Band Aid have made 4 versions of Do They Know It's Christmas.

 

Band Aid in 1984 - Band Aid II in 1989 - Band Aid 20 in 2004 - Band Aid 30 in 2014.

 

All versions made #1 on 1st week of release. All except Band Aid II has featured Bono in the line up.

 

Anyone think that the latest version will beat the sales of the original version (which also charts again this week).

It sold over 1 million copies in it's first week of release. Staying at #1 for 5 weeks.

It has sold 3.7 million to date in the UK alone making it the second best selling single ever in the UK behind Elton John Candle In The Wind '97.

Edited November 24, 201410 yr by euro music

No, no version will ever overtake the original on total sales as every time a new one has been released the original also benefits therefore extending its sales to an even harder to beat target.

The only chance of a new version beating the original would be if a) the new version is spectacularly good or b) the cause captures the public mood in the same way as the original. Realistically both those conditions would probably have to be satisfied.

A heart wrenching, populist cause/charity/emergency in Autumn plus the death of Bob Geldof in early November could lead to a spectacular version being made. It would depend on whether the legends that graced the 1984 version would run away from the idea or embrace it but if they contributed plus the best of modern pop's performers might entice 3.7 million people to part with their cash.

 

/kobar

Since the original version was released on a format that everyone could buy and then buy again and again, whereas now you can't really do that - then no a new version won't outsell the old.

A fact that Mr Geldof seems to be unaware of by going on X-Factor last night and appealing for people (who have download it) to rebuy it and buy one for your friends etc.

In the digital age the Main sites operate a cloud system and lock you out from buying the track again. Deleting the track doesn't make any difference. You can download the track from the cloud and you don't pay for it again after the first 99p. I would be surprised if the system was changed just for the sake of allowing people to buy another track of Band Aid 30. You could imagine lots of artists asking for that to happen so they could make more money!

The Supermarkets might help add to the total sales, but only when the CD is out. How many people are going to buy the CD?

 

When Geldof dies people will buy the Boomtown Rats tracks. If he dies near Christmas then some facebook people will campaign for the Original song to be top that year. If it makes it to the top depends on how the public will react to his death.

I will be buying the CD single!

Anyone think that the latest version will beat the sales of the original version (which also charts again this week).

Is that really even a serious question? :unsure:

the death of Bob Geldof in early November

 

:lol:

 

It might take that. Certainly DTKIC is a better legacy than his "saxophone" playing on Top of the Pops.

Band Aid is a Geldof project of conscience, but the song/first version is really a Midge Ure creation - even Geldof says that - Geldof's creative peak was Rat Trap and I Don't Like Mondays with a good run of singles on either side of them. I will be buying the cd single, not something I've done for some years. Hopefully lots of people will be able to buy multiple copies then.

According to what I've read around The Internet today, the CD version of the Band Aid 30 Single has 250,000 'Pre-Sales' in ASDA Stores.

As a result ASDA has already donated the cash from them - £1 Million - to Band Aid. (At around £4 a copy for the CD).

 

The question is - have people really ordered 250,000 copies of the CD from ASDA, or are 250,000 copies what ASDA thinks it will sell in their stores?

The 2 things are not the same. (The first is a more or less guaranteed Sale, & the second is an assumption & an estimate by ASDA).

Edited November 26, 201410 yr by zeus555

I'd find it quite hard to believe that 250,000 people have walked into an ASDA store and asked to pre-order a copy of the Band Aid single. I might be wrong though.

Edited November 26, 201410 yr by Mango

Mango - I doubt if 'The Public' have ordered 250,000 copies of the Band Aid CD from ASDA.

 

But, if they have, then it does not mean that 250,000 different people have done so. The biggest UK

Charity CD's often have a lot of people buying several copies, to give as gifts to family & friends. So

the 250,000 copies could be 125,000 people ordering it twice, or 50,000 people ordering 5 copies each.

And any combination of people buying multiple copies. I'm sure that some people will order as many as

10 or 12 copies of it.

 

Anyhow, the 250,000 Band Aid CD claim is certainly true - Band Aid 30 have acknowledged it, & ASDA's

£1 Million donation, in their Twitter account.

 

https://twitter.com/BandAid30/status/537214724568805376

 

Soon we will see if the CD really will actually sell those 250,000 copies in ASDA stores.

Edited November 26, 201410 yr by zeus555