which is carpenters worst selling single?

[adam]

Hi
I know the lowest charting single was Beechwood 45789 which peaked at no 74 but does this mean it was their worst selling single?.In late 1975 Richard stated that Solitaire was their worst selling single since Ticket to ride.Thoughts anyone?

 

[Harry]

"Make Believe It's Your First Time" only made it to number 101, which on Billboard is considered "Bubbling Under". It charted for eight weeks on that Bubbling Under list, but of course did better in the Adult Contemporary charts.

 

[newvillefan]

Had Richard found Trying To Get The Feeling Again in time for VOTH I think they would have had a top 20 hit on Billboard.

 

[Toolman]

I don't really count anything released after Karen's death in the same category as those released when she was alive to promote them. Maybe it doesn't matter, but it feels to me like the same expectations of chart performance shouldn't apply.

 

[tomswift2002]

The Carpenters were hitting the AC charts right up to the final single in 1989. "If I Had You" was a Top 20 AC hit.

 

[newvillefan]

The Carpenters were hitting the AC charts right up to the final single in 1989. "If I Had You" was a Top 20 AC hit.

Technically that's Karen's song, albeit with a cold ending remix by Richard. I don't think he deserves the credit for its success as a single. That's all down to Karen and Phil.

 

[Rumbahbah]

I can't imagine there'd be any definitive way of working this out, given that sales records for low-charting singles often weren't compiled and certainly weren't made available to the public in that era. Even chart position only tells you so much, as a record that peaks at, say, #70 in one week won't have sold the same number of copies as a record peaking at the same number in a different year or even in a different week of the same year.

Doubtless it's one of the post-1975 singles, but the sale figures for some of these may have been so low that the difference between them doesn't amount to very much in real terms.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the AC chart largely compiled based on airplay, not sales?

 

[tomswift2002]

I think that in terms of sales figures, one single that you could say probably has the lowest if "Do You Hear What I Hear?/Little Altar Boy", as that one seems to have been released for radio AirPlay only, or if it was out on the commercial market, there must not have been many copies printed, or it was only released in select territories.

And newvillefan, don't forget that Richard's own single "Something In Your Eyes" (which should've been on the PBS CD set, as I agree, "If I Had You" was marketed as a Karen-solo single on the p

 

[Actorman]

"Honolulu City Lights" is another possibility for lowest selling. I believe it was released basically out of nowhere and without any sort of promotion. If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't even on the main A&M label, but on the "A&M Memories" imprint (the successor to the "Forget Me Nots" imprint) which leads me to believe it would have went directly to the "oldies" section rather than being stocked with new releases.

Does anyone have any information as to why this single was even released in 1986? I know that Richard was upset about An Old Fashioned Christmas being released as a budget title the previous year. Was this another situation like that? Possibly a single intended to "test the waters" for another posthumous album release that A&M then changed its mind about? (The album that eventually became Lovelines a few years later.) Just speculation, but it at least puts some logic around the single's totally random release.

 

[tomswift2002]

I think that in terms of sales figures, one single that you could say probably has the lowest if "Do You Hear What I Hear?/Little Altar Boy", as that one seems to have been released for radio AirPlay only, or if it was out on the commercial market, there must not have been many copies printed, or it was only released in select territories.

And newvillefan, don't forget that Richard's own single "Something In Your Eyes" (which should've been on the PBS CD set, as I agree, "If I Had You" was marketed as a Karen-solo single on the p

Must've been tired when I wrote this. I meant to say that Richard's own single, Something In Your Eyes hit #12 on the AC charts (and should've been included on the Complete Singles set, even though it does feature Dusty Springfield).

 

[MARK KILLINER]

this is an interesting thread and whilst my own opinion is that just because a song didn't do well in the charts, dos`nt make it a bad song, I`ve been trying to think of one that could be considered, their worst single and in all honesty, because the question is `their single`, i.e carpenters, I can`t think of one!
individually, Karen did do a couple on her solo album I wasn't fond of, mainly the disco type songs and whilst I do have Richards solo album here, I`ve never listened to it.
as far as the carpenters go though, whilst they clearly have singles that haven't done well, there isn't one I don`t like. how rare is that!
there`s actually only one other album I have, where I like every single track, which again, is rare and that's rod stewarts `the great American songbook 5 fly me to the moon`.

 

[Harry]

I generally make it a rule not to criticize other people's choices and tastes in music, but I just *have* to comment on the idea of liking Karen Carpenter's voice and also liking Rod Stewart. I can't think of too many singers in Karen's class - maybe a Perry Como - who sing so purely and effortlessly with clean, clear, pure tones. And then to even lump them into the same conversation as Rod Stewart is just unthinkable to me. I hear Rod Stewart and his crackly, reedy, froggy voice sends my skin crawling.

Mark, you have every right to like what you like, and I won't put you down for that - it's not what we do here. But I just had to comment on my own perspective on that! Rod Stewart obviously has a large following which is quite a mystery to me. His records get played on nearly every format from hard to soft rock to jazz to oldies. Hell, I've even heard him on news stations! It's one of the crosses I bear.

 

[MARK KILLINER]

harry, I would never dream of comparing Karen with rod stewart
I used that example as it`s rare to buy a vinyl, back in the day and now, or a cd today and like every single track and with the exception of Karen, this American songbook is the only other one I`ve liked all tracks. I actually have never liked rod stewart at all, never listened to him, never brought his music, never been interested, but one night a couple of years ago, he sang one of the songs off this album on a late night show here and I loved it, so I got the album and there wasn't one track I didn't like, which surprised even me!
whilst my main listening pleasure is the carpenters, I also like other music, but as I`m getting older, it does seem to be music of a `smoother` nature I enjoy. one artist I`m really enjoying at the moment and listen to a lot, is Diana krall, lovely music!

 

[Harry]

Actually Mark, it was I who compared (actually contrasted) their voices, and as I said, you have every right in the world to like what you like, and more power to you. There are a few artists who really turn me off and Rod's one of them.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled thread on "Worst Selling Carpenters Single".

 

[tomswift2002]

"Honolulu City Lights" is another possibility for lowest selling. I believe it was released basically out of nowhere and without any sort of promotion. If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't even on the main A&M label, but on the "A&M Memories" imprint (the successor to the "Forget Me Nots" imprint) which leads me to believe it would have went directly to the "oldies" section rather than being stocked with new releases.

Does anyone have any information as to why this single was even released in 1986? I know that Richard was upset about An Old Fashioned Christmas being released as a budget title the previous year. Was this another situation like that? Possibly a single intended to "test the waters" for another posthumous album release that A&M then changed its mind about? (The album that eventually became Lovelines a few years later.) Just speculation, but it at least puts some logic around the single's totally random release.

I was just thinking, have the songs that were issued as 45's recharted on iTunes over the past decade? Nowadays with iTunes people are able to purchase just one track at a time.