I'm trying to find sources for every first week sale figure, and Emma's What Took You So Long? with 76,317 has stumped me. :(

 

I can only find these two sources that simply say "over 76,000":

 

http://scans.chartarchive.org/UK/2001/UK%2...02001.04.14.pdf

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/n...the-top__14532/

 

Is anyone able to find where 76,317 came from? (Wikipedia doesn't count as a source!)

With the help of Bryan Adams and Left Eye. Three of them, Melanie, Emma and Geri all did have the hits here in Asia. Never Be The Same Again, What Took You So Long and It's Raining Men but then again TLC was very popular in Asia as well. It's Raining Men was a soundtrack of Bridget Jones which was a hit globally, people at that time probably didn't buy the song or the album but they surely knew It's Raining Men's Geri version. Geri was painted as somewhat Brit Madonna and there were a lot of controversies among the music gurus over here back then too lol. The whole point was just that she did it on her own in her own ways and very successful, didn't mean to take anything away from Melanie. Geri is brilliant for me but she's selfish and lacks grit.

 

That argument is flawed because it suggests that NBTSA was successful because of TLC. Mel C was a Spice Girl and at the time, they were still at the peak of their success across the world. So technically, if your argument was true, surely both her albums and previous singles would have been extremely successful too because the Spice fans would buy them and make them successful.Heck, the Spice Girls sold out 13 stadiums last year - Mel C should be selling hundreds of thousands from what you are saying. That's not how it works (though of course it helps).

 

In a way, you can see that Geri's sales on her first singles were consistent - her fanbase was solid but didnt grow beyond that and eventually crushed after the first single of the second album. Melanie was able to go beyond her initial success precisely because her outputs were consistently better.

 

I think the main thing is quality and visibility. The songs that cut through the public and media are those that are of good quality or extremely well marketed.

 

Both put out songs that were relatable (for their time) and tehy promoted the hell out of those songs.

I don't understand all these differences on sales in the first week .... everyone reports a figure

That argument is flawed because it suggests that NBTSA was successful because of TLC. Mel C was a Spice Girl and at the time, they were still at the peak of their success across the world. So technically, if your argument was true, surely both her albums and previous singles would have been extremely successful too because the Spice fans would buy them and make them successful.Heck, the Spice Girls sold out 13 stadiums last year - Mel C should be selling hundreds of thousands from what you are saying. That's not how it works (though of course it helps).

 

In a way, you can see that Geri's sales on her first singles were consistent - her fanbase was solid but didnt grow beyond that and eventually crushed after the first single of the second album. Melanie was able to go beyond her initial success precisely because her outputs were consistently better.

 

I think the main thing is quality and visibility. The songs that cut through the public and media are those that are of good quality or extremely well marketed.

 

Both put out songs that were relatable (for their time) and tehy promoted the hell out of those songs.

 

It's because of the combination of the two not only TLC. But the featuring between the Spice Girl and TLC's member was quite exciting. I would say the peak of the Spice Girls pretty much ended after Goodbye's era here. To be successful, quality alone is not enough, branding is very important too and sometimes probably more important than quality. That's how the Spice Girls are still holding the crown of the most successful girl group in history because of their geniousness of branding like no other.

I don't understand all these differences on sales in the first week .... everyone reports a figure

1994-1996 had some problems when it came to compiling sales. The way OCC received sales data became more accurate from 1997 and beyond. OCC ended up retroactively downgrading figures from those previous years, so it affects Spice, Wannabe, Say You'll Be There and 2 Become 1.

 

2 Become 1's first week sales is what mystifies me the most. It was downgraded to 426,000 at the end of 1997 and that figure was still being used as of 2012 (Million Sellers Book by OCC). Then it was upgraded to 462,000 in 2017, by the OCC. It makes me wonder whether '2' and '6' were accidentally switched around in the article that stated 462,000, and that it really should still be 426,000.

I'm trying to find sources for every first week sale figure, and Emma's What Took You So Long? with 76,317 has stumped me. :(

 

I can only find these two sources that simply say "over 76,000":

 

http://scans.chartarchive.org/UK/2001/UK%2...02001.04.14.pdf

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/n...the-top__14532/

 

Is anyone able to find where 76,317 came from? (Wikipedia doesn't count as a source!)

I don't know / can't find anything either, but if it helps, it was added to Wikipedia in 2005 at the same time as a bunch of other exact figures for 2001 #1s, so if the rest of them are legit, that could be a good sign: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...p;oldid=9324111

 

Just looked at the first page and wow at the 'Viva Forever' figure being revealed through a voice message in a documentary :')

It's really annoying me re: the 'What Took You So Long' first week sale! I have a feeling that a precise, combined figure was given for the two weeks at #1, so the first week sales was worked out using the second week sale which was 64,818 (don't know where that figure came from either though haha).

I don't know / can't find anything either, but if it helps, it was added to Wikipedia in 2005 at the same time as a bunch of other exact figures for 2001 #1s, so if the rest of them are legit, that could be a good sign: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...p;oldid=9324111

 

Just looked at the first page and wow at the 'Viva Forever' figure being revealed through a voice message in a documentary :')

:rofl: A belated thank you to that woman on their team for that reveal (and to the camera man for filming the moment)! I don't think we'd have ever known an accurate figure otherwise.

 

I wish Music Week had been less secretive and revealed precise figures back in those days :(

 

Thank you for finding that Wikipedia link! I'd love to know where that person got the info from, but given that those figures have lasted for all these years without a source, I suppose it's something to take on face value.

 

Unfortunately OfficialCharts also like to only provide rounded figures. I've googled most of the Wikipedia figures in a search with OfficialCharts, but it seems that they've never shared those precise figures to be able to verify any of them. Just stuff like "Whole Again charged to Number 1 with 69,000 sales" for Atomic Kitten (Wikipedia says 69,286).

 

It's really annoying me re: the 'What Took You So Long' first week sale! I have a feeling that a precise, combined figure was given for the two weeks at #1, so the first week sales was worked out using the second week sale which was 64,818 (don't know where that figure came from either though haha).

:cry: I was also wondering how that 64,818 sale was known, but nothing in particular comes up in my search for that either, argh!

 

I googled the combined 2 week figure of 141,135 and found this... still no source though :(

 

https://spanishcharts.com/showitem.asp?inte...Long?&cat=s

"29.01.2010 21:44

nirvanamusic87

Member

****

Catchy pop track and she deserved her number 1 with this. Her only solo UK#1. 141,135 sold while at #1. 13 weeks in the UK top 100. UK#1 and Ireland#9. 265,000 copies sold in the UK.

Last edited: 02.06.2013 20:04"

 

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the info had been posted on DenDen at some point, but sadly that's wiped from the internet :(

Earliest mention I can find of 64,818 is here: https://fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/30...scrollTo=703193 in September 2005, and then this post clarifies the info was taken from Dotmusic https://fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/57...crollTo=1278021

 

I think I'll have to let this one go :kink: Perhaps both weekly figures come from people who had access to the OCC database, so there isn't a confirmed source per se :thinking: I have a feeling It's Raining Men's figure has the same issue of not having an actual source.

Yeah I'm guessing they either come from a site no longer available or someone asked the OCC themselves. I'll keep this in mind in case I stumble across a source though! :lol: Do you think the OCC have a database for weekly sale figures in the same way they do for totals? I've never seen anyone post weekly sales figures unless they've kept a record from when they received them at the time.

Yeah I'm guessing they either come from a site no longer available or someone asked the OCC themselves. I'll keep this in mind in case I stumble across a source though! :lol: Do you think the OCC have a database for weekly sale figures in the same way they do for totals? I've never seen anyone post weekly sales figures unless they've kept a record from when they received them at the time.

I wonder! I suppose they must at least keep first week sales to be able to refer back to rounded figures from time to time. It would be interesting to know whether they keep weekly totals for every song, rather than just updated totals. I really wish that one of us could have access to this damn database :lol:

Victoria Beckham and Emma Bunton posts are completed :cheer: Please feel free to let me know if you notice any mistakes along the way.

 

I originally had Emma - Maybe first week sales as 21,700, but Music Week only stated "over 21,500", so I've replaced it with that figure. Not sure where 21,700 came from, although that figure has been around since 2005 without a source: https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussio...ales-for-the-uk

 

I'll hopefully get Melanie C and Geri completed tomorrow/over the weekend. It's taking me longer to do this than I had anticipated! :drama:

:rofl: A belated thank you to that woman on their team for that reveal (and to the camera man for filming the moment)! I don't think we'd have ever known an accurate figure otherwise.

 

I wish Music Week had been less secretive and revealed precise figures back in those days :(

 

Thank you for finding that Wikipedia link! I'd love to know where that person got the info from, but given that those figures have lasted for all these years without a source, I suppose it's something to take on face value.

 

Unfortunately OfficialCharts also like to only provide rounded figures. I've googled most of the Wikipedia figures in a search with OfficialCharts, but it seems that they've never shared those precise figures to be able to verify any of them. Just stuff like "Whole Again charged to Number 1 with 69,000 sales" for Atomic Kitten (Wikipedia says 69,286).

Did Music Week possibly provide precise figures in their online articles (as opposed to their printed ones)? That was my guess, since that's been the source for precise weekly figures since at least 2005 or so, I believe. I tried to search Haven earlier to see if I could find any examples of Music Week articles from circa 2001, but the only thing I found was this library site archive (from this thread) that's been dead for probably a decade :')

 

But I did find official confirmation for a couple of the 2001 #1 figures! From a Music Week article in 2013:

Overall singles sales are up 6.10% week-on-week at 3,431,468 – 4.18% above same week 2012 sales of 3,293,659.

 

Highest 21st Century Weekly Singles Sales (Sales/Title/Artist/Week/Year)

1108269 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG 9 2002

850535 UNCHAINED MELODY GARETH GATES 12 2002

742180 THAT'S MY GOAL SHAYNE WARD 51 2005

576046 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 51 2008

571253 A MOMENT LIKE THIS LEONA LEWIS 51 2006

555622 WHEREVER YOU ARE MILITARY WIVES/GARETH MALONE 51 2011

549823 PURE AND SIMPLE HEARSAY 11 2001

502672 KILLING IN THE NAME RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE 51 2009

489560 IMPOSSIBLE JAMES ARTHUR 50 2012

453426 EVERYBODY HURTS HELPING HAITI 6 2010

450838 THE CLIMB JOE MCELDERRY 51 2009

439007 WHEN WE COLLIDE MATT CARDLE 50 2010

377074 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG 10 2002

359639 CAN WE FIX IT BOB THE BUILDER 51 2000

345498 IT WASN'T ME SHAGGY FT RIKROK 9 2001

313244 HERO X FACTOR FINALISTS 44 2008

311887 HALLELUJAH ALEXANDRA BURKE 52 2008

306648 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD KYLIE MINOGUE 38 2001

292846 FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE CHERYL COLE 43 2009

292594 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID 20 49 2004

292318 UPTOWN GIRL WESTLIFE 10 2001

287849 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS BAND AID 20 50 2004

275742 WHEN YOU BELIEVE LEON JACKSON 51 2007

273508 SPIRIT IN THE SKY GARETH GATES FT THE KUMARS 11 2003

269248 HE AIN'T HEAVY HE'S MY BROTHER JUSTICE COLLECTIVE 51 2012

266844 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY 11 2005

266524 WAKE MEUP! AVICII 29 2013

'It Wasn't Me' and 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' match the Wikipedia editor's figures perfectly, however... 'Pure And Simple' is 16 copies lower than that on Wikipedia (549,839), and 'Uptown Girl' is 1 copy lower (292,319). MW have stated the same 'Pure And Simple' sales numerous times (2010, 2011, 2012), so it wouldn't be a typo from them (not that the above list looks anything but copy-pasted lol), but it also probably wouldn't be a typo from the Wikipedia editor, as '23' and '39' aren't exactly close together, nor would it be made up, as 2/4 are correct and the other 2 are so close. The plot thickens. I wonder if it could possibly be that 'Pure And Simple' sold 16 copies in the week before its release as a street date violation, and MW changed their mind on whether or not to lump that in with the proper first week? Sounds unlikely, but that (at a greater scale) did happen to Westlife a couple times (which I'd seen recently as an uncited claim on Wikipedia so it's good to know it's actually true):

Florence + The Machine storm to their first number one, with Spectrum (Say My Name) moving to pole position on sales of 64,816 copies. It is the track's debut week on the Top 75, with the vast majority of its sales coming from the newly released Calvin Harris remix, though the track was number 104 last week on sales of the album version. If you regard the Top 75 as 'the chart', it is the 286th track to debut at number one in the 21st century. If you prefer to regard the Top 200 as 'the chart', it is the 16th biggest jumper to number one in the 21st century. The three biggest climbers to number one, all because of minor stock leakage in the days of CDs, are by Westlife. Uptown Girl set the record in 2001, when it leapt 194-1. The following year, they catapulted 196-1 with Unbreakable, and in 2003 they made the biggest possible jump in the chart, rocketing 200-1 with Mandy.

Searching for the 549,839 figure and Hear'Say only brings up one source which was a member's post on Digital Spy Forums so I'm guessing that's a mistake on their behalf. The Westlife figure of 292,319 is probably a typo as again there's no credible sources that pop up when you search it.

 

As for those precise 2001 figures, they were all reported as such at the time.

Struggling with some Melanie C single first week sales now, ugh!

 

I can't find a source for 81,000 for When You're Gone! As if Music Week didn't think it was worth writing about Melanie C's first solo effort. :drama:

 

Northern Star is proving to be a problem too:

 

"Melanie C - Northern Star (#4 - 28/11/99) from new entries either side its somewhere between 75 and 105,000"

https://fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/58...crollTo=1291770

 

Not sure where they got 75k - 105k from, it's not mentioned in the Music Week report unless I'm overlooking it: http://scans.chartarchive.org/UK/1999/UK%2...01999.12.04.pdf

 

Gezza in this thread states 74,000 for Northern Star, but is that just an estimate?

 

 

Thanks for all the help Rush and Liam! :heart:

Thanks for updating everything Jay and for the figures. I know this would have taken days of work 👏

Thanks for updating everything Jay and for the figures. I know this would have taken days of work 👏

You're welcome! :wub: This is mostly time consuming because I'm trying to verify every first week figure, oops! I've now added Let's Love, First Day of My Life, The Moment You Believe and Understand to Melanie C's post. I've only gone as far as Understand; I still need to complete Melanie C's releases from 2011 to date, her albums, and all of Geri's releases.

Melanie C's sections are now completed!

 

I can't find sources for the first weeks of Melanie C's three albums, but all the figures existed in 2005, so I assume they came from an issue of Music Week that I don't have access to. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like a first week sales figure for the This Time album was ever revealed. I'm not sure where 4,500 came from!

I think I saw the first week sale for Northern Star somewhere - check Music Week the week it peaked maybe (I'm on my phone so can't check).

Bingo!

 

Mention of Melanie C brings us finally to the former Spice Girl's third solo album, Beautiful Intentions. Introductory single Next Best Superstar managed to debut at number 10 last week but the album can't match that achievement, and debuts at number 24 with first week sales of 8,970. Both of Mel's previous solo albums did much better - Northern Star opened at number 10 with 17,773 sales in 1999, and went on to peak at number four, with eventual sales of 881,420, while 2003's Reason opened and peaked at number five though its first week sales of 30,876 were flattering for an album that eventually sold only 99,859 copies.

https://fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/30327/sales-info

 

Never Be the Same Again sold 144,936 in its first week (source).