CHART SPOTLIGHT.Westlife has decided to split up, following a successful career selling 44 million records, ten sold-out tours and 26 top ten hits. The tale started in 1998 when their debut hit ‘Swear It Again’ managed to top the UK and Irish singles charts. The group has sold a phenomenal 700,000 copies in Sweden alone during their career.
The group will go separate ways after the release of a ‘Greatest Hits’ album this Christmas. The set will also include four new tracks. They will also embark on a UK-nationwide tour in May 2012.
CHART SPOTLIGHT.The Stone Roses reunion is nothing but a success. It only took 68 minutes to sell out 220,000 tickets to the group’s three concerts in Manchester Heaton Park in June and July next year, as reported on the band’s homepage. Initially, only two concerts were planned on June 29th and 30th. These tickets sold out in just 14 minutes and consequently a third concert was added on the same venue, according to BBC News. Earlier this week, Stone Roses, announced that they will reunite and embark on a world tour. In addition to the three planned concerts in Manchester, the rest of the world tour isn’t presented yet.
Stone Roses got its breakthrough at the end of the ‘80s with its eponymous debut album and the two singles ‘Fool’s Gold’ and ‘One Love.’ The band broke up in 1996, two years after the release of the sophomore set Second Coming.
Sak Noel’s ‘Loca People (What the Fuck)’ Finally Released in the UK
CHART SPOTLIGHT.Sak Noel’s novelty hit ‘Loca People (What the Fuck)’ finally found its way to the UK as it knocked Dappy’s ‘No Regrets’ off the top spot. Also known as ‘Loca People (La Gente Está Muy Loca),’ the single has already topped the tallies in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Poland before reaching the British isles.
A Spanish DJ, producer and music video director Sak Noel runs the Moguda production house as well as an annual dance festival. Featuring the ‘vocalist’ Esthera Sarita. ‘Loca People’ in June across Europe, while it was only made available at the end of September in the UK. Unfortunately Ultra Records has made it impossible to share and embed the music video which has been viewed by more than 7m.
CHART SPOTLIGHT. When John Rzeznik wrote the lyrics for ‘Iris,’ this was a song breaking several years of writer’s block. Written for the movie City of Angels, ‘Iris’ was initially released by Goo Goo Dolls in 1998. Despite only peaking at No.26 at the UK singles chart that year, it has amassed more than 433,000 copies sold since the release.
Tonight, ‘Iris’ returns to the singles tally at No.3. Interest for the original surged when two finalists on X Factor chose the song in last Sunday’s finalist reminding consumers of the track.
This August, Goo Goo Dolls returned with the set Something for the Rest of Us, their ninth studio album. ‘Home’ was the first single release, peaking in the top ten of the Hot AC singles tally in the US. I’m looking forward to see if this renewed interest in the Buffalo group will affect sales of their last album as it only seems to support back material. The band’s greatest this album has re-entered the iTunes top 20, where ‘Iris’ is currently atop. ‘Iris’ is featured on the album Dizzy Up the Girl, which has sold more than 3m copies globally. The set was Goo Goo Doll’s sixth.
I’ve already covered ‘Iris’ in a blog post from January 2010. It is clear that the US success was greater than in Europe and despite spending 18 weeks at No.1 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart in 1998, ‘Iris’ only made it to No.9 on the Hot 100. That’s because it wasn’t allowed to chart on the Hot 100 as it was never released as a physical single (that was long before the legal downloads). It bowed on the chart and peaked at No.9 when Billboard revised its chart policy in 1998. It, however, managed to top the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Goo Goo Dolls debuted with their eponymous album in 1987, their first hit came in 1995 with ‘Name’ which was featured on the set A Boy Named Goo.
