I am not sure of either because their sales might not have been 90% of the number 1 in those weeks. They spent so long in the top 10, they may never have had to sell 90% of the number 1 to end up in the top 10 best sellers of the year.

To be clear (apologies if i'm misreading your thoughts) but the 90% thing was only a factor for the first 17 tracks we featured as an alternative measure of "Unlucky". The current list of 107 songs are all based on how many weeks a song would have been at No 1 based on it's best weekly sale within its calendar year of being a hit.

Ah we may not be talking about the same 1999 one in that case Colm… I’m talking about the one from someone who is sadly no longer with us. It sold enough to be just outside the top 20 of the year but was only in the top 10 for 4 weeks (I think)

The Heart Never Lies was one of McFly's best singles... bought it, loved it, still do.

 

When you think of the random tat they did manage to take to the top, this deserved to as well (but would never have stood a chance against those juggernauts it was up against!)

I am really enjoying this thread.

10. 9 To 5- Sheena Easton (123,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 27 weeks in 1980

 

From a lucky break on a BBC reality programme to the top of the US charts, Easton’s rocket to fame was truly breathtaking in 1980/81. This was her first sizeable hit on both sides of the Atlantic for the Scottish singer and another example of a US No 1 which only made No 3 here for local talent.

In the top 5 the same week as 'Oh Yeah' by Roxy Music which is at number 86 on this list. As mentioned in the 'Oh Yeah' entry, this was the chart (w/e 16 August 1980) which got a massive sales boost from the return of Top Of The Pops after a 9 weeks absence due to a Musicians Union strike which affected music programming at the BBC.

 

The return of the programme on Thursday 7 August led to a sales bonanza on the Friday and Saturday - in the new chart announced the following Tuesday, 26 records in the top 40 registered a sales increase, 11 of them registering an increase of 50% or more, including Sheena Easton and Roxy Music (both of whom more than doubled sales).

Edited June 17, 20214 yr by Robbie

Yesss my initial suggestion in the thread of The Heart Never Lies was correct! :D That was a crazy high selling week for 2007, Take That's Rule the World was equally unlucky running straight into Bleeding Love.

Know loads about 80s music but never had heard ‘Love Plus One’ so just listened to it now for first time. For such a big 80s hit I was expecting it to be a case of “Oh it’s THAT one” when I listened but seems completely unfamiliar. Must never get played much since release.

 

Discovered them watching the old TOTP episodes over the past decade and they are brilliant.

 

Think one of Nick Heywoods solo hits gets played more than the bands hits.

Awww my McFly boys :wub: I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad to see them in the top 10 of this countdown! Sales in 2007 weren't too healthy though if 39,737 would have got you number one in 28 weeks of the year. What's generally considered the record year for low singles sales?

Edited June 17, 20214 yr by Mangø

2006 just at a guess. 2007 saw the rise in downloads as it became the established form of music consumption and for the first time since 2002/03 we started seeing number one sales recovering again and getting big openers starting at 40k for number one and by this point in Oct 07 with X-Factor pushing first week sales we got Leona doing 220k and Take That 98k which felt like we were back to the old days (I remember being open mouthed when seeing the sales thread that week)! Also the number 10 sales started picking up to 10-15k per week again after it fell below 10k most week before this point!

Edited June 17, 20214 yr by steve201

2006 just at a guess. 2007 saw the rise in downloads as it became the established form of music consumption and for the first time since 2002/03 we started seeing number one sales recovering again and getting big openers starting at 40k for number one and by this point in Oct 07 with X-Factor pushing first week sales we got Leona doing 220k and Take That 98k which felt like we were back to the old days (I remember being open mouthed when seeing the sales thread that week)! Also the number 10 sales started picking up to 10-15k per week again after it fell below 10k most week before this point!

In retrospect it's fascinating to think that Buzzjack began back when chart sales were at their lowest!

 

^

Although every year from 2003 to 2006 had its low points which were really bad, 2004 is probably as bad as overall sales got before they started to increase again. In 2004 the average number 75 record sold 538 copies a week. The low for the average number 1 sale was 2007 though.

 

This is probably as bad as sales ever got for the entire top 10. The Singles chart dated 08/01/05, sales period 26/12/04 to 01/01/05:

 

1.26400 Steve Brookstein

2.21744 Band Aid 20

3.7304 Kylie Minogue

4.7013 Ronan Keating

5.6868 Ice Cube

6.6650 Green Day

7.6568 Uniting Nations

8.6345 Lemar

9.6040 Nelly & Christina

10.5512 Natasha Bedingfield

 

5,512 for a number 10 hit?! I don't think that has ever been beaten.

 

things were really bad in early 2005, I remember all those Elvis re-issues going to the top with barely 20K

Kylie's sales at #3 in that week in early 2005 were lower than the 7,572 for Say Something in its week at #56 last November.

Ah we may not be talking about the same 1999 one in that case Colm… I’m talking about the one from someone who is sadly no longer with us. It sold enough to be just outside the top 20 of the year but was only in the top 10 for 4 weeks (I think)

 

That does impress me much.

I think January 2005 was the unbeaten nadir for overall singles sales in a week with 265,000 in one of the Elvis re-issue weeks.

Kylie's sales at #3 in that week in early 2005 were lower than the 7,572 for Say Something in its week at #56 last November.

 

Yeh that’s the week I was thinking of!

To be clear (apologies if i'm misreading your thoughts) but the 90% thing was only a factor for the first 17 tracks we featured as an alternative measure of "Unlucky". The current list of 107 songs are all based on how many weeks a song would have been at No 1 based on it's best weekly sale within its calendar year of being a hit.

You were reading my thoughts correctly. I thought the 90% thing was a condition for all songs in this thread. :D

That does impress me much.

Hmmmm, hasn't that already been mentioned? Maybe I've imagined it!

It has - it was number 98 here.

8.MAD WORLD- Tears For Fears (136,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 28 weeks in 1982

 

There’s only one tally on here higher than the 136k posted by Tears For Fears in late 1982. Written by Orzabal in attempt to write something in the vein of “Girls On Film” by Duran Duran, this became their first single after 2 flops to become a hit. Penciled in as a B-side only the record company thought it had legs and held the song back for a proper release in its own right, and of course it eventually made No 1 21 years later for Michael Andrews & Gary Jules.