The Supreme's [[both with and post-Diana) Singles Sales in the UK

[florence]

For anyone interested, this is an estimated list of The Supreme's singles sales in the UK of all tracks which charted.

It has been compiled by Shireblogger of Haven forum.co.uk who has kindly given his permission to post it.

He uses a set of algorithms based on chart position, time of year, yearly shipments and each figure is to the nearest 5k.

He's not claiming this is gospel but he is pretty reliable and most of these should be near the mark.

1. Supremes -- Baby Love :: 650k
2. Supremes -- Where Did Our Love Go ? :: 420k
3. Supremes -- Stoned Love :: 360k
4. Supremes -- You Can't Hurry Love :: 230k
5. Supremes -- Nathan Jones :: 230k
6. Supremes -- You Keep Me Hanging On :: 220k
7. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- Reflections :: 220k
8. Supremes with Temptations [Diana Ross &] -- I'm Gonna Make You Love Me :: 220k
9. Supremes -- Stop ! In The Name Of Love :: 195k
10. Supremes -- The Happening :: 190k
11. Supremes -- Up The Ladder To The Roof :: 170k
12. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- In And Out Of Love :: 140k
13. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- Love Child :: 135k
14. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- Someday We'll Be Together :: 135k
15. Supremes -- Floy Joy :: 115k
16. Supremes & Four Tops -- River Deep Mountain High :: 100k
17. Supremes -- Automatically Sunshine :: 85k
18. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- I'm Living In Shame :: 80k
19. Supremes & Four Tops -- You've Got To Have Love In Your Heart :: 80k
20. Supremes -- Love Is Here And Now You're Gone :: 75k
21. Supremes with Temptations [Diana Ross &] -- I Second That Emotion :: 65k
22. Supremes -- Come See About Me :: 60k
23. Supremes -- I Hear A Symphony :: 50k
24. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- Forever Came Today :: 50k
25. Supremes with Temptations [Diana Ross &] -- Why Must We Fall In Love :: 35k
26. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- Some Things You Never Get Used To :: 30k
27. Supremes [Diana Ross &] -- No Matter What Sign You Are :: 30k
28. Supremes -- Back In My Arms Again :: 25k
29. Supremes -- Bad Weather :: 20k
30. Supremes -- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town :: 5k

Based on sales the records which were amongst the UK top 100 for the year.

1964
#25 Baby Love
#32 Where Did Our Love Go

1965
#95 Stop! In The Name Of Love

1966
#57 You Can't Hurry Love

1967
#44 Reflections
#55 The Happening

1969
#55 I'm Gonna Make You Love Me

1970
#73 Up The Ladder To The Roof

1971
#23 Stoned Love
#76 Nathan Jones

1972
Floy Joy just missed the top 100 being #110.

These are a few of my observations:

Some in the US will think these figures are chicken feed but a UK sale of 100k at the time was very respectable.

Interesting that the Supremes sold over 1.1m singles in the UK after Diana Ross had left and two of the top 5 are from this period

From May 1970 to July 1972 they had a string of top 10 hits in the UK plus two with the Four Tops reaching #s 11 & 25. It did look dodgy after their initial hit as the second Everybody's Got The Right To Love was a flop.

A further couple of tracks with The Four Tops failed to chart and Bad Weather was their final UK hit - probably because they were on tour in the country at time of release.

Up The Ladder trounced Diana's initial solo outing in the UK and did better in the US too with Reach Out And Touch peaking at #20 in Billboard although it is worth noting that Reach Out went Top 10 in both the sales based Cashbox and Record World charts.

The Supremes' first four singles in the UK were issued on the Stateside label and then it was decided to use the two biggest labels from the Detroit company - Tamla & Motown to create a separate label for the UK.

The Supremes' Stop! In The Name Of Love TMG 501 was chosen as the first release.

The girl's UK debut When The Love light Starts Shining Through His Eyes passed unnoticed but from their second Where Did Our Love Go to the final outing before Diana Ross left to go solo - Someday We'll Be Together - the girls released 24 singles [[3 of these collaborations with The Temptations), 21 of these charting which is a superb record.

The three which didn't make it in the UK were Nothing But Heartaches follow up to Back In My Arms Again. This was the record which brought a stop to their run of 5 consecutive US #1s reaching only #11 so it was obviously a weaker record. The UK too was less receptive to follow-ups sounding identical to the previous release and to me Heartaches sounded just like Back In My Arms Again Part II.

The top 5 US hit My World Is Empty Without You was the second flop which does surprise me somewhat. It is one of my personal favourites and after Diana went solo she very often included this song in her montage of Supremes' hits when in concert.

The third "flop" was Love Is Like An Itching In My Hear although it may have sold a few thousand. It made the Breakers in what was then a Top 50 UK Chart and somewhat bizarrely became a substantial hit in the Northern Soul Market in the early 70s.

Interestingly, what are generally reckoned to be the girl's two biggest selling records in the US, Someday We'll Be Together and Love Child were only moderate sized hits in the UK and indeed both were outsold by In And Out Of Love which was helped by charting during the Christmas period when sales were higher.

Right at the bottom of the list comes Santa Claus Is Coming To Town never officially released as a single in the UK.

Since Downloading the record has appeared in the extended iTunes chart a couple of years and then in 2011 actually made the UK top 200 chart and was just outside another couple of weeks at Christmas selling around 3k in that year.

It would appear that the biggest selling records on Download are:

Wher Did Our Love Go
Baby Love
Stop! In The Name Of Love
You Can't Hurry Love
You Keep Me Hangin' On
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me [[witn Temps)
Nathan Jones

The figure above for Baby Love appears very high. The record seemed to be about 500k at the end of 2008 according to the Official Charts Company in the UK.

I have asked Shireblogger about this and he maintains that the OCC has not added in the 1974 sales [[the record made #12 and sold 100k+) probably becasue it was issued as Diana Ross & The Supremes as opposd to the original Suprmes.

The OCC has been known to make mistakes. I have an open mind about this.

As I previously said he is not claiming these figures are exactly right but they are very interesting.

[copley]

I have seen them before. Interesting certainly but fact they are not. Not really worth a dam!

[jobeterob]

I love the lists and I've never seen this one.

However, none of these lists has anything over any other one in terms of accuracy. They are just someones opinion and I've never been convinced any of them are right.

Other than the artist themselves or Berry Gordy or the producers, I don't think you can put any reliance on the lists and we have never heard from the artists, producers, writers or Berry. All I ever saw was a reference in one of the Special Editions saying that TCB got the better chart numbers but Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations got the better sales.

The US lists that get passed around appear to have little basis to back them up ~ just chart numbers, opinions, hearsay. And any RIAA numbers are hardly better.

It would be interesting to read the real deal some day.

[BayouMotownMan]

Remember that Baby Love was released again in 1974. I think the numbers are good estimates. The population of England is a lot less than the US therefore sales figures would be less. I do know that Diana's I'm Still Waiting [[a total flop here) sold over a million in England. They loved it. Whenever she appears there she has to perform it

[radionixon]

I do know that Diana's I'm Still Waiting [[a total flop here) sold over a million in England. They loved it. Whenever she appears there she has to perform it

That was Tony Blackburn's doing, if you don't already know the story. He was a top DJ on BBC radio at the time, and for some reason he zeroed in on that song [[an album track from Everything is Everything, already several months old and not exactly a record which had set the UK charts alight), and he started playing it over and over and over and over and over again until Tamla Motown eventually bowed to pressure and released it as a single, whereupon it became Diana's first solo UK #1 [[and only her second overall), supposedly out-selling any of the Supremes' British hits and becoming something approaching her signature tune.

There was never any convincing explanation as to why Blackburn did this, I guess something about that song just struck a chord with him. For me, it's not even the best song on that side of the LP. Bizarre.

The US flop release came after the record had hit the top in Britain [[and after Surrender was already in stores), Motown copying the UK Tamla Motown label again in the hope of repeating the success of the Miracles' Tears of a Clown - another old album track which became a UK chart-topper, prompting release as a US 45. It didn't work [[#63 with a bullet), but you can't blame them for trying :)

[jobeterob]

My Place was a lot better song. But good for Tony.

It would be interesting to see Shireblogger's Diana Ross list and see what he has to say about all those singles off The Force Behind the Power.

[supremester]

There's a little more to the I'm Still Waiting story. It was assumed that Ain't no Mountain High Enough was going to fail and These Things Will Keep Me Loving You was not strong enough to follow a failed "Mountain." I'm Still Waiting was prepped by Deke for the follow up to Mountain. The album was readied for fall release unbeknownst to A&S - who felt Mountain would hit hard so They prepped Remember Me as a follow up. Meanwhile, Johnny Bristol is still expecting These Things Will Keep Me Loving You to go out. So, when ANMHE goes apeshit, Gordy plans Everything Is Everything to go out so he can cash in on the huge success of the landmark, iconic single [[Much like he did Liverpool) - even if he goes with the still unfinished Remember Me. Had he been unimpressed with Remember Me, I'm still Waiting would have gone out. Either way, something should have gone out by late Sept/early October -it's unheard of in Motown history to wait nearly 5 months to follow up a huge, platinum #1 hit. Unheard of. Add to the mess that he can't release anything on Ross because the group he's trying to kill, The Supremes have to have their next single out and he won't launch the two acts against each other, so Stoned Love goes out and a month later, in order to seal their doom forever, he releases River Deep - all while Ross' smash is left in the dumpster with no follow up - for 2 months past it's due date.

The final nail in the coffin of I'm Still Waiting is that [[following two belly flops) unlike the UK release, the US single is heavily edited down to 2:59 from 3:44 and the hack job destroys the magic of the record. I don't think even in the UK, the edited version would have gotten a spin.

[theboyfromxtown]

When was "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" - a single release?

I think that's a mistake and it's a shame cos the list was interesting to read until I saw that entry

[florence]

When was "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" - a single release?

I think that's a mistake and it's a shame cos the list was interesting to read until I saw that entry

It was explained in the first post that Santa Claus was not officially released as a single in the UK but was included here because since downloading any track which sells enough copies in any one week can make the chart and this track made the UK top 200 in 2011 and between that year and some sales in other years made the minimum number of copies sold [[5k) for this list.

It could be that some of the few singles/tracks which didn't chart could have sold over 5k [[Itching perhaps) but there's no hard evidence for that nor of digital sales.

[florence]

There's a little more to the I'm Still Waiting story. It was assumed that Ain't no Mountain High Enough was going to fail and These Things Will Keep Me Loving You was not strong enough to follow a failed "Mountain." I'm Still Waiting was prepped by Deke for the follow up to Mountain. The album was readied for fall release unbeknownst to A&S - who felt Mountain would hit hard so They prepped Remember Me as a follow up. Meanwhile, Johnny Bristol is still expecting These Things Will Keep Me Loving You to go out. So, when ANMHE goes apeshit, Gordy plans Everything Is Everything to go out so he can cash in on the huge success of the landmark, iconic single [[Much like he did Liverpool) - even if he goes with the still unfinished Remember Me. Had he been unimpressed with Remember Me, I'm still Waiting would have gone out. Either way, something should have gone out by late Sept/early October -it's unheard of in Motown history to wait nearly 5 months to follow up a huge, platinum #1 hit. Unheard of. Add to the mess that he can't release anything on Ross because the group he's trying to kill, The Supremes have to have their next single out and he won't launch the two acts against each other, so Stoned Love goes out and a month later, in order to seal their doom forever, he releases River Deep - all while Ross' smash is left in the dumpster with no follow up - for 2 months past it's due date.

The final nail in the coffin of I'm Still Waiting is that [[following two belly flops) unlike the UK release, the US single is heavily edited down to 2:59 from 3:44 and the hack job destroys the magic of the record. I don't think even in the UK, the edited version would have gotten a spin.

Very interesting - I wasn't aware of that.

I had known of the plan at one stage to release These Things Will Keep Me Loving You as a single and Berry had added it to Diana's debut solo album as he didn't feel there were any tracks on it which would be a smash single [[how wrong he was)!!!!!

Tony Blackburn the British DJ had a very influential nationwide Breakfast radio show and was a mad Motown and in particular Diana Ross fan so it seems likely that he may have been aware of this which is why he picked up on this track.

In retrospect I love the song but certainly would not initially have picked it off the Surrender album.

With nothing much on the horizon and wanting to keep Diana in the public eye Motown in the UK then plucked Doobedood'ndoobe off the album and it was surely only with enthusiastic support from Tony that the record made a respectable #12 in the UK.

[florence]

I love the lists and I've never seen this one.

However, none of these lists has anything over any other one in terms of accuracy. They are just someones opinion and I've never been convinced any of them are right.

Other than the artist themselves or Berry Gordy or the producers, I don't think you can put any reliance on the lists and we have never heard from the artists, producers, writers or Berry. All I ever saw was a reference in one of the Special Editions saying that TCB got the better chart numbers but Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations got the better sales.

The US lists that get passed around appear to have little basis to back them up ~ just chart numbers, opinions, hearsay. And any RIAA numbers are hardly better.

It would be interesting to read the real deal some day.


My Place was a lot better song. But good for Tony.

It would be interesting to see Shireblogger's Diana Ross list and see what he has to say about all those singles off The Force Behind the Power.

I also would love to read the real deal some day but I think we know that ain't going to happen.

I think these figures look pretty reasonable. One thing to remember it is much easier to get sales figures for the UK where the charts have always been solely based on sales and much information is available to the public although the further back you go the more difficult it is.

the reason you wouldn't have seen this list is because he only recently published it so it seems odd that somebody has "seen these lists before".

You don't really need Shireblogger's estimates for TFBTP. At that stage all the panel sales from which Gallup compiled the UK charts were freely available to the public until they were withdrawn around 2010 and some do have records of them so there are accurate figures.

I know When You Tell Me That You Love Me had sales of around 310k - these might seem quite low for #2 record at Christmas but the early 90s was a very low selling period for singles and If We Hold On Together did around 113k. Although it stalled at #11 it outsold One Shining Moment which made #10.

When You Tell Me...... will have also have sold a reasonable amount on download since 2004.

I'll see what I can find out in terms of exact figures.

[jobeterob]

Thanks Florence; would be interesting.