Nowadays Steps releases, especially their singles, don’t set the charts alight (which is fine). I do wonder, how do we think the TOTD era would have done if it was released back then?

 

TOTD, the album

 

I think this could’ve been a #1 album in the UK for 3/4 weeks on top. More of a success then Buzz because it’s going back to their old sound. The re-release would get it back inside the top 5. Around 45 weeks top 75, double platinum with 800K copies sold. Also some succes in Ireland #7 and platinum), Australia (#22) and Belgium Flanders #18).

 

TOTD, the singles

 

I see Scared as the biggest single reaching #2 in the UK with a golden certification. A small hit in Ireland (#20), Australia (#35) and Belgium Flanders (#45). Story and Neon nice top 10 hits, around the #7 mark with 150K sold. I think dancing would be the first to miss the top 10, getting around #21 with 80K units sold.

 

What do you think?

Edited October 18, 20222 yr by Hazelnuts

It's hard to say, the sound is obviously fairly different and not so much in-keeping with what they were doing back then.

 

Back in their heyday they'd have got top 5 with anything (as 'Words Are Not Enough' proved) so doubtlessly would have been a success.

Indeed hard to say but I was wondering as their succes has changed with the new chart rules (especially as streaming let’s them down big time).

 

I only think Dancing would’ve been less of a success as it’s one of their weakest and also didn’t chart high on the download chart.

If 'TOTD' was released during their heyday, I'd say it would have came out in 2003, a year after 'Baby Don't Dance' would have been released & let the group take their long deserved break & come back.

This is how I the era would have went going by the low sales climate of that period (with chart runs included) =

Scared of the Dark March '03
Chart Run = *02*-06-07-08-10-11-17-22-31-34-48-75 - 250,000 sales

Story of a Heart June '03
Chart Run = *06*-13-20-24-27-32-42-43-54-61 - 72,000

Neon Blue Aug '03
Chart Run = *08*-15-28-42-62-68 - 51,000

Dancing With A Broken Heart/Happy Nov '03
Chart Run = *15*-33-41-52-69 - 35,000


As you can see I added 'Happy' to 'DWABH' as a possible double a-side, combining a popular album track with a brand new track would have been the norm for them back then. As for the album I'd say it would sell around - 560,000 copies & earn itself a Platinum disc.

3 top 10 hits & a Platinum selling album, this era would have been still a success for the group.

Scared of the dark, story of a heart and neon blue would have all gone top 5 back in the day and scared of the dark may have went number 1. Dancing with a broken heart i wouldn't be as confident with but it they did promo and 2 x cd they may have snook in at number 9 and dropped fairly fast.

I can see scared of the dark being an easy top 3 with a possible #1 for them if they released after Gold album. Then Story of a heart going top 5 and Neon blue possibly especially if paired with a new song. Dancing with a broken heart would probably have been the paired up new song on Neon blue.

Dancing with a broken heart would have needed to have been paired with something as strong as neon blue, in my opinion dancing with a broken heart wasnt the best of choices at any time.

I agree. Dancing was the only ‘miss’ for me single-wise.

Achieving single success is virtually impossible for Steps which is a stark contrast to the olden days when they could release anything and achieve a Top 10 without much effort.

Achieving single success is virtually impossible for Steps which is a stark contrast to the olden days when they could release anything and achieve a Top 10 without much effort.

 

 

We don't really know that to be honest as Steps did ALOT of promotion for every single appearing on all the shows to perform and interview...

For me I was always confident they would go top 10 back in the day it was more how high, while the success was great I wish they got more number 1s.

Still, I’m happy they could return with some success with the albums and touring. A lot of 90’s acts didn’t achieve that!

As returns go Steps where one of the most successful, i know single success wasnt really there but have done ok with albums, the tours have done well and they have really kept the Steps name alive, iknow they didnt hit the scale of Take Thats return but outside of them they would be one of the most successful.

This! I wasn’t expecting big hits, especially as streaming plays a big factor..

 

Im happy with the success of the tours/the albums (though the last 2 fell out of the charts quickly) and we got a lot more (quality) music :cheer:

The quality is as good if not better it's just the music world changed drastically from the first era to now.