Pet Shop Boys Community

1990
‘So Hard’
PSB were back – with a stomper. This was the 92nd best-selling single of 1990 with 134,504 copies sold. Only the top 5 selling singles this year sold over 500,000 copies. The biggest being an old song - Righteous Brothers ‘Unchained Melody’. ‘So Hard’ managed to just outsell Halo James ‘Could Have Told You So’ 131,971 - if anyone remembers that tune?

‘Being Boring’
With a top ten single and Behaviour reaching No2 in the charts, everything was set for a good PSB Christmas, until - who knows why or how – BB had sales of just 54,618. Maybe Christmas was the wrong time to release this slow-grower of a track. It was ranked 284th for 1990, narrowly beaten by Morrisey’s ‘November spawned a monster’ Though I think we all know which song stood the test of time!



1991
‘Where The Streets Have No Name / How Can You Expect To..’
In a rather reactionary move – the boys go all out for a hit single. With sales of 118,960 they were back in the top ten. This was the 84th best-selling single of 1991. Brian Adams did everything he could for sales of 1,527,824 and Queen’s re release of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was the second biggest song at 718,272.

‘Jealousy’
A subtle remix for this single release. It reached no 12 in the spring, with sales of 54,480 and was the 232nd best selling song of the year. This just beat Bros’ latest (and almost last) effort ‘Are You Mine? 54,112.

‘DJ Culture’
A rather divisive single – was it meant to recapture the feel of ‘West End Girls’? With sales of just 39,968, it was a disappointing result for a song that was meant to promote the ‘Discography’ collection. This was the 305th best selling song of 1991. Even an additional remix release did little to revive its fortunes.

‘Was It Worth It?’
The first (since West End girls) single not to reach the UK top 20. The 386th best selling single of 1991 with sales of 41,540. History cannot be re written, but would this have been a better choice of first single from ‘Discography’? Another band PSB held part time membership with – Electronic - sold a similar amount in 1991 with ‘Feel Every Beat’.




1993
‘Can You Forgive Her?’
This was the longest gap so far between releases at 17 months. The 92nd positioned song of 93, with sales of 89,190. Meat loaf had the best-selling single and Take That were riding on a wave of popularity with 5 songs in the top 100 sales for this year.

‘Go West’
The 46th best selling single of 1993 with sales of 185,745. Entering the charts at no2, some way behind Culture Beat’s ‘Mr Vain’. The Following week saw PSB sales increase, however the Fresh Prince’s ‘Boom! Shake the Room’ beat ‘Go West’ to the number one spot (by an estimated 500 copies).

‘I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing’
The 142nd placed single with 64,380 sales. A 3D video and tie-in with Children in Need helped this remixed version of the song to no13. It outsold Madonna’s ‘Bad Girl’ at 64,110.



1994
‘Liberation’
A rather surprising choice of single from the choc-full-of-potential-hits ‘Very’ album. This was the 193rd best-selling single of ‘94 with sales of 53,227. The Beautiful South’s ‘Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)’ sold almost the same number of copies. The years best seller was ‘Love Is All Around’ selling a whopping 1,757,579.

‘Absolutely Fabulous’
Should this be included? With sales of 100,657 it was the 111th seller of 94.

‘Yesterday, When I Was Mad’
The 207th seller of ’94, with 48,943 sold. Erasure’s ‘I Love Saturday’ was close by with 47,923 sold.


Pet Shop Boys 1990’s singles ranked by UK sales (1990 - 1994)

Go West 185,745
So Hard 134,504
Where The Streets Have No Name / How Can You Expect To…118,960
Absolutely Fabulous* 100,657
Can You Forgive Her? 89,190
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing 64,380
Being Boring 54,618
Jealousy 54,480
Liberation 53,227
Yesterday, When I Was Mad 48,943
Was It Worth It? 41,540
DJ Culture 39,968
DJ Culture Mix 13,344

*may not contain 'Pet Shop Boys'

Pet Shop Boys Singles Sales Ranked 1985 - 1994

Always On My Mind – 508,793
It’s A Sin – 456,297
West End Girls – 434,673
Heart – 266,033
What Have I Done to Deserve This? – 251,022
Go West – 185,745
Suburbia – 166,549
Domino Dancing – 147,475
Left To My Own Devices – 146,710
It’s Alright – 143,344
So Hard – 134,504
Where The Streets Have No Name / How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously? – 118,960
Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) – 106,114
Absolutely Fabulous - 100,657
Rent – 97,631
Love Comes Quickly – 97,342
Can You Forgive Her? – 89,190
I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing – 64,380
Being Boring – 54,618
Jealousy – 54,480
Liberation – 53,227
Yesterday, When I Was Mad – 48,943
Was It Worth It? – 41,540
DJ Culture – 39,968
DJ Culture Mix – 13,344

Yay, the return of the sales stats singles ! Cheers our kid.

One observation - how can DJ Culture be the 305th best-selling single of '91 with 39,968 sales while Was It Worth It? is further back in 386th spot with more sales - 41,540?
Should they be the other way round?

‘Was it worth it’ was released in December ‘91, so its sales stretched over 1991 and 1992 - only part of these sales counted in 1991. The total sales combined from both years were therefore more overall than ‘DJ Culture.’
‘DJ Culture’ sales were all in 1991.
I could have combined ‘DJ Culture mix’ sales with ‘DJ Culture’ and the overall sales would have been greater than ‘Was it worth it?’ Though the charts did officially have both release's of ‘DJ Culture’ as separate versions with their own sales figures.

Hi Tentenlad

Thanks for the info i love stuff like this be great if we had accurate numbers for all other countries as well, but i doubt they exist?.

Do you know if the album sales are available for the UK as well or is not available.

Cheers

Paul.

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

psblefrere wrote: Thu 25 Sep 2025, 11:47 am Hi Tentenlad

Thanks for the info i love stuff like this be great if we had accurate numbers for all other countries as well, but i doubt they exist?.

Do you know if the album sales are available for the UK as well or is not available.

Cheers

Paul.

Unfortunately, I have investigated this and there is no specific album sales info as yet, just the general Silver, Gold, Platinum awards.

What has streaming done to individual songs sales since the initial release, I for one don’t play physical product and always stream. There must be others who do this!

Is Always in my mind still the top seller after this is considered.

And thank you for the info I enjoy reading it.

RMC wrote: Thu 25 Sep 2025, 3:29 pm What has streaming done to individual songs sales since the initial release, I for one don’t play physical product and always stream. There must be others who do this!

Is Always in my mind still the top seller after this is considered.

And thank you for the info I enjoy reading it.

I think detailed streaming figures are often considered confidential business information between artists, labels, and streaming services. There are general figures information available online:
West End Girls: 70 million streams (most-streamed song in the UK as of May 2024)
Always On My Mind: 53 million streams (Official Christmas Number 1 in 1987)
It's A Sin: 40 million streams (saw significant growth after the TV series It's A Sin aired)

Too bad that Go West didn’t get a silver certification when it was first released. Since then it has obtained a silver certification in the U.K for download sales and streaming points. So the actual sales figures are significantly higher for there biggest hits, than the original physical sales, when you combine them with download sakes and streaming points.

In Germany the physical sales of Go West stand at almost 800,000 copies !

Jeesh, don't they have any taste?

It seems Erasure massively outsold PSB's in the 90's...

Erasure 1990’s singles ranked by UK sales (90-94)

Abba-Esque 422,460
Blue Savannah 209,967
Love To Hate You 192,400
Always 175,848
Chorus 167,312
Star 87,499
Breath Of Life 76,605
Run To The Sun 71,808
Who Needs Love Like That? (Remix) 59,115
Am I Right? 51,376
I Love Saturday 47,923

Erasure singles sales rankings 1985 - 1994

Crackers International – 473,569
Abba-Esque – 422,460
Sometimes – 327,437
A Little Respect – 210,834
Blue Savannah – 209,967
Drama! – 202,708
Love To Hate You – 192,400
Always – 175,848
The Circus – 172,057
Chorus – 167,312
Victim of Love – 130,781
It Doesn’t Have to Be – 118,184
Ship of Fools – 116,756
Chains of Love – 82,586
Star – 87,499
You Surround Me – 77,962
Breath Of Life – 76,605
Run To The Sun – 71,808
Who Needs Love Like That? (Remix) – 59,115
Am I Right? – 51,376
I Love Saturday – 47,923
Who Needs Love Like That – 16,201
Oh L’Amour – 13,498
‘Heavenly Action’ Not within top 1000 sales

Tentenlad wrote: Mon 29 Sep 2025, 4:59 pm It seems Erasure massively outsold PSB's in the 90's...

Erasure 1990’s singles ranked by UK sales (90-94)

Abba-Esque 422,460
Blue Savannah 209,967
Love To Hate You 192,400
Always 175,848
Chorus 167,312
Star 87,499
Breath Of Life 76,605
Run To The Sun 71,808
Who Needs Love Like That? (Remix) 59,115
Am I Right? 51,376
I Love Saturday 47,923

Erasure singles sales rankings 1985 - 1994

Crackers International – 473,569
Abba-Esque – 422,460
Sometimes – 327,437
A Little Respect – 210,834
Blue Savannah – 209,967
Drama! – 202,708
Love To Hate You – 192,400
Always – 175,848
The Circus – 172,057
Chorus – 167,312
Victim of Love – 130,781
It Doesn’t Have to Be – 118,184
Ship of Fools – 116,756
Chains of Love – 82,586
Star – 87,499
You Surround Me – 77,962
Breath Of Life – 76,605
Run To The Sun – 71,808
Who Needs Love Like That? (Remix) – 59,115
Am I Right? – 51,376
I Love Saturday – 47,923
Who Needs Love Like That – 16,201
Oh L’Amour – 13,498
‘Heavenly Action’ Not within top 1000 sales

I've always been oddly amused about the Erasure vs PSB thing - even back in the 80's it was as if everyone was "into" Erasure and PSB was somehow not as cool a band to like. It was only in the early 90's that my PSB fandom gained any kind of recognition from people as being a "cool" band to be into (a few nods of approval during my uni years but not much).

It's interesting that subsequently PSB seems to remain much more in the public consciousness to many than Erasure does, even though Vince and Andy are still creating and releasing music too.

I'm not sure what changed, or was different. My only feeling is that PSB have been a more immersive band spanning other genres (musicals, ballet, film) which has gained them that extra credibility over time. I know very little about Erasure, but feel like they've mainly stuck to their guns of writing music simply for listening pleasure - if PSB had done the same, I imagine they would be viewed in a similar way.

That's not meant as a knock on Erasure. I like some of their stuff well enough, but it's never grabbed me the same way PSB music has.

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.

If you're, ahem, taking 90s requests, could I ask for Human League, Pulp and Suede please?