CHART REWIND. John Rzeznik wrote “Iris” for the soundtrack to the 1998 film City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage. Rzeznik’s group The Goo Goo Dolls chose to include it on its sixth album Dizzy Up the Girl which amassed more than 3m in worldwide record sales.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdYWuo9OFAw
“Iris” was no less than a chart sensation as it spent a record 18 weeks at No.1 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart in 1998. That beats No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” (1996-1997) and Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” (2005) who spent 16 weeks atop the airplay chart.
So, how come it never made it higher than 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.
Despite becoming such a huge US hit, it never reached the UK top 20 peaking at No.26. WelcheMusic still hasn’t figured out why. Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating took “Iris” to No.12, thus beating the original peak of Goo Goo Dolls.
And now, another boy band has covered the track. The Wanted performed “Iris” on The Sun’s concert sessions the other week.
Read more about The Wanted and watch the clip:
