The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay, with the aim of it becoming a hit record. The B-side is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides.
The UK singles chart was first compiled in 1969. However, the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. For example, the BBC compiled its own chart based on an average of the music papers of the time; many songs announced as having reached number one on BBC Radio and Top of the Pops prior to 1969 may not be listed here as chart-toppers since they do not meet the legacy criteria of the Charts Company.
The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday.
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include record sales, the amount of radio airplay, the number of downloads, and the amount of streaming activity.
The Irish rock band U2 has released 15 studio albums, one live album, three compilation albums, 84 singles, and nine extended plays (EPs). The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 as teenagers. In 1979, the group issued their first release, the EP U2-3, which sold well in Ireland. The following year, the group signed to Island Records and released their debut album, Boy. It reached number 52 in the UK and number 63 in the US. They followed it up with the release of October (1981) and War (1983). War was a commercial success, becoming the band's first number-one album in the UK while reaching number 12 in the US. The album included the singles "Two Hearts Beat As One", "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day". On the subsequent War Tour, the group recorded the live album Under a Blood Red Sky and concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks, both of which sold well and helped establish them globally as a live act.
A CD single is a music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the CD single standard was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (CD3); later on the term referred to any single recorded onto a CD of any size, particularly the 12 cm (5-inch) "full-size" disc (CD5). From a technical viewpoint, a CD single is identical to any other audio CD. The format started gaining popularity in the early 1990s, but quickly declined in the early and mid 2000s, in favor of digital downloaded singles and CD albums.
"Tears in Heaven" is a song by English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor. It appeared on the 1991 Rush film soundtrack. In January 1992, Clapton performed the song in front of an audience at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England for MTV Unplugged, with the recording appearing on his Unplugged album.
American singer Madonna has released 94 singles and 23 promotional singles and charted with 23 other songs. Among those releases, a total of 44 singles have topped the official chart in at least one of the world's top 10 music markets, from "Like a Virgin" (1984) to "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (2012). She has sold more than 100 million singles, predominantly in physical formats, with single certifications spanning 40 years from "Holiday" (1983) to "Popular" (2023). According to Billboard, Madonna is the most successful solo artist in the United States singles chart history, second overall behind the Beatles. In the United Kingdom, Madonna is the most successful female artist, with a total of 64 top-ten hits and 13 chart-toppers. At the 40th anniversary of the GfK Media Control Charts, Madonna was ranked as the most successful singles artist in German chart history. Editors of The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) wrote that Madonna is a "deserving candidate for the title of greatest singles artist since the 1960s heyday of the single"; the staff of Slant stated in 2020 that "by every objective measure, she's the most successful singles artist of all time".
This is a summary of 2006 in music in the United Kingdom including the official single and album charts.
American singer Usher has released nine studio albums, ten compilation albums, eight extended plays, and 81 singles. His music has been released on the LaFace, Arista, Jive, and RCA record labels. Usher has sold more than 33 million albums in the United States alone and over 65 million albums worldwide. With over 150 million total records sold worldwide, he is one of the best selling music artists of all time. He has nine number-one singles and 18 Hot 100 top-ten singles on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1994, Usher released his self-titled debut album in North America, producing three singles that had moderate chart success, and the album sold more than 500,000 copies. His follow-up 1997 album My Way sold over 8 million copies worldwide, becoming his breakthrough album. It is certified seven-times platinum in the US, and spawned three successful singles, including his first UK number-one hit, "You Make Me Wanna...", and first US Hot 100 number-one song, "Nice & Slow". Usher's success continued in 2001, with his third studio album, 8701. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. The album produced two number-one singles, such as "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad". In 2002, the album was certified five-times platinum in the US for sales of 5 million copies. As of 2010, its worldwide sales stand at over 8 million.
The discography of American rhythm and blues singer Diana Ross, the former lead singer of the Supremes, consists of 26 studio albums and 116 singles. Throughout her career, Ross has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Billboard ranked her as the 47th Greatest Artist of all time and the 11th Greatest Hot 100 Female Artist of all time. In 1993, Guinness World Records crowned Ross as the "most successful female artist in music history". Her 11th studio album "Diana" remains the best-selling album of her career, selling more than 10 million copies and album-equivalent units around the world.
American singer-songwriter JoJo has released six studio albums, two mixtapes, two extended plays (EP), two re-recordings, twenty-one singles, fifteen promotional singles and 34 music videos. After JoJo competed on the television show America's Most Talented Kids she signed a seven-album record deal with Blackground Records in 2003 and released her eponymous debut album the following year at the age of 13.
This is a summary of the year 2007 in British music. It was the first year of digital downloads being fully integrated into the charts, leading to many songs not given physical releases to enter the chart on download sales alone. Leona Lewis had the most successful single of the year with "Bleeding Love", which achieved sales of 787,652 copies. Her album Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album of all time in the UK. Rihanna spent ten weeks at number one with "Umbrella", the longest stay for any artist at number 1 for thirteen years and the second best selling single of the year, and Amy Winehouse had the biggest selling album of the year with Back to Black.
The discography of the English girl group All Saints consists of five studio albums, two compilation albums, one remix album, two video albums and 18 singles between London Records and Parlophone Records.
Swedish popular music, or shortly Swedish pop music, refers to music that has swept the Swedish mainstream at any given point in recent times. After World War II, Swedish pop music was heavily influenced by American jazz, and then by rock-and-roll from the U.S. and the U.K. in the 1950s and 1960s, before developing into dansband music. Since the 1970s, Swedish pop music has come to international prominence with bands singing in English, ranking high on the British, New Zealand, American, and Australian charts and making Sweden one of the world's top exporter of popular music by gross domestic product.
American singer Lady Gaga has released five solo studio albums, two collaborative studio albums, two film soundtracks, three remix albums, two compilation albums, four EPs, two live albums, 40 singles, and 14 promotional singles. Gaga made her debut in August 2008 with the studio album The Fame, which peaked at number two in the United States, where it was subsequently certified triple Platinum, while topping the charts in Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", reached number one in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and for the latter, becoming the world's biggest single of the 2009 calendar year. The album spawned three more singles: "Eh, Eh ", "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi". The latter reached the top ten in many countries worldwide, and number one in Germany.
This is a summary of 2000 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
