Sorry for triple posting :blush:

 

Increases since last updates (I'm assuming the data is from up to 24th March 2023:

 

Sound of the Underground

874,000 - 27th November 2020

1,028,000 - 24th March 2023

(+154,000 in 121 weeks)

= 1272.73 per week on average

 

Predictions:

1,100,000 - April 2024

1,200,000 [2xPlatinum] - October 2025

 

^ It seems like it might have crossed 1,000,000 back in October 2022? If so, that was a couple of months in advance of its 20th anniversary!

 

 

The Promise

712,140 - 22nd October 2021

765,000 - 24th March 2023

(+52,860 in 74 weeks)

= 714.32 per week on average

 

Predictions:

800,000 - March 2024

900,000 - November 2026

1,000,000 - July 2029

1,100,000 - March 2032

1,200,000 [2xPlatinum] - November 2034

 

^ The Promise felt so massive at the time that I feel it deserves the status of having sold a million already, but it looks like it might take more than 20 years after its release for it to manage that.

 

 

Love Machine

400,000 [Gold] - 7th February 2020

580,000 - 24th March 2023

(+180,000 in 163 weeks)

= 1,104.29 per week on average

 

Predictions:

600,000 [Platinum] - August 2023

700,000 - April 2025

800,000 - January 2027

900,000 - October 2028

1,000,000 - July 2030

1,100,000 - April 2032

1,200,000 [2xPlatinum] - December 2033

 

^ However I wonder if its weekly sales might be lower now than the average suggests. I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed for it to go Platinum this year!

 

 

Call the Shots

400,000 [Gold] - 14th February 2020

462,500 - 24th March 2023

(+62,500 in 162 weeks)

= 385.80 per week on average

 

Predictions:

500,000 - February 2025

600,000 [Platinum] - January 2030

 

^ With how sales work for current hits nowadays, I'm sure a hit as big as Call the Shots would have gone Platinum within a couple of years at least. Instead it took 12+ years to go Gold and will possibly need 22+ years to go Platinum. -_- Although this is still up there with their most streamed singles (it is 6th on their Spotify) these weekly sales are pretty low. It's pretty much selling at a rate of 20,000 per year.

 

 

Jump

400,000 [Gold] - 26th November 2021

446,000 - 24th March 2023

(+46,000 in 69 weeks)

= 666.67 per week on average

 

Predictions:

500,000 - October 2024

600,000 [Platinum] - August 2027

 

 

----------

 

Quite an injustice that many of their excellent singles aren't even certified yet. It stings a bit when you see numerous old songs sailing past Silver/Gold/Platinum in recent years, some of which didn't even chart. Sadly quite a few of these Girls Aloud songs just aren't very prominent or widely remembered. I'm hopeful that No Good Advice will go Silver within the next couple of years (it deserved that in 2003 let alone ~2025 -_- ), and I'd say that there's quite a reasonable chance that both Sexy! No No No... and Walk This Way can crawl their way to Silver status before the end of the 2020s. Not holding my breath for Untouchable or The Show to manage that. :(

Maybe this is just me but I’m bemused that their most streamed song has less than half of Busted’s Year 3000 streams (recently revealed to be 80 million?!).

 

I feel like ‘Year 3000’ is a lot more well-known and well-remembered than any Girls Aloud song so that doesn’t surprise me hugely. What does surprise me is ‘Revolution in the Head’ appearing and not something like ‘Love is the Key’ instead.

I feel like ‘Year 3000’ is a lot more well-known and well-remembered than any Girls Aloud song so that doesn’t surprise me hugely. What does surprise me is ‘Revolution in the Head’ appearing and not something like ‘Love is the Key’ instead.

Agreed, 'Year 3000' seems to have taken on a life of its own. At least the girls have more consistent streams across a wider range of their singles.

 

Thanks for all the analysis Jay, much appreciated as always!

 

I feel like the sales of the French version of 'Can't Speak French' should really count towards the original. :thinking:

I find it really annoying that random tracks from yesteryears and things like One Direction and solo album tracks or songs peaking at #16 or #22 etc hitting those marks too. It really makes actual hits from the past not look like proper hits anymore.

 

Busted's Year 3000 has truly taken on a life of it's own!

It probably doesn't help that I never particularly liked Year 3000 the time and I can't say 20 years has helped it grow on me. :lol: I guess I must have been under a rock and didn't realise it had developed into such a majorly remembered classic. The leap from 160,000 in 2003 to over 1 million now feels a bit wild. I mean, it being on 80m means its streamed almost twice as often as Spice Girls - Stop (44m). :drama: And Stop went from 331,000 in its year of release to recently being revealed to be on 776,000... and it'll take a few more years to get to a million. Grr!

 

My two favourite Busted singles from their heyday still aren't certified :cry: You Said No and Who's David!

 

Back to Girls Aloud, I hate how low some of their sales are because certain singles did feel big while they were out, like The Show. Only 136,000 by 2021. :( It feels like pretty much anything released nowadays can certify, so this is quite the injustice! Even Love Machine which has come on leaps and bounds, it's still taking quite a bit of time to go Platinum.

Those are my two favourite ones too! The taste!

Those are my two favourite ones too! The taste!

:cheeseblock: Taste!!

Gold for ‘Heartbreaker’ by will.i.am and Cheryl.

Oh wow, finally, it’s taken an absolute age to get there!

 

Always find it kind of funny that most of its downloads from when it was a hit came from the solo album version, and I wonder if that’s the case for streaming too?

'Love Machine' is Platinum!

 

Love Machine

400,000 [Gold] - 7th February 2020

580,000 - 24th March 2023

(+180,000 in 163 weeks)

= 1,104.29 per week on average

 

Predictions:

600,000 [Platinum] - August 2023

700,000 - April 2025

800,000 - January 2027

900,000 - October 2028

1,000,000 - July 2030

1,100,000 - April 2032

1,200,000 [2xPlatinum] - December 2033

 

^ However I wonder if its weekly sales might be lower now than the average suggests. I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed for it to go Platinum this year!

Now averaging 800 per week.

It's about time!! :cheeseblock: Fabulous that they now have three singles with Platinum status.

 

It's a shame that its weekly sales have slowed down a bit... I wonder if it was removed from a fairly significant playlist?

Having 'Sound of the Underground', 'Love Machine' and 'The Promise' as their three Platinum singles feels right, it's their holy trinity of 'signature songs'.

 

I guess you're right that 'Love Machine' must have been taken off a playlist. 300 chart sales seems like relatively a lot to lose and to not be too far from the weekly average of 'Jump' too (although hasn't 'Jump' risen a lot on Spotify? Maybe that's had some better playlisting in place of 'Love Machine').

If Call The Shots was Platinum ahead of Love Machine I would be happier.

Some new sales

SOTU 1,065,000

The Promise 783,000

Love Machine 605,000

Call The Shots 475,000

Jump 460,000

^ Woo! :cheer:

 

Comparing it to the article published by OCC on 29th March 2023 (32 weeks ago):

 

Sound of the Underground has increased from 1,028,000 to 1,065,000 (+37,000)

Love Machine has increased from 580,000 to 605,000 (+25,000)

The Promise has increased from 765,000 to 783,000 (+18,000)

Jump has increased from 446,000 to 460,000 (+14,000)

Call the Shots has increased from 462,500 to 475,000 (+12,500)

 

The average rounded sales per week are:

 

1,156 - Sound of the Underground

781 - Love Machine

563 - The Promise

438 - Jump

391 - Call the Shots

 

I'm a bit surprised that Jump isn't increasing far more than that!

 

At the rate they are selling at per week, these are milestones that could occur in the 2020s. Although a reunion/becoming an active band could do wonders for their back catalogue and make their weekly sales increase.

 

Sound of the Underground

1,100,000 (in June 2024)

1,200,000 [2xPlatinum] (in January 2026)

1,300,000 (in October 2027)

1,400,000 (in May 2029)

 

The Promise

800,000 (in June 2024)

900,000 (in October 2027)

 

Love Machine

700,000 (in March 2026)

800,000 (in August 2028)

 

Call the Shots

500,000 (in January 2025)

600,000 [Platinum] (in December 2029)

 

Jump

500,000 (in August 2025)

600,000 [Platinum] (in December 2029)

 

 

Only one change to their Top 40 list since March - Every Now and Then has overtaken Revolution in the Head.

Having 'Sound of the Underground', 'Love Machine' and 'The Promise' as their three Platinum singles feels right, it's their holy trinity of 'signature songs'.

 

 

I totally agree these are the holy trinity of their signature songs!

Love Made Me Do It must be over 100,000 now?

Really hoping having them in the public eye can speed things up again, The Show, Untouchable and No Good Advice need to be silver before next year is out. If they do Glasto it'll give their back catalogue a huge boost, too.

'Love Machine' is the one from their worst singles.

How far is Crazy Stupid Love from platinum? It was already at 524,000 units in 2020, and that was four years ago. Surely not many more years to go?

 

Hopefully Cheryl does a medley of her hits on the tour to give her catalogue a boost too.