It was pointed out in the Robbie Williams sales thread that his 2002 album 'Escapology' was released two weeks in advance of the lead single 'Feel'. Releasing an album before any singles were available to buy seems like quite an unusual strategy for the time! Perhaps it became more common in the download and streaming eras (I can't really think of examples). What about the physical era? Can you think of any albums released before a single taken from it?

 

Only two spring to mind for me:

 

Beyoncé

Dangerously in Love [Album] - Released 23rd June 2003. Debuted at #1 and spent 5 consecutive weeks at #1

Crazy in Love [single] - Released 30th June 2003. Debuted at #1 and spent 3 conscutive weeks at #1

 

It could be argued that with Work It Out and '03 Bonnie & Clyde being included, therefore the album was released after some singles... but Crazy in Love felt like the album's true debut single, yet physically it came after the album. Thankfully the album's availability and success didn't deter the single from being able to make it to #1 too!

 

 

Kylie Minogue

Ultimate Kylie [Album] - Released 22nd November 2004. Debuted and peaked at #4

I Believe in You [single] - Released 6th December 2004. Debuted and peaked at #2

 

I Believe in You was receiving radio airplay by mid October. Releasing it after the Greatest Hits it was included on, and colliding with Band Aid 20... oh Kylie!

Didn't Robbie did the same with Swing when you're Winning/Something Stupid?

oh I think I remember another one, Massive Attack-Mezzanine, with Teardrop being released 1 week after the album instead of before

still made the top 10 in the singles chart but could have done much better before the album

Bizarre decision for Kylie, that could have been a No.1 in the dire sales period of October 2004!

 

I suppose in the physical era it really was rare, not so much now where we get surprise album drops and singles are sometimes appointed later once labels see what is popular.

 

 

Katie Melua's Closest Thing To Crazy came out 4 weeks after the album.

 

 

I think Spice Girls' Headlines CD single came out 1 week after Greatest Hits, though it came out 1 week before it on download.

Would Taylor Swift count? As her albums 'Folklore' and 'Evermore' were out and the singles 'Cardigan' and 'Willow' were released shortly after / alongside?

^Now it doesn't count, everybody does it, but 20/30 years ago no one did

Whitney Houston's My Love Is Your Love (in the UK)?

oh I think I remember another one, Massive Attack-Mezzanine, with Teardrop being released 1 week after the album instead of before

still made the top 10 in the singles chart but could have done much better before the album

 

I didn't know about that one. It's a shame because Teardrop definitely deserved a higher peak and if i've calculated the weeks right, the week before Mezzanine came out looks quieter with only two new entries in the top 10 in a late 90s chart.

 

Also that Kylie song surely would have been a #1 if she'd released it a few weeks earlier. Who's bright idea was it to drop it against Band Aid lmao? Not that I think it's one of her best anyway personally.

I'm not sure if Massive Attack counts as it already had a previous single released before the album? (Risingson, #11)

^Now it doesn't count, everybody does it, but 20/30 years ago no one did

 

don't most artists release one single before their album nowadays... Folklore and Evermore were both surprise releases and their lead singles were released essentially post-album.

I think whether or not something is available on an album or not at the time it's been pushed has little significance in the streaming era or at least nothing compared to what it did in the paid for sales era when you had to own a copy of an individual song or album and people would be less inclined to buy something they already had. Then you've got album bombs and songs that aren't the intended single overshadowing because of some trend or because people simply like listening to them more. It's not really comparing apples with apples with the physical era when as releasing an album and then releasing the lead single afterwards would have been an oddity.

Whitney Houston's My Love Is Your Love (in the UK)?

 

I think this was just the third single from the album here, after When You Believe and It's Not Right But It's Ok, rather than being the lead.

I guess it also happened with debut or breakthrough albums of artists whose album takes off, and then they subsequently they issue a 'lead single' to capitalise, like Dido's Here With Me came out as a prominent single way after No Angel did, although I understand both were originally released in 1999 to zero fanfare. Also, Eva Cassidy's Over The Rainbow came out some time after Songbird was taking off.

I think this was just the third single from the album here, after When You Believe and It's Not Right But It's Ok, rather than being the lead.

 

Looking at it, it seems the album charted before 'When You Believe' was released so I think that may be what they meant.

Linkin Park's debut Hybrid Theory came out in 2000 but the first single wasn't released in the UK until January 2001, starting a run of four singles from that album that each had a higher peak than the previous one (One Step Closer, Crawling, Papercut and In The End)!

Looking at it, it seems the album charted before 'When You Believe' was released so I think that may be what they meant.

 

That makes sense, I forgot the album had the same name! And didn't realise When You Believe was issued as a single after the album, another interesting example!

 

As an aside, in the US back then it was quite common not to release a song physically at all to drive album sales (Jive artists like *N Sync did this I think, and also Torn by Natalie Imbruglia), perhaps it's surprising that wasn't more of a thing in the UK, although I'm glad it wasn't as when I was that age I could only just about afford the odd single and certainly wouldn't invest in an album unless I was certain I would like it, based on 3/4 singles I liked.

don't most artists release one single before their album nowadays... Folklore and Evermore were both surprise releases and their lead singles were released essentially post-album.

 

Yes, it's the same thing. But it's fairly common now (most people still have pre-album singles, but even if 90% of albums today have pre-album singles that's a LOT which don't), so the thread is only asking in the physical era, where it's probably quite a small list and quite exceptional for the time. Now it's just uncommon.

Kylie Minogue

Ultimate Kylie [Album] - Released 22nd November 2004. Debuted and peaked at #4

I Believe in You [single] - Released 6th December 2004. Debuted and peaked at #2

 

I Believe in You was receiving radio airplay by mid October. Releasing it after the Greatest Hits it was included on, and colliding with Band Aid 20... oh Kylie!

Since her 2000 comeback, there would be a single released two weeks before the album; had that been the case with 'I Believe in You', it would have been up against U2's 'Vertigo' which debuted with 51,917 sales. 'I Believe in You' sold 39,321 in its first week. I guess it's hard to say how much releasing the single two weeks after the album hurt sales, if at all, but I suppose 13k may probably have been too big a gap to overcome.

 

Apparently both the single and the album got pushed back, wonder what the original dates were?

 

Edit: Had a check and the release schedules at the time had the single out 29th November and the album out 15th November. That would have meant 'I Believe in You' would have been released the same day as Band Aid 20 and 'Ultimate Kylie' would have been up against Eminem's first full week of sales with 'Encore' (second charting week). Pointless moving either of them considering Band Aid had a mammoth second week and Kylie ended up against U2 who had bigger sales than Eminem.