict where they'll chart through the iTunes album chart for ages.

 

Plus it's never been a 100% accurate predictor anyway. Pre-orders seemed to suggest Breach would be a lot higher than he is now.

Edited July 17, 201311 yr by Bré