May I just ask, what has Colour of the skin got to do with anything? :huh: Because Ive read a couple of posts in here about the colour of skin, but whats that got to do with Leona being Number 1???

 

Nothing really - I was just making an ironic comment on the race that tends to dominate the US singles charts...

 

Well done and everything but it's all been easy. Other British artists have such a hard time even getting to America, let alone breaking it. She's had it handed on a plate thanks to Cowell... -_-

 

I disagree. She was already #1 on iTunes before she even went on Oprah with Simon, that just helped even more. Simon can't force radio to play her either. As she has lower airplay than people like Usher but higher sales, it implies that the people hearing it are loving it by buying the song. :)

Well done and everything but it's all been easy. Other British artists have such a hard time even getting to America, let alone breaking it. She's had it handed on a plate thanks to Cowell... -_-

 

Thats not the case. She reached #1 on US itunes with NO promotion at all- this was purely on the basis of her decent but not great amount of airplay at the time. She knocked usher off the top of itunes who had 3times her airplay. If it hadnt been for Oprah technically she would be #2 on on the billboard hot 100. Which is still a massive achievement in its self. luckily she got a big sales boost from oprah which managed to clinch her the #1. She would still be the first British artist in god knows how many years to get a #2.

 

Her song climbed airplay on its own merit and requests at an astonishingly fast rate for an unkown artist, of course no where near the rate of the likes of usher and mariah. It was #1 most requested z100 in new york and is now on heavy rotation.

 

People who dont know the facts are assuming that it was handed to her- do some research before jumping to this conclusion. She hasnt done the touring like many do to break america but with her backing and how well shes done with out any promotion, it isnt needed at the moment, shes concentrating on the big stuff.

 

Futhermore, bleeding love has only just begun to really take off on airplay, due to how popular the song is-evident from its rise on itunes from minimal airplay, theres no reason why she cant go back to #1 after mariah and madonnas hype dies down, as i cant see them having as much longevity.

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by utoia2004

Thats not the case. She reached #1 on US itunes with NO promotion at all- this was purely on the basis of her decent but not great amount of airplay at the time. She knocked usher off the top of itunes who had 3times her airplay. If it hadnt been for Oprah technically she would be #2 on on the billboard hot 100. Which is still a massive achievement in its self. luckily she got a big sales boost from oprah which managed to clinch her the #1. She would still be the first British artist in god knows how many years to get a #2.

 

Her song climbed airplay on its own merit and requests at an astonishingly fast rate for an unkown artist, of course no where near the rate of the likes of usher and mariah. It was #1 most requested z100 in new york and is now on heavy rotation.

 

People who dont know the facts are assuming that it was handed to her- do some research before jumping to this conclusion. She hasnt done the touring like many do to break america but with her backing and how well shes done with out any promotion, it isnt needed at the moment, shes concentrating on the big stuff.

 

Futhermore, bleeding love has only just begun to really take off on airplay, due to how popular the song is-evident from its rise on itunes from minimal airplay, theres no reason why she cant go back to #1 after mariah and madonnas hype dies down, as i cant see them having as much longevity.

 

No one can deny that it is a remarkable achievement to top the Billboard singles chart but then again I don't know of any other UK artist that has had such backing. The promo campaign has Simon Cowell written all over it - the most direct route to the maximum audience leads to HUGE success, at least in the short term. How many more high profile tv appearances has she planned in conjunction with her album release?

 

However without touring to build a solid fanbase I'm sceptical whether she can have longevity in any country.

I think "Bleeding Love" is a great song sang very well by Leona, and I'm not surprised at it's success. You have to admire the sheer breathtaking efficiency of the whole PR campaign. But come on, Simon Cowell has been hatching this for years, and he has used everything at his disposal to make sure it has done so well in the US. With the huge financial input from Clive Davis's label and Simon Cowell's contacts, Perez Hilton, Oprah, etc, no way was it going to fail- lots of great songs don't do well in the US because they don't have this backing.

 

I found an interesting article about Mike Batt in The Guardian in Aug 2006 concerning his plans to break Katie Melua in the US, this paragraph make interesting reading - it appears Cowell was hatching his masterplan then lol.

 

Melua's spectacular European sales figures give Dramatico some leverage, but maintaining a network of US radio promoters is a severe drain on its finances. Television remains the cheapest and easiest way to grab the attention of millions of American consumers at once. "I ran into Simon Cowell in a restaurant in Los Angeles," says Batt, "and he said, 'Mike, don't believe anything they say here. You don't have to tour for two years, you don't have to work radio slowly, you just have to get on a lot of television.' And I said, 'Yes, Simon, you can do that because you're already a star, but we have to work at it.' If we could get on 10 TV shows within two weeks, well, of course, like anyone, we'd break."

 

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/st...1841188,00.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But no other british act did apart some top 10 like:

 

Kylie

Craig

Natasha

 

Kylie is Australian

No one can deny that it is a remarkable achievement to top the Billboard singles chart but then again I don't know of any other UK artist that has had such backing. The promo campaign has Simon Cowell written all over it - the most direct route to the maximum audience leads to HUGE success, at least in the short term. How many more high profile tv appearances has she planned in conjunction with her album release?

 

However without touring to build a solid fanbase I'm sceptical whether she can have longevity in any country.

Apologies in advance for this as it is going to sount extremely blunt, but you are completely missing the point.

 

I agree with Utoia, Leona got to #2 with ZERO promo. She appeared on no TV shows in America to sing Bleeding Love, prior to Oprah. By the time she appeared on Oprah she was already #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on Digital Sales for that week, and #1 on the near-instantaneous iTunes sales.

 

Leona's Oprah appearance gave her a boost in sales, there is no doubt about that, and it helped her peak at #1. Otherwise she would have been #2 for a second week, which would have been an oustanding achievement nonetheless.

 

She has a number of appearances on TV lined up for the week of the album launch, and I agree, in this respect she has a lot of backing promo-wise. And it remains to be seen how she fares in the future.

 

But can we please stop all these nonsensical posts that suggest she got to where she is now by the power of Cowell.

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by spiidey

She was never #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 spiidey, she was #8 before Oprah and then #1. She was just #2 on Billboard Digital Sales.

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by Ethereal

Yup, you're right, I've edited my post, #8 was the intention!

How many more high profile tv appearances has she planned in conjunction with her album release?

 

Around about the same as Duffy has lined up ;)

But can we please stop all these nonsensical posts that suggest she got to where she is now by the power of Cowell.

 

Are you seriously suggesting you think Leona would be where she is now without Simon Cowell :o

 

Are you seriously suggesting you think Leona would be where she is now without Simon Cowell :o

 

 

that's as ludicrous as suggesting she's mainly got to where she is because of Simon Cowell.

 

What's often forgotten is every record company is competing to get its artists on various shows. For instance there's a huge weight of promotion behind breaking Duffy in the USA at the moment - almost mirrors show for show the Leona push. But what's clear with both artists and their signature singles is airplay and sales have preceeded promo because they're damn fine songs by fresh new artists (hitting number 1 on US iTunes as Leona did before doing any live performances is exceptionally rare - but the signs were there as she's been the highest sales gainer on the Hot100 for three consecutive weeks).

 

Perhaps it's Ryan Tedder and Bernard Butler who should be getting the lion's share of any reflected glow?

LOL. Don't be so ridiculous. This 'no promotion at all' thing is rubbish. NO unknown artist, despite how good the song may be, can climb to number one that quick. She did it in what, a month? She may not have 'promoted' - but that doesn't mean anything. Cowell/Davis have clearly had a help in hand. I am sure Davis MADE SURE radio added it, played it - got it out there. Remember how big a part Radio play is, that's promotion. She has had a lot of radio play, it got going amazingly quick - thanks to Davis.

 

Obviously after they got radio on their side, then they got promotion lined up, Oprah etc - then the American public did there thing. They downloaded it and helped it get to number one. 80% of the initial work wasn't done by Leona, or the song - it was done by someone else. That is not something everyone gets. She is extremely lucky to have those two men working for her.

 

 

 

Oh, and without Simon Cowell she wouldn't have had any of this. Don't deny it. If he hadn't been there, then she wouldn't have had such huge media coverage, she wouldn't have Ryan Tedder write her a song, she wouldn't have a million pound video budget, she wouldn't have gone to America this quick. etc. etc. I am not 'hating' - but come on, don't be so naive as to think this is purely becuase of her 'AMAZING VOICEEE OMGOSH'.

 

She is no different than any other reality winner, except a hell of a lot luckier. I am sure Perez Hilton was paid to promote her too... :P

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by Brokentelephone

LOL. Don't be so ridiculous. This 'no promotion at all' thing is rubbish. NO unknown artist, despite how good the song may be, can climb to number one that quick. She did it in what, a month? She may not have 'promoted' - but that doesn't mean anything. Cowell/Davis have clearly had a help in hand. I am sure Davis MADE SURE radio added it, played it - got it out there. Remember how big a part Radio play is, that's promotion. She has had a lot of radio play, it got going amazingly quick - thanks to Davis.

 

Obviously after they got radio on their side, then they got promotion lined up, Oprah etc - then the American public did there thing. They downloaded it and helped it get to number one. 80% of the initial work wasn't done by Leona, or the song - it was done by someone else. That is not something everyone gets. She is extremely lucky to have those two men working for her.

 

You seem to be struggling with some basic facts - it became the best selling song in the USA 15-16 days ago before Oprah and whilst radio airplay lagged way behind - even today though rising fast Bleeding Love is only the 10th most played song on CHR/Pop.The last three weeks have seen it rise 66 --> 51 --> 37 on Hot100's overall airplay: even the latest daily impression stats see it still outside the top 20. So despite Davis and Cowell's omnipotent influence over the last 8-9 weeks since it "went to adds" (the song itself was released 14 weeks ago), there are many brave resistance fighters holding out at besieged radio stations. Either that or Cowell and Davis are rubbish at making sure it's added to radio.

 

All songs get pushed towards radio - as Duffy and Estelle's now are. Leona's was just another example.

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by 6weeksatnumber7

I'm quite a fan of Leona, and well done to her, but is IS obvious what most have said above. ^ She had HUGE help from people surrounding her. Take a look at Wino's DVD of her trying to crack America, she explains she had to start fresh, from singing in pubs, bars, places round America, and then moved up into small venues and then up and up. THAT'S the way it should be done.

You seem to be struggling with some basic facts - it became the best selling song in the USA 15-16 days ago before Oprah and whilst radio airplay lagged way behind - even today though rising fast Bleeding Love is only the 10th most played song on CHR/Pop.The last three weeks have seen it rise 66 --> 51 --> 37 on Hot100's overall airplay: even the latest daily impression stats see it still outside the top 20. So despite Davis and Cowell's omnipotent influence over the last 8-9 weeks since it "went to adds" (the song itself was released 14 weeks ago), there are many brave resistance fighters holding out at besieged radio stations. Either that or Cowell and Davis are rubbish at making sure it's added to radio.

 

All songs get pushed towards radio - as Duffy and Estelle's now are. Leona's was just another example.

 

I follow Mediabase, I know all this. Doesn't change a thing.

 

Duffy and Estelle WILL NOT climb to number one as quickly as Leona, and thats nothing to do with quality, it's purely due to the fact they do not have connections to Davis.

 

Davis is one of the biggest names in music industry, he has done the work. Don't be naive now.

But can we please stop all these nonsensical posts that suggest she got to where she is now by the power of Cowell.

 

Well, actually, she is at #1 by the power of Cowell.

 

I'm quite a fan of Leona, and well done to her, but is IS obvious what most have said above. ^ She had HUGE help from people surrounding her. Take a look at Wino's DVD of her trying to crack America, she explains she had to start fresh, from singing in pubs, bars, places round America, and then moved up into small venues and then up and up. THAT'S the way it should be done.

 

Says who? It's the traditional way maybe, doesn't mean it should be done like that. Leona is in demand on TV shows and that's a much better way of getting her heard to millions as opposed to gigging around. Obviously for artists who can't get on these shows, that's what they do.

 

And I think it's ridiculous to even suggest Clive Davis MADE radio play her song. No way does he have that kind of influence on every single radio station. It took a while for her song to even take off; major stations weren't playing it until finally one did in New York. The song built up gradually on radio whilst downloads took off even before her promo. Yes Simon and Clive have obviously helped, but I don't think it's fair to suggest it is all their doing just like it isn't fair to say it's all Leona's doing. It's a combination of both but I think the majority admit it's a fantastic song by a fantastic singer so why shouldn't she do well?

Edited March 31, 200817 yr by Ethereal

I'm getting bored of this already considering Amy Winehouse and Natasha Bedingfield have been quite big in the states for some time. They don't need Simon Cowell getting her on Oprah to boost their sales. Leona Lewis the album is very poor and lots of people slag off Adele and Kate Nash well my opinion think their albums are much better, but I suppose their sales would be bigger if they went on a reality talent tv show