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.

Further reading via WelcheMusic:

• The Goo Goo Dolls’ ‘Iris’ Returns