90's Uk Chart Sales & Info (90 - 94)

[PSBForTheMasses]

It is curious that Love Comes Quickly outsold Can You Forgiver Her despite the former having reached no 19 only while the latter was a number 7 hit.

[PSBForTheMasses]

Pet Shop Boys were more consistent in quality, worked across other genres and with other artists.
Erasure are brilliant in their own way but limited in others.

There is also an international side of things. In my country, for instance, Erasure virtually does not exist. The same goes for New Order as well. DM has the highest following but PSB are also winners here. As far as I understand, PSB are still huge in Latin countries.

YouTube follower figures are also interesting: PSB have 1,12 million subscribers while Erasure figure is at around 353 k.

[Tentenlad]

The detailed stats I have used only run up to 1994. After this the panel sales system changed somewhat and I am waiting for the figures from 95 onwards to become available. I think the Human League had a couple of singles in this period will have a look. If there are any more early 90s figures anyone wants me to check I am happy to do so.

[Tentenlad]

It is curious that Love Comes Quickly outsold Can You Forgiver Her despite the former having reached no 19 only while the latter was a number 7 hit.

Sales were generally much higher in 1986 than in 1993 - you had to sell more in the 80s than the 90s (generally speaking) to get a higher chart position.

[Patrick Bateman]

Radio airplay. Which singles were supported by Radio 1 and commercial stations?

From memory PSB were supported on Radio 1 right up to (and including) Bilingual. I think I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more got a few plays (C-list?) but that was about it.

[Patrick Bateman]

Pet Shop Boys were more consistent in quality, worked across other genres and with other artists.
Erasure are brilliant in their own way but limited in others.

Yeah, Erasure were a great pop group but they didn't have the same depth as PSB, whether that were their lyrics, record sleeves or allusions. That's why PSB were popular with music journalists and had a better press than Erasure who were perceived as being more one-dimensional.

Of course with time Vince Clarke's legacy is as one of the greatest pop artists of the 1980s but you can also see why Depeche Mode became more interesting when he left.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Pet Shop Boys were more consistent in quality, worked across other genres and with other artists.
Erasure are brilliant in their own way but limited in others.

Yeah, Erasure were a great pop group but they didn't have the same depth as PSB, whether that were their lyrics, record sleeves or allusions. That's why PSB were popular with music journalists and had a better press than Erasure who were perceived as being more one-dimensional.

I mean, that is true... but when you look at the chart performance of Pet Shop Boys and Erasure between 1992, you can see why they were itching to go live with Go West in 1992 to keep apace with Abbaesque.

Here in Australia, between 1986 and 1994 we heard very little of Erasure beyond Oh L'amour and the Abbaesque EP, but boy did they smash their way into the UK top 10 with great regularity... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure_d ... %80%931999

Retro.

[Patrick Bateman]

I mean, that is true... but when you look at the chart performance of Pet Shop Boys and Erasure between 1992, you can see why they were itching to go live with Go West in 1992 to keep apace with Abbaesque.

Here in Australia, between 1986 and 1994 we heard very little of Erasure beyond Oh L'amour and the Abbaesque EP, but boy did they smash their way into the UK top 10 with great regularity... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure_d ... %80%931999

Metta,
Paul.

One of the reasons I didn't like Reach for the Stars (a book on late 90s and early 00s pop) is its claim that Steps, one of the most awful pop groups ever, were responsible for fuelling an ABBA revival when they covered Tragedy and did some crappy ITV show. Let's at least give the originators some credit...well done, Bjorn Again.

As for Abba-esque, it was tolerable at the time but it's basically karaoke, isn't it? And that's all you can do when you cover ABBA because how can you improve it as a pop song?

[Nickname]

Radio airplay. Which singles were supported by Radio 1 and commercial stations?

From memory PSB were supported on Radio 1 right up to (and including) Bilingual. I think I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more got a few plays (C-list?) but that was about it.

I think "Somewhere" had some support from Radio 1. It was a Top 10 single, by the way. It was a amazing single that I think it could have been a good single for a compilation album.

[Tentenlad]

Human League UK Singles Sales Ranking 90 - 94

Heart Like A Wheel 43,656
Soundtrack To A Generation (no sales figures - usually indicates less than a few thousand copies sold)

[Tentenlad]

a-ha UK Sales Singles Ranking 90 - 94

Crying In The Rain 90,202
Dark Is The Night 38,880
Shapes That Go Together 25,432
I Call Your Name 18,377
Angel 17,910
Move To Memphis 15,728
The Blood That Moves The Body '92 Remix (no sales figures - usually indicates less than a few thousand copies sold)
Early Morning (no sales figures - usually indicates less than a few thousand copies sold)

[Tentenlad]

Depeche Mode UK Singles Sales Ranking 90 - 94

Enjoy The Silence 176,375
I Feel You 81,255
World In My Eyes 62,169
Police Of Truth 59,432
In Your Room 54,587
Walking In My Shoes 41,100
Condemnation 39,435

[Patrick Bateman]

I think "Somewhere" had some support from Radio 1. It was a Top 10 single, by the way. It was a amazing single that I think it could have been a good single for a compilation album.

Somewhere is when they become a cliche.

[CroMagnon]

I think "Somewhere" had some support from Radio 1. It was a Top 10 single, by the way. It was a amazing single that I think it could have been a good single for a compilation album.

Somewhere is when they become a cliche.

Agreed. The run of singles of 'A red letter day', 'Somewhere', 'I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more' (less so) and 'New York City Boy' did a lot of damage to the PSB brand in my opinion, with three of the four very clearly 'inspired' by the previous success of Go West in instrumentation, pacing, and/or lyrical theme. To the non-fan, it sounded like PSB were out of ideas, even though there were still diverse sounds and song-writing on both Bilingual and Nightlife.

[CroMagnon]

Radio airplay. Which singles were supported by Radio 1 and commercial stations?

From memory PSB were supported on Radio 1 right up to (and including) Bilingual. I think I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more got a few plays (C-list?) but that was about it.

I think "Somewhere" had some support from Radio 1. It was a Top 10 single, by the way. It was a amazing single that I think it could have been a good single for a compilation album.

Radio 1 were still supporting new PSB releases through the Nightlife era, albeit with less enthusiasm. I'm pretty sure that Drunk was playlisted in January 2000. Release was the point where they stopped play-listing new singles I believe, although there was a later weirdness where Colin Murray and Edith Bowman loved Minimal, and played it repeatedly on their Radio 1 show.