Two-Hit Wonders

[Various Artist]

While we're tidying, then:

The Pogues. They couldn't even break the Top 20 without the help of others. A #8 with The Dubliners, and a #2 with Kirsty MaColl.

Tuesday Morning reached #18, as I recall. I think it might have been post-Shane, though, in which case he couldn't break the Top 20 without the help of others, no.

[Benjm]

Astonishing that the Poguetry In Motion EP didn't crack the Top 20. Rainy Night In Soho is a massive tune.

[Various Artist]

(Among the most consistent THWs must be DJ Chris Hill who made UK #10 with both Renta Santa and Bionic Santa in 1975 and 1976 respectively. But we can draw a veil over those.)

I only know these from obsessively devouring successive editions of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles as a teenager, but yes I seem to remember these were so perfectly consistent they not only both reached No.10 but also each spent precisely 7 weeks on the charts. And that was that. Magnificent symmetry.

The Bellamy Brothers were number 1 in the US for twelve weeks with Let Your Love Flow. Their only other charting single was If I said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me. Which is a relegation title if ever there was one.

The latter I discovered through the aforementioned books, as notably it was the longest unbracketed, non-medley, song title for a charting single in UK charts history for many years – I think Meat Loaf's Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are broke its record.

The Bellamy Brothers were a super example of a two-hit wonder in the UK too: Let Your Love Flow reached #7 in 1976, which was actually trumped by IISYHABBWYHIAM? reaching #3 in 1979 – and those were their sole Top 40 hits. The former though did return to the charts (as high as #21) in 2008 after its use in a memorable TV advertisement.

[Various Artist]

Astonishing that the Poguetry In Motion EP didn't crack the Top 20. Rainy Night In Soho is a massive tune.

Just checked, and no the EP made #29. The latter made #61 as a presumably single reissue five years later in 1991. I was right about Tuesday Morning though, I'm glad to discover.

[Benjm]

Wasn't doubting you, VA, more expressing disbelief about the listening public being cloth eared fools. Having said that, I can't remember whether RNIS was even pushed as the lead track from the EP; I think it was the second song on the first side of the vinyl.

[Various Artist]

You're right about that last bit for sure Benjm. Wiki says:

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Shane MacGowan except where noted.
Side one

1. "London Girl" – 3:03
2. "A Rainy Night in Soho" – 5:35 (North American mix featuring oboe is 5:47)

Side two

1. "The Body of an American" – 4:47
2. "Planxty Noel Hill" (Jem Finer) – 3:09

[Jah Womble]

I only know these from obsessively devouring successive editions of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles as a teenager, but yes I seem to remember these were so perfectly consistent they not only both reached No.10 but also each spent precisely 7 weeks on the charts. And that was that. Magnificent symmetry.

Those two festive hits were examples of the 'break-in' phenomenon (records put together with snippets of other recent hits), then-currently popular via Dickie Goodman's (rather poor) Mr Jaws hit in America.

But if it's consistency you want, then US R&B act The Manhattans are in with a shout. Their two British hits from 1976 - Kiss and Say Goodbye and Hurt - both made UK #4 and spent eleven weeks on the chart. Nothing else made the Top 40. (As I'm sure G-Man would confirm, they'd been around a good while even by then, and had had a number of hits elsewhere.)

[Stumpy Pepys]

I always thought of the Pogues as an album act, to be honest. They shifted a fair few LPs in the mid-to-late 80s.

[Jah Womble]

While we're tidying, then:Tuesday Morning reached #18, as I recall. I think it might have been post-Shane, though, in which case he couldn't break the Top 20 without the help of others, no.

Yep, Tuesday Morning was post-MacGowan: Spider Stacy sang lead vocal and the group performed it (once, I think) on TOTP. As one who couldn't quite envisage The Pogues without their former front man, it was a tad better than I'd expected.

[WOM]

I caught that tour. The mood was just all wrong. Not a wake, exactly. But certainly the feeling that the most important person was missing.

I also caught the tour where Joe Strummer filled in, and the vibe for that was great.

Shane MacGowan and The Popes gigs were a pretty fine party, though.

[Mumpo]

Did we mention Mister Mister? In the UK Broken Wings hit #4 and Kyrie peaked at #11. Their only other UK chart entry was Is It Love, which limped to #87.

[3 Colours Red]

This may not pass the Womble test but I still think this is worth mentioning as it's more than a bit surprising (at least to me) - KISS have had two singles reach #4 but nothing else in the top 20.

UK charts, of course.

[3 Colours Red]

Double post.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

While we're tidying, then:Tuesday Morning reached #18, as I recall. I think it might have been post-Shane, though, in which case he couldn't break the Top 20 without the help of others, no.

More Pogues tidying - leaving aside the behemoth that is Fairytale of New York, it's a fair bet that in royalties terms their next biggest 'hit' is Fiesta, which was a minor (Top 30) hit in chart terms. Not worth a thread in itself but there must be other songs whose commercial success far outweighed their chart platings.

[G-Man]

While we're tidying, then:Tuesday Morning reached #18, as I recall. I think it might have been post-Shane, though, in which case he couldn't break the Top 20 without the help of others, no.

Oh, I'm pleased to discover that this wonderful song has proved me wrong. Pity 'bout Shane though.

[Jah Womble]

More Pogues tidying - leaving aside the behemoth that is Fairytale of New York, it's a fair bet that in royalties terms their next biggest 'hit' is Fiesta, which was a minor (Top 30) hit in chart terms. Not worth a thread in itself but there must be other songs whose commercial success far outweighed their chart platings.

In terms of the straight-up record, Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars peaked no higher than UK #6 yet has shifted well over a million copies. Much of this is down to the fact that, since the mid-noughties, songs have tended to hang around the charts like a bad smell: Chasing Cars is the epitome of this phenomenon, having now spent 111 weeks (seriously) on the Top 75 since its 2006 release. (In global terms, the record has sold over six million copies without topping any major chart.)

I gather that the record for a non-Top Ten hit is Numb by Linkin Park (2003): I have no UK sales figures for that (2m sales in the US, apparently), but it peaked at #14 here and spent just six weeks in the chart, which suggests that those sales were almost exclusively on pre-order.

Curious as to what makes you think that Fiesta in particular would've performed so well?

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Curious as to what makes you think that Fiesta in particular would've performed so well?

I meant its extensive use in films, TV programmes and particularly adverts - I maybe should have described it as publishing/licensing rather than royalties but either way it will have earned a few quid over the years.

The Primitives' Crash would be a similar earner, but the single went top ten at the time - they didn't trouble the top 20 again so can't pitch them for the original question.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

In terms of the straight-up record, Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars peaked no higher than UK #6 yet has shifted well over a million copies. Much of this is down to the fact that, since the mid-noughties, songs have tended to hang around the charts like a bad smell: Chasing Cars is the epitome of this phenomenon, having now spent 111 weeks (seriously) on the Top 75 since its 2006 release.

See also Mr Brightside, #10 peak and has now cleared over 200 weeks in the top 100, not sure whether it cleared the million mark in sales before streaming took over though.

[Jah Womble]

I meant its extensive use in films, TV programmes and particularly adverts - I maybe should have described it as publishing/licensing rather than royalties but either way it will have earned a few quid over the years.

The Primitives' Crash would be a similar earner, but the single went top ten at the time - they didn't trouble the top 20 again so can't pitch them for the original question.

Ah, I see - licensing's a different phenomenon. New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle is one track that I keep hearing in (mainly US) movies. They must have made a packet from that, despite its only making UK #56 and US #98 on original release.

[elguapo4]

Big Audio Dynamite, E=Mc2 and Medicine Show,unlike Wikipedia I don't count Rush as part of a double A side with "should I stay or should I go " , We know which song all the money was spent on

[Various Artist]

In terms of the straight-up record, Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars peaked no higher than UK #6 yet has shifted well over a million copies. Much of this is down to the fact that, since the mid-noughties, songs have tended to hang around the charts like a bad smell: Chasing Cars is the epitome of this phenomenon, having now spent 111 weeks (seriously) on the Top 75 since its 2006 release. (In global terms, the record has sold over six million copies without topping any major chart.)

I gather that the record for a non-Top Ten hit is Numb by Linkin Park (2003): I have no UK sales figures for that (2m sales in the US, apparently), but it peaked at #14 here and spent just six weeks in the chart, which suggests that those sales were almost exclusively on pre-order.

That latter paragraph sounds like a strange oversight for one as knowledgeable as you, Jah. The original release of Numb indeed had only a moderate chart run in 2003, but the vast global sales are surely applicable to its remake/remix/mashup/whatever with Jay-Z, Numb/Encore, which first charted a year later and despite only peaking at #14 as well (consistency!) was an enduring Top 20 success and has since spent 70-odd total weeks on the UK charts.


Chasing Cars was an incredible slow-burner of a hit, even if it never reached the very highest echelons in any given week. It was also arguably the poster child for download sales, as it was one of the first really big successes in that format – and notably it crossed the divide between the physical-sales-linked era of the UK singles chart and the inclusion of hits based on downloads alone for the first time.

That is, it was one of those singles, like Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, that fell foul of the brief period in 2006 when new chart rules meant download figures became incorporated yet a song still had to be linked to a physical artefact – such that after the deletion of a hit song's CD single, it was only allowed (if I'm remembering this rightly) to remain in the listings on downloads alone for two weeks.* After that it would simply disappear from the chart, no matter its continued sales in the latter format. Chasing Cars was in this manner peremptorily excised from the mid-Top 40 in late 2006, a 'mere' four months into what was already an impressive chart run that showed little sign of slowing.
Fortunately for Snow Patrol, less than two months later the Official Charts Company revised their rules once more, to allow songs to chart on download sales only, and Chasing Cars promptly reappeared at no.9 then basically spent the next 2 years bobbing around the top 75 or 100. It last broached the top 50 as recently as August 2013.


(*Crazy's chart run was absurdly curtailed by that previous rule, having become a hit a few months earlier than Chasing Cars. After the longest stay at Number One in a dozen years, their record company deleted the CD after nine weeks at the top – so its entire sequence went 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-5-gone, making history on the way out too due to that vertiginous exit.
Gnarls Barkley were unluckier than Snow Patrol in that they then had a full 7 months to wait until the rule changed – by which point the song was still selling, only it had gone long past its peak by then so 'only' reappeared for a cup of coffee at no.30 in the week Chasing Cars redebuted at 9, before a relatively brief meander around the lower reaches.

Edit: I'd forgotten that that same rule did make provision for a single to initially chart on downloads alone, on the proviso that a physical CD was arriving the very next week – and Crazy did make history in a good way by becoming the first UK Number One purely on downloads in its first week on release.)

[Various Artist]

See also Mr Brightside, #10 peak and has now cleared over 200 weeks in the top 100, not sure whether it cleared the million mark in sales before streaming took over though.

Mr Brightside is arguably the poster child for enduring success of a 'catalogue' song through streaming. It spent barely a handful of weeks in the chart in its initial appearance, but seems to have benefited more than any other track from consistent low-to-moderate levels of streaming week in and week out for the last few years – presumably picking up another batch every time a load of people hear it at a party or indie disco. It's one of a relatively huge number of singles that have been officially added to the million-sellers list only in the last handful of years, as combined figures are calculated by factoring in streaming 'sales' under current chart rules.

Edit: Blimey, yes: apparently the tally of 'genuine' million-sellers (I'm presuming this includes downloads in the present figures) sits at 175 but there's an additional 136 that have recently been calculated in this way, according to Wikipedia's List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I've got an off-air cassette of Strummer and The Pogues on a famous Irish tv chat show, inc a Pogues-style London Calling, which is great.

[WOM]

Yeah, they did London Calling when I saw them, as well. Overall a wild night: the concert was in a circus tent 'borrowed' from one of those anarchist punk circus shows. The Dream Warriors did a walk-on (at the peak of their admittedly limited powers) and some kook sparked a couple of accident flares and stood there arms aloft looking like some kind of flaming starman until the bouncers took him down like a couple of linebackers on an OAP. It was really something to behold.

[Jah Womble]

That latter paragraph sounds like a strange oversight for one as knowledgeable as you, Jah. The original release of Numb indeed had only a moderate chart run in 2003, but the vast global sales are surely applicable to its remake/remix/mashup/whatever with Jay-Z, Numb/Encore, which first charted a year later and despite only peaking at #14 as well (consistency!) was an enduring Top 20 success and has since spent 70-odd total weeks on the UK charts.

Steady on, there - I was only going by what I'd read and certainly would never claim expertise in chart music since 2000. Some of the stats still hold minor interest, but I lost most of it following the domination of TV 'talent' shows in creating temporary identikit pop stars, the complete dissolution in the genres themselves and finally the over-reliance on downloads for compiling those charts. (Last year's 'Sheerangate' was the final nail in the coffin for the Top 40, and, I have to say, I saw that coming years ago.)

So, any collaborative re-make (of a song I don't think I even know) between Linkin Park and Jay-Z makes complete sense in generating those stats - but it passed me by completely.