The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these 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 and hopefully become 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.
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until leaving in 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 after 14 years, later reuniting in 2018.
The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play, and online streaming in the United States.
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.
"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.
The Official Charts Company is a British inter-professional organisation that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence. The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005 and streaming in July 2014.
The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically each day from retailers' EPOS systems. All major record shops, digital retailers and streaming services contribute to the chart, accounting for over 95% of the market. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by the Irish Recorded Music Association on Friday at noon. Each chart is dated with the "week-ending" date of the previous Thursday. The singles chart was first published on 1 October 1962, and covered the top ten singles of the previous week by record label shipments.
"Crazy" is the debut single by American soul duo Gnarls Barkley, taken from their 2006 debut album St. Elsewhere. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and several other countries.
"I'll Stand by You" is a song recorded by English-American rock band the Pretenders from their sixth studio album, Last of the Independents (1994). The song was written by Chrissie Hynde and the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, and produced by Ian Stanley. The song is a ballad in which the singer pledges love and faithful assistance to a loved one in times of personal darkness.
The discography of American singer Diana Ross, the former lead singer of the Supremes, consists of 25 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 around the world.
"Lil Star" is the second international single from Kelis' fourth studio album, Kelis Was Here (2006). Released outside US, the single features Cee-Lo, who was at the time half of the duo Gnarls Barkley. Following the moderate success of "Bossy", the single has proven to be a return to form for Kelis; it debuted at number eight in Ireland and was also a huge hit in the United Kingdom reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart. The track was hailed by many music fans and critics as Kelis' "comeback" single, despite the fact "Bossy" was written specifically for Kelis' return to music.
"You Know I'm No Good" is a song written and performed by English singer Amy Winehouse from her second and final studio album, Back to Black (2006). "You Know I'm No Good" was released as the second single from Back to Black on 5 January 2007. Originally recorded as a solo track, it was remixed with guest vocals from the Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. The original appeared on Winehouse's album, while the version with Ghostface Killah appears on his album More Fish.
Kodaline are an Irish rock band. Originally known as 21 Demands, the band adopted their current name in 2012 to coincide with the changing of their music. The group comprises Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Vincent May and Jason Boland.
"Forever" is a song by American recording artist Chris Brown. Brown co-wrote the song with Andre Merritt, Rob Allen, Brian Kennedy, and Jamal "Polow da Don" Jones; the latter two are also the producers. Initially created to be used for a Doublemint commercial, "Forever" was selected to be released as the lead single from the reissue version of Brown's second studio album Exclusive, titled the Forever Edition, and the fifth single overall from the album. It was first released for digital download on November 2, 2007, in a few countries, followed the next April with a retail single CD released in Europe.
"All Summer Long" is a song by American recording artist Kid Rock. It was released in 2008 as the third single from his seventh studio album, Rock n Roll Jesus (2007). It was inspired by Bob Seger's song "Night Moves", and also samples "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon.
"Us Against the World" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife from their eighth studio album Back Home (2007). The song was released as the album's second single on 3 March 2008.
The Official Classical Singles Chart was a record chart based on downloads and streaming of classical music in the United Kingdom. Each week's chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) and was first published on Monday afternoon on their official website. The chart ran for 140 weeks from 2012 to 2015, during which time a total of 23 singles by 22 artists reached number one. The most successful artist was the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, who topped the chart with three singles for a total of 54 weeks, while the most successful record label was Decca Records, which spent 89 weeks at number one with six singles. Einaudi's track "I Giorni" from his album of the same name spent 51 weeks at number one, longer than any other single. In January 2013, following the release of Einaudi's album In a Time Lapse, singles by the pianist accounted for 13 of the Top 20 on the Official Classical Singles Chart. Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, described him as one of the chart's "biggest and most consistent stars".
"Love Is Easy" is a song by English pop rock band McFly which serves as the lead single from their second greatest hits album, Memory Lane: The Best of McFly. The song was written by McFly members Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones and Dougie Poynter as well as Antony Brant. Its music video was released on 24 October 2012, showing the band performing the song in a stage show that makes references to moments throughout their career.