back in 1992 The Wedding Present had the genius idea of releasing a brand new single every month during that year

so 12 singles in total. Also it was back in the days of physical singles so that was something nice to collect.

It also worked as all 12 charted and they gave the band their highest charting songs.

 

but why no one has ever done it again? especially since as fans we're kinda collectors and like to collect stuff...

 

would he idea work in 2024?

Most songs these days tend to hang around for months , and even take weeks to take off

I'm sure there have been some pre-album campaigns which have involved a new song being released digitally every month for about 6 months, but I think to do so physically would be quite expensive now without record shops and the numbers to make it viable.

Lots of people have done it, just not high profile enough.

 

Didn't Peter Gabriel recently release a single on every full moon, from his recent No.1 album?

 

I know Sheppard did it a few years ago too, but nobody took much notice.

 

And Nerina Pallot even released a new EP every single month in 2014.

Edited January 10, 20241 yr by gooddelta

Albums aren’t really designed to have 12 singles! Plus the rule of diminishing returns, hard to imagine there’d be much hype left after the 3rd or 4th release

Edited January 10, 20241 yr by No Sleeep

Oh, didn't Justin Bieber also do one new single a week for 10 weeks in 2013 from that Journals project? I recall them having a near enough pattern of diminishing returns, the highest (first one) getting to No.14 and the lowest No.41.

Oh Wonder also released a new track every month for a year, in the lead up to their debut album

 

Oh, didn't Justin Bieber also do one new single a week for 10 weeks in 2013 from that Journals project? I recall them having a near enough pattern of diminishing returns, the highest (first one) getting to No.14 and the lowest No.41.

 

Yeah this example instantly sprang to my mind. Similar also to the Elvis re-issues of 2005 which were one per week.

Why Don’t We did this in 2019! (And deserved to have multiple hit singles x)

Every week is too much

but I think once a month x a year is a good tempo

 

In the case of the Wedding Present, the physicals were limited to 10K

and it worked cos they all went top 40:

 

Blue eyes/26

Go-go dancer/20

Three/14

Silver shorts/14

Come play with me/10

California/16

Flying saucer/22

Boing/19

Love slave/17

Sticky/17

The Queen of Outer Space/23

No Xmas/25

 

Oh, didn't Justin Bieber also do one new single a week for 10 weeks in 2013 from that Journals project? I recall them having a near enough pattern of diminishing returns, the highest (first one) getting to No.14 and the lowest No.41.

 

I was just about to mention this one!

The Chainsmokers almost did it in 2018 with their album 'Sick Boy' (bar May and June) and again in 2019 with 'World War Joy' (bar January, June, September & October).

Ash released 26 singles in a row on a fortnightly basis (labelled A through Z) in 2009-2010! All with a physical release I believe.

This sort of thing seems to work best when sales are very low. In 1992 vinyl single sales were really in the doldrums and CDs hadn’t picked up yet. I think Come Play With Me remains the lowest selling Top 10 hit ever. And the weak market also helped the Elvis re-issues in 2005.

 

It’s hard to imagine someone doing this successfully today as they’d need a really engaged fanbase, but I guess it’s possible.

oh it's true Ash did the A-Z thing, that's really bonkers

One I was only thinking of this the other day.

Didn’t the Wedding Present do a cover for each of the b-sides too?

Then release a double album of the a & b sides?

 

It’s definitely be easier to do in the streaming age & could easily build momentum during the year.

 

This sort of thing seems to work best when sales are very low. In 1992 vinyl single sales were really in the doldrums and CDs hadn’t picked up yet. I think Come Play With Me remains the lowest selling Top 10 hit ever. And the weak market also helped the Elvis re-issues in 2005.

 

It’s hard to imagine someone doing this successfully today as they’d need a really engaged fanbase, but I guess it’s possible.

 

Yes it shows that chart positions can be misleading when 'Come Play With Me' is a bigger hit then 'Set Fire to the Rain' (as one example) just based on peak!

Didn't Ash released 26 singles in one year (one every two weeks) each one having a title that began with each letter of the alphabet?

That Wedding Present gimmick was good to see how high were the sales overall in that week. The higher the single reached, the lower were the overall sales.

Didn't Ash released 26 singles in one year (one every two weeks) each one having a title that began with each letter of the alphabet?

 

The song titles didn't follow the alphabet theme, each one just had a different letter on the cover.