UK CHART - THE SHOW IS OVER SAY GOODBYE!

[GimmeSomeMo]

It makes me laugh how people are criticising others here for wanting a No. 1 in the UK, saying it doesn't matter, yet everyone's cheering she's got a top ten billboard position in the US and No.1 in 50 countries for the album on pre-sale.

Charts count. Most of all because, you don't chart, you're not selling. You're not selling, you get dropped. I want Madonna to have a No.1 every time. So what? Does that make me less of a fan? No.

I'm very disappointed about the performance of the song and the lack of support in the UK. And that's the point of the forum so I can come here and discuss it and why it may have failed.

If you don't want to read about people theorising about how the single performed, move on to another thread about her new dress.

PS: The singles from Bedtime Story performed very well in the UK except Take A Bow which missed the Top Ten.

The charts don't really matter to me but all this squirming and excuse making is embarrassing. It doesn't do well in the UK and it's because they discounted the early sales. The single is nosediving in the US and the UK and it's because it was a SUPERBOWL SINGLE. I mean come on. It didn't connect. Get over it.

[Elysium]

Stop it honey. You can't compare physical singles sales with digital downloads.

Selling 1 million physical singles in the 90s is like selling 4-5million today.

You can't compare different eras. Even a few years make a difference. Mariah's "We Belong Together", the most successful song of the 2000s in the US has sold less that "4 Minutes". Does that make "4 Minutes" a bigger hit? Absolutely Not. Not even close. Digital sales were just not big in 2005.

Or is "4 Minutes" bigger than "Take A Bow" and "Music"? Absolutely not again. Just 2 examples released after Vogue. According to what you say, 4mins was her biggest hit after Vogue.

Even singles with mediocre success can sell 1-2million now. Which is way more than what huge smashes used to sell in the past.

Rihanna and Katy Perry have sold like 20-30million singles each in just a few years. Way more than Madonna or most other successful artist of the 80s, 90s and early 00s. They are not more successful though. They would have sold 30% of that if they had been big in the 80s and 90s.

Riri's and Katy Perry's smashes have sold 3-5 times more what Madonna's biggest smashes have sold! Not because they were biggest hits but because it's not 1980, 1990, 2000 or 2005 anymore.

You can't really compare Madonna's sales in the 80's to sales nowadays. There are multiple and vast ways for people to buy music now as opposed to purely physical sales in the 80's. If the internet was around in the 80's you can bet that Madonna's single sales would have sold quadruple in total sales making Rihanna and Katy's sales look like a mere trickle of piss in the wind.

[iasonas]

You can't really compare Madonna's sales in the 80's to sales nowadays. There are multiple and vast ways for people to buy music now as opposed to purely physical sales in the 80's. If the internet was around in the 80's you can bet that Madonna's single sales would have sold quadruple in total sales making Rihanna and Katy's sales look like a mere trickle of piss in the wind.

That's what I am saying. Skyhigh76 obviously doesn't understand that.

[karbatal]

I think that when an artist is given loads of freedom some mistakes are made. Madonna is suddenly free from Warners and i'm sure that after all the fights about singles and everything, she will have made clear that she's the one making decisions. In my opinion, she decided to release GMAYL because it fitted well with the Superbowl and was a very young sound (i think she's obsessed with youngsters). If she had been with Warners or with another record company who had the ultimate decision, that wouldn't have been the first single.

Of course, that's only my opinion and i may be wrong. I'm VERY sure that the second single is going to be really good. If it's not, then this will be another era to let pass. At least, I don't have the horrible feeling i had during HC with the bad video and bad everything. Madonna at least is making very good the marketing and the imaginery of this MDNA project.

[Cal1974]

Right can someone clear this up for me once and for all. Sorry for asking again. We know the pre-ordered albums will be added to her first week sales figures so MDNA is likely to hit number 1 in the UK. What about the single that went with the album. Will those sales be rounded up at that time, possibly meaning it will go top ten, or have the figures been completely discounted never to be seen again? I was charged 99p for the single that came with the album.

[neutrocks]

It makes me laugh how people are criticising others here for wanting a No. 1 in the UK, saying it doesn't matter, yet everyone's cheering she's got a top ten billboard position in the US and No.1 in 50 countries for the album on pre-sale.

Charts count. Most of all because, you don't chart, you're not selling. You're not selling, you get dropped. I want Madonna to have a No.1 every time. So what? Does that make me less of a fan? No.

I'm very disappointed about the performance of the song and the lack of support in the UK. And that's the point of the forum so I can come here and discuss it and why it may have failed.

If you don't want to read about people theorising about how the single performed, move on to another thread about her new dress.

PS: The singles from Bedtime Story performed very well in the UK except Take A Bow which missed the Top Ten.

And it became her biggest #1 hit in the U.S. So it goes to show you that she can't reach every region with the same song, but it doesn't make it any less of a hit.

[loomer]

PS: The singles from Bedtime Story performed very well in the UK except Take A Bow which missed the Top Ten.

Not really.... they only performed well on a surface level i.e. made the top ten first week, then fell faster down the charts than Janet Jackson's dwindling legacy, and one of them only made the top 5 cause it was early in the year & Brits hype & cleverly packaged single for once to undo the damage of TAB. Granted, TAB failed mainly cause of Xmas and actually sold OK with those seasonal sales. This was the start of her "flop ten" era when hardly any of her singles stayed around, they just peaked high - You'll See was the first in ages to have longevity.

Erotica was really a (comparative) flop in the US, but it did better in the more liberal Europe/UK, whereas the reverse was true for BS, it was largely an attempt to recapture the pop homeland (mainly the US) and did pretty well in America, not so well in the UK where it quickly disappeared off the album charts and only went platinum to Erotica's double platinum. Madonna said in an interview of the time how pleased she was it was doing well, so clearly was the intention.

[loomer]

The charts don't really matter to me but all this squirming and excuse making is embarrassing. It doesn't do well in the UK and it's because they discounted the early sales. The single is nosediving in the US and the UK and it's because it was a SUPERBOWL SINGLE. I mean come on. It didn't connect. Get over it.

IKR. Like who cares, at least we got that video. So it's good for something.

[HolidayGuy]

TAB was her longest-running No. 1 in the USA, but "biggest" depends on what measure one's using. It obviously wasn't her biggest seller, nor necessarily her most-played (we don't have that info for pre-BDS-era tracks). On Billboard's top 50 Madonna hits (based on weekly chart performance), it ranks at No. 4.

Some may think that Madonna and her team saw longevity in GMAYL, but who knows. She did announce that she was going to film the next video more than a week ago, so maybe they saw the novelty in the track, too?

[SkyHigh76]

It always makes me laugh when people say ''it flopped coz it's not a good song.'' What is a ''good song'' anyway? It all depends on each person's taste. For me, horrible songs become big hits all the time.

Exactly.Chart positions have nothing to do with song quality.Look at the Top 40 right now....there aren't too many songs on there that I consider "excellent".No matter what Madonna releases,she's gonna have certain obstacles because of her age and the fact that she's no longer in her heyday.Like I keep saying...the fact that GMAYL is a Top 10 hit in America is a major accomplishment,no matter what happens in the coming weeks.The song did what it was supposed to do.

[dollhouse]

TAB was her longest-running No. 1 in the USA, but "biggest" depends on what measure one's using. It obviously wasn't her biggest seller, nor necessarily her most-played (we don't have that info for pre-BDS-era tracks). On Billboard's top 50 Madonna hits (based on weekly chart performance), it ranks at No. 4.

Some may think that Madonna and her team saw longevity in GMAYL, but who knows. She did announce that she was going to film the next video more than a week ago, so maybe they saw the novelty in the track, too?

could be that or Tour/rehearsals coming in the way..

[neutrocks]

TAB was her longest-running No. 1 in the USA, but "biggest" depends on what measure one's using. It obviously wasn't her biggest seller, nor necessarily her most-played (we don't have that info for pre-BDS-era tracks). On Billboard's top 50 Madonna hits (based on weekly chart performance), it ranks at No. 4.

Some may think that Madonna and her team saw longevity in GMAYL, but who knows. She did announce that she was going to film the next video more than a week ago, so maybe they saw the novelty in the track, too?

Well, I don't have the statistics to prove it, but I do know TAB was all over the radio. Maybe compared to the songs in the 80's, it didn't get played as often, but I just remember every time I turned on the radio it was either this song or "Creep" from TLC (which Madonna's song bumped from the top spot, and Bon Jovi's "Always" among many Boys II Men songs.

So if it wasn't one of her "biggest selling" number ones, it obviously was a song that got a lot of airplay to stay at number 1 for seven weeks in a row.

[neutrocks]

could be that or Tour/rehearsals coming in the way..

Well, these things are usually planned well in advance. So I suspect that she knew she would be in Tour mode by the time the album drops, so it's wise to film the follow up video now. Though, I suspect, it won't be the only videos she will be filming in the next month or two. I'm sure there will be some videos shot for the video screens on tour. She usually has in intro and/or an interlude video of her song(s) on tour.

[iasonas]

Take A Bow was literally massive in the US. In Detroit even one of our urban stations played it a little bit. I think even Human Nature got played on urban channels too. It struggled on top40 radio but it was big on MTV!

Back then radio companies were way smaller and more local and independent. They were not so obsessed with testing songs aggressively.

Then in the late 90s the massive consolidation of radio companies came and everything got fucked up.

[neutrocks]

Take A Bow was literally massive in the US. In Detroit even one of our urban stations played it a little bit. I think even Human Nature got played on urban channels too. It struggled on top40 radio but it was big on MTV!

Back then radio companies were way smaller and more local and independent. They were not so obsessed with testing songs aggressively.

Then in the late 90s the massive consolidation of radio came and everything got fucked up.

I can vouch for Middle America massive airplay. It's the last song besides, "Beautiful Stranger" and "Music" that got so much airplay in regards to middle America. "4 Minutes", "Don't Tell Me" and "Die Another Day" did get some decent airplay. Though, I was surprised with the attention "4 Minutes got since it was associated with Timberlake and Timberland who were getting their fair share of radio exposure. Before that, "Music" was truly the last song that got massive airplay.

[Supernatural]

Charts count. Most of all because, you don't chart, you're not selling. You're not selling, you get dropped. I want Madonna to have a No.1 every time. So what? Does that make me less of a fan? No.

I don't think we ever have to worry about Madonna unable to release music, even if her sales are poor.

[Guest bluejean]

Some may think that Madonna and her team saw longevity in GMAYL, but who knows. She did announce that she was going to film the next video more than a week ago, so maybe they saw the novelty in the track, too?

They wouldn't have spent 1.5 million on the music video unless they wanted that song to be a big hit. I'll be interested to see what the next video is like but I'm not expecting anything with a budget like that.

[markm]

They wouldn't have spent 1.5 million on the music video unless they wanted that song to be a big hit. I'll be interested to see what the next video is like but I'm not expecting anything with a budget like that.

Exactly. GMAYL is the lead single and was supposed to kickstart the album.

[Cal1974]

Exactly. GMAYL is the lead single and was supposed to kickstart the album.

But she has done no proper promotion here for the music. The Superbowl was massive in the US but not here. She needs to get her arse over here and into Europe to do some promotion. She did it for the film so now its time to do it for the tour and the music.

Ideally she should play the Brit Awards, but as this is on Tuesday, its a bit late.

[neutrocks]

I don't think we ever have to worry about Madonna unable to release music, even if her sales are poor.

Exactly... look at Elton John, Barbara Striesand, Bon Jovi, and a number of long standing entertainers still releasing records who either aren't having great top 40 status or even if their albums aren't selling big. Just looking at Barb's discography, she's released a zillion records and more than half of them really didn't do very well.But these are artists who are still selling concert tickets. This is the territory Madonna has entered with the likes of U2 and The Rolling Stones!

[jonski43]

I think it's harder for the Brits to give up on chart positions as Madonna has performed consistently since 1984. Before Miles Away peaked at 39 her lowest performing single was, I think, Oh Father at No. 16, 16 years ago. In the US, singles have failed to hit the charts on so many occasions for so long, it's less of a surprise.

We've now got to go through a grieving process.

But yes, I'm sure she'll do some promotion when the album comes round. However, with Radio 1 and 2 not showing any interest in her, who's going to show any interest in the album promotion? Breakfast TV?

[GimmeSomeMo]

Exactly... look at Elton John, Barbara Striesand, Bon Jovi, and a number of long standing entertainers still releasing records who either aren't having great top 40 status or even if their albums aren't selling big. Just looking at Barb's discography, she's released a zillion records and more than half of them really didn't do very well.But these are artists who are still selling concert tickets. This is the territory Madonna has entered with the likes of U2 and The Rolling Stones!

You say that like it's a good thing

[Cal1974]

I think it's harder for the Brits to give up on chart positions as Madonna has performed consistently since 1984. Before Miles Away peaked at 39 her lowest performing single was, I think, Oh Father at No. 16, 16 years ago. In the US, singles have failed to hit the charts on so many occasions for so long, it's less of a surprise.

We've now got to go through a grieving process.

But yes, I'm sure she'll do some promotion when the album comes round. However, with Radio 1 and 2 not showing any interest in her, who's going to show any interest in the album promotion? Breakfast TV?

Radio 2 would bite their own hands off to have her on a show. Steve Wright would cream himself if she came on. She could also chose Tracks of my Years with Ken Bruce. I see a Madonna week coming on, if only she showed some interest in it.

[markm]

But she has done no proper promotion here for the music. The Superbowl was massive in the US but not here. She needs to get her arse over here and into Europe to do some promotion. She did it for the film so now its time to do it for the tour and the music.

Ideally she should play the Brit Awards, but as this is on Tuesday, its a bit late.

Well Madonna and Interscope probably thought the song along with video would sell itself.

I think they completely misjudged it.

She has now had 3 flop singles in the UK . Time for some major promo - maybe a free concert

in a small venue like she did with Confessions.

[Guest Coked Up Baby Boy]

The charts don't really matter to me but all this squirming and excuse making is embarrassing.

For a FIRST single in 4 years with that much hype and exposure to crawl it's way into the charts like it has would be awarded the FLOP OF THE YEAR by many people here if it belonged to a couple OTHER singers people around here hate.

It's funny how fans react when the tables are turned they become loons just like all the other "crazy fanz omg".

Oh well. Anyway...

[loomer]

I think it's harder for the Brits to give up on chart positions as Madonna has performed consistently since 1984.

This is true, but Miles Away was like the end of an era in many ways and I just accepted it then. She was able to keep it up for ludicrously long, Hung Up she still had the youth look/appeal to an extent. Then in came the chics and things changed.

GMAYL and (the title) Girls Gone Wild is a bit much to take and too much youth grabbing to the point of implausibility and ridiculousness. I just hope the next single and album is good, that's all you can ask for.

[Cal1974]

For a FIRST single in 4 years with that much hype and exposure to crawl it's way into the charts like it has would be awarded the FLOP OF THE YEAR by many people here if it belonged to a couple OTHER singers people around here hate.

It's funny how fans react when the tables are turned they become loons just like all the other "crazy fanz omg".

Oh well. Anyway...

At this moment in the UK its a flop. There is no getting away from it and anyone who says otherwise is as deluded as certain fans of other pop divas who blamed the weather and the closure of Woolworths for flopping singles. She needs to put as much effort into promoting this music as she did into promoting W.E in Europe.

[Guest Fukujima]

You say that like it's a good thing

my thoughts exactly

[SkyHigh76]

look at Elton John, Barbara Striesand, Bon Jovi, and a number of long standing entertainers still releasing records who either aren't having great top 40 status or even if their albums aren't selling big. Just looking at Barb's discography, she's released a zillion records and more than half of them really didn't do very well.But these are artists who are still selling concert tickets. This is the territory Madonna has entered with the likes of U2 and The Rolling Stones!

I agree.

[neutrocks]

You say that like it's a good thing

And you assumed wrong and you totally missed the point!! My point is that she'll keep releasing records as long as she wants. Charts and sales will not mean much anymore. She'll always have a big enough following that the albums will be justified, especially if it's followed up with a tour. That said... it's a good thing for Madonna. She's making a killing with her concerts. She most likely will until she stops touring.