Re: hypothesis about poor UK single sales

[dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford)]

William A. White (am780@yfn.ysu.edu) wrote:

:      After reading all the ruminations on the poor showings of
: both RBG and ETM, it seems to me that many are "misremembering"
: the chartings of Kates previous singles. The true KateFan loves
: all her songs and "assumes" they were big hits, but that was not always
: the case, as while Kate has been an immensely popular and influential
: artist - not all her singles were top ten hits:

[list deleted]

The point I was trying to get across was that RBG didn't stay in the
top 20 long - only two weeks!  And this was after the success of the HOL
and TSW singles.  For new KaTe material to be so ephemeral in it's chart
showing indicates to me that either her average fans are not impressed with
RBG and are not buying the singles or, that many fans are not singles buyers
anymore, or they are waiting for the album (pardon the poor sentence
construction).

 
:      All chart numbers reflect the highest position achieved in the
: UK charts. So, as you can see, it's not unusual at all for a Kate
: single to not be number one with a bullet. In fact she went a very long
: time from WH to the next #1 of The Sensual World single.

I don't think TSW single reached #1.  WH remains her only UK chart topper.
The in and out of the chart quickly phenomenon is common for artists who
have a core of faithful fans who buy singles and albums soon after release but
cannot broaden sales to a wider audience.  Being a Gary Numan fan I know
first hand how this works :)

BTW, it has always shocked me how imports to the UK from the USA are so
expensive when UK imports to the USA are not too different from what they
cost in the UK.  VAT doesn't explain it all!  Anyone?

Derek

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Derek H. Langsford                                            Dept. of Biology 
dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu                           San Diego State University 
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