Artists achieving simultaneous U.S. and UK number-one hits
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These are the artists who have topped both the official album and singles chart for Billboard in the United States and The Official UK Charts Company from the United Kingdom (also the BPI). Currently, as of 2008, five artists have achieved this: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Men at Work and Beyoncé.
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[edit] The Beatles (1960s, 1970s, 2000s)
The champion among recording artists with simultaneous U.S. and U.K. #1 successes are The Beatles. The Beatles achieved unprecedented popularity in the United Kingdom in 1963 which began to spill over at the end of that year into North America culminating in their triumphant arrival in New York City in February 1964. When their U.S. and U.K. releases fell in sync with each other, The Beatles achieved a record seven simultaneous #1 singles and (once the U.S. and U.K. albums became identical beginning with Sgt. Pepper), five #1 albums.
Number 1 simultaneous singles:
- "Can't Buy Me Love", April 1964
- "A Hard Day's Night", August 1964
- "I Feel Fine", December 1964—January 1965
- "We Can Work It Out", January 1966
- "Paperback Writer", June 1966
- "Hello, Goodbye", December 1967—January 1968
- "Get Back", May and June 1969
Number 1 simultaneous albums (note that prior to 1967, the US and UK LP releases by The Beatles had major differences):
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, August—October 1967
- The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album), December 1968—February 1969
- Abbey Road, November and December 1969—January 1970
- Let It Be, June 1970
- 1, December 2000—January 2001
[edit] Simon and Garfunkel (1970s)
In 1970, the folk-rock duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel released the single "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which shared the number one position in the British and American charts between the weeks ending March 28, 1970 and April 4, 1970. The song was the third number one hit for the duo in the U.S. while being their first and only UK number one. The album Bridge Over Troubled Water became the duo's most successful album holding the number one position in the British charts for 41 weeks and would become the UK's best selling album of the decade. The recording of the album exposed the underlying tensions between the partnership and soon led to their break-up.
[edit] Rod Stewart (1971)
Stewart's simultaneous event occurred in May 1971 with his third album, Every Picture Tells a Story with the universal hit "Maggie May". The single "Maggie May" was supposed to be a B-side track to the song "Reason to Believe", but that was changed after the reception proved more positive for "May". Both single and album stayed at #1 for five weeks in the US and UK. Moreover, it managed to top at the same time making him the first artist to do so comparing with earlier two artists who had the effect at separate periods. In the UK, the track climbed to number one on his sixth week in the chart after its entry position at number 31. The song declined slowly and enjoyed its successful run of 21 weeks. The singles chart was Top 50 during the period until the mid 1970s when the British Market Research Bureau (BRMB) expanded the list to Top 75. Stewart's first appearance of the expanded chart (between number fifty-one to seventy-five) was in 1978 for the song Ole Ola (Mulher Brasileira) with the Scottish World Cup Squad at number sixty-two before he was thrown off the chart a week later. The single was certified Gold from RIAA in October 1971 whilst the album was certified platinum much later in 1995. The album also was frequently voted one of the best British albums of all time. A recent, clear evidence was when Channel 4 in the UK ranked his album 99th of the 100 Greatest Albums Ever in 2005.
[edit] Men at Work (1983)
Men at Work are best known for their 1982 hit "Down Under", a joyful, comic song about Australians travelling the world with confidence in the virtues of their country. The song was commercially successful in many countries, including the UK, where it was the 500th single to reach No. 1 (and became their only Top 20 entry in that country). It was also #1 on the Billboard Charts in the US. They are the only non-US/UK band to achieve this feat.
It was re-released as an unofficial theme song during Australia's successful 1983 America's Cup challenge, and has become an unofficial national anthem for many Aussies.
Their first album, 1982's Business as Usual, set a record for the most weeks for a debut album at #1 in the US charts. In addition to "Down Under," the hits "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Be Good Johnny" were made into successful and popular videos during MTV's early years. Both "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under" hit #1 in the United States. One of the most successful albums of the early 1980s, Business As Usual has been certified for 6 million sales in the United States, and an estimated 15 million copies worldwide.
Men At Work won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards of 1983.
[edit] Beyoncé (2003)
Beyoncé Knowles' album Dangerously in Love and single "Crazy in Love" have topped simultaneously in the US and the UK in July 2003 which made her the first female artist to achieve this feat, the first artist in the 21st century and the second artist (after Rod Stewart) to top both the singles and albums charts in the US and the UK simultaneously.
In the US, the album made a strong debut at #1 whilst the single moved up to the top position from #3, knocking off Clay Aiken's single This is the Night. It was simultaneous for only one week. The following week saw Knowles' album being knocked from the top spot whilst the single remained at #1 for seven more weeks, before being replaced by Shake Ya Tailfeather by Nelly. The single itself spent 28 weeks on the Hot 100 and the album for 72 weeks with the certification of 2x-Platinum and four times (4x) platinum respectively.
In the UK, the album (released a week earlier than the single) also debuted at #1, replacing Evanescence's Fallen which the artist have managed to have simultaneous number ones in the UK. The next week saw the single debuting at the top position replacing Bring Me to Life by Evanescence therefore resulting in her single (topped for three weeks) co-inciding with the album (five weeks) to top at the same time for three consecutive weeks. The following week's #1 single was replaced by Daniel Bedingfield's "Never Gonna Leave Your Side", as Knowles slipped to number two.
Dangerously in Love held on at #1 for one more week before being succeeded by Magic and Medicine from the British band The Coral. The next artist to have a simultaneous #1 album and single in the UK was Pop Idol winner Will Young with the single "Leave Right Now" and the album Friday's Child in December 2003.
Beyoncé's album had the most consecutive weeks at #1 in the UK for 2003, even though the album did not have the most total weeks at #1. She became the second female artist in the UK to hold simultaneous #1s, after Kylie Minogue in 2000 (album Fever, single "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"). Because the download sales were not integrated until April 2005 for the singles chart, the single "Crazy in Love" spent 15 weeks based on physical sales alone which was considered a quite long run with 260,000 units of shipments certifing the song to silver. The album Dangerously in Love spent 54 weeks in the UK Albums Chart and was awarded three times (3x) platinum from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Despite mixed reviews from international critics, the album earned her five Grammy Awards and a nomination for the "Record of The Year" (won by Coldplay), one BRIT Award for "Best International Female Solo Artist" but missed out on the "Best International Album" which she was nominated for (won by Justin Timberlake), and thirty other music industry awards. The album sold eleven million copies worldwide; the single sold 3.2 million copies worldwide.
Knowles is the only American solo artist to achieve this feat. British music magazine, New Musical Express (NME) voted "Crazy in Love" as the Best Single Release of 2003 beating 49 other candidates such as Outkast (for "Hey Ya!") and The White Stripes (for "Seven Nation Army") at their end of year review. This was considered surprising because the NME tends to specialise in indie rock.
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