oh dear...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

...it transpires that Aly & AJ didn't just fail to make the top 10, they missed the top 20: 'Potential Breakup Song' languishes at No 22, and that's with physical releases. Sadfaces all round. What doomy conclusions can we draw from this? Personally, I think if that song can't be a big hit, nothing of its ilk can, and the UK can officially be declared a pop wilderness.

On the plus side, that nasty Sex Pistols reissue thing is nowhere to be seen.

Comments

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

"To have one over-hyped comeback may be regarded as a misfortune: to have two looks like carelessness."

[koganbot]

[I'll try again]

and the UK can officially be declared a pop wilderness

As can the USA, for the same reason. Except it's not so simple. The USA created Aly & A.J., after all; but my guess is that the U.K.'s general audience embraced them more than the U.S.'s did. A&A got up to #17 on the U.S. Hot 100, but that was owing to the built-in Disney audience. Hitting #22 in Britain without such an audience (at least not one of that size) may indicate a better quality of nonchildren in the U.K.

In any event, this is how we smart people will recognize one another, through our love of Aly & A.J. (and of Ashley Tisdale's "Not Like That").

Speaking of "Oh Dear"

[koganbot]

Speaking of "oh dear," skyecaptain just sent me an email with "oh dear" on the subject line but the content of the message was that Ashlee's next album is to be called "Color Outside The Lines."

Oh dear.

(Perhaps the title indicates that Ornette Coleman will have a guest shot on the LP.)

What's more..

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

Roisin entered the chart at 28... two places below some Big Brother cover of "Barbie Girl"! I listened to the Top 40 for the first time in about 20 years to discover this dispiriting news.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Perhaps a lack of publicity harmed the song's chances? Apart from one article in the Observer, I didn't see or hear any advertising for the single at all. Nor did I hear the song on radio more than a couple of times last week.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask about radio airplay (before bengraham beat me to it) - I don't listen to the radio much, but I didn't hear it getting played at all. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems like Radio 1 has such a chokehold on what's successful in the singles Top 40 and what isn't - if Radio 1 won't playlist you, it seems like you can kiss your chances of a hit single goodbye (unless in extreme cases, like when they failed to playlist 'Since U Been Gone' and it went Top 10). And given that Radio 1's playlist seems to favour the same old artists time and time again, just updating it every time they bring a new single out, I can't see this changing in a hurry.

I'm disappointed with '#22 if that ends up being the peak position for 'Potential Breakup Song', but it's better than I expected, to be honest. Part of me didn't expect the song to make the Top 40 at all.