NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, so we've now had the 1000th #1 single in the UK (One Night by Elvis Presley). Actually the 1000th was Jailhouse Rock (also Elvis) last week, but people seem to have forgotten that God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols reached #1 in 1977. Anyway, One Night sold the fewest copies to reach #1 ever - only 21262. Also, this was the same week that 'monitored legal' downloads overtook sales of CD singles for the first time.(source (http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=601480)). So, is the single dead?

I have never bought a single. Ever. To the best of my knowledge. Actually. I bought a tape of something a good few years back. I just buy albums.

Actually the 1000th was Jailhouse Rock (also Elvis) last week, but people seem to have forgotten that God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols reached #1 in 1977.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but 'God Save The Queen', although being the largest selling single that week abd filling all other criteria for the position, wasn't officially the number one that week?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but 'God Save The Queen', although being the largest selling single that week abd filling all other criteria for the position, wasn't officially the number one that week?

OK, technically it was banned, so it's not 'officially' a number one. But to all intents and purposes, it is.

Has anyone here bought a single?
I vaguely remember buying one years ago, but I think it was only because it was on special for 50c (NZ, so about 20p). I think. I know I had a CD single of some band floating around my collection for years, but I lost it when I moved.
I've never understood the concept of buying singles. I always waited until the album came out. If that was the only song on it I liked, I'd either copy it off a mate (or download it nowadays) or wait til the album was in the specials bin and buy it for a couple of $$.
Which wouldn't take too long if there really was only one decent song on the album.
I'm a tightarse, I know.

Has anyone here bought a single?
Yup, I bought one once, but only because it was a small Australian band who didn't have enough money to record an album. Good music it was too, in the end their single was good enough that they could afford to cut an album because of the single's sales. Then they became big in Japan for like a month. I think they have a second album due soon.

OK, technically it was banned, so it's not 'officially' a number one. But to all intents and purposes, it is.

Yeah, but didn't 'Fanfare For The Common Man' (ELP?) get hiked in position from number 2 to number 1 in its place, despite selling fewer copies, and so there would still have been 999 number one singles prior to this week?

While the mainstream consumer may love downloading their music, the single can never die. One particular market that will always clamor for singles, are those wanting the vinyl, such as DJs. Most DJs only purchase the single, looking for the hit and its remixes. You've also got the collectors, looking for anything by an artist, who seek out the media that comes with purchasing a CD in a store rather than online.

You've also got the collectors, looking for anything by an artist, who seek out the media that comes with purchasing a CD in a store rather than online.

I admit I'm guilty of this. Though I can't say I contribute much to singles sales - 2 in my lifetime (and I'll be getting another one next month). So while singles may never die, they have nowhere near as much significance as they did even 10 years ago, let alone in (for example) the 70s.

The last time I bought a single was when Santana's Supernatural album came out and I was too broke to buy it. I loved Smooth and needed it for a dance class anyway, so I just caved and bought the single.

Has anyone here bought a single?


I've only bought one single ever, Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild. Usually, it's a better deal to buy the whole album than just a single. I never really understood the point of singles.

I swear, until I was thirteen I didn't even know what singles were. I just thought there were cds, casettes and records, and they were all albums.

I have only EVER bought one single. It's so funny. <<laughs at rubbish song>> Ah, it was 'make it good' by 'A1'.

Singles are a waste of money.

Singles are definitely being phased out by the mp3, but I'll cop to having bought my share of singles in the past. Even CD singles. If it's a good song but a mediocre album, the single makes sense (especially the $0.99 cassette single). I mean, come on. The single is the perfect medium for "Bust a Move"; "Ice Ice Baby"; and the ouvre of Right Said Fred and OMG.

And then you've got the slimy marketing move of the CD EP and "maxi-single," where they bundle B-sides and unreleased stuff on the singles.

But anyway, as long as you've got a portion of the population without high speed web, there's a market for the old fashioned single.

I have never bought a single. Ever. To the best of my knowledge. Actually. I bought a tape of something a good few years back. I just buy albums.
why buy singles at all? i don't get why people do, and why the UK's chart is a singles chart while most of the rest of the world goes on albums.

£4 for 3 songs, approx 15 min
or
£15 for approx 70m min
it makes no sense! :headbang:

that said they are both sooo overpriced.

why buy singles at all? i don't get why people do, and why the UK's chart is a singles chart while most of the rest of the world goes on albums.

£4 for 3 songs, approx 15 min
or
£15 for approx 70m min
it makes no sense! :headbang:

that said they are both sooo overpriced.

some albums are barely 40 min and not much cheaper than £15. It sucks I know

Singles suck, unless as Patra Caesar said, it's a small band that can't afford otherwise. (What band is it, out of curiousity?)