GOO GOO DOLLS LOVE BALLAD ‘IRIS’ TOPS ONE MILLION SALES IN TIME FOR VALENTINES DAY
The Official Charts Company announced yesterday that Goo Goo Dolls’ classic love song “Iris” has achieved a rare million-seller status here in the UK. Joining songs like Celine Dion’s Think Twice, Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing, and of course, Whitney’s I Will Always Love You.
“Iris” has now topped one million pure sales in the UK via 1.003 million downloads and physical CD sales, it’s a rare feat to achieve in 2020, when the preference is often to stream music.
Iris’s million-seller status is the latest feat in the song’s particularly unique journey. While it was a big hit in the US, Iris missed the Top 40 on the Official UK Singles Chart when it was first released in 1998, debuting at Number 50 in July. A re-release the following year saw it enter the Top 40 for just one week, landing at Number 26.
Iris saw its biggest resurgence in 2011, when it was a popular choice of audition song on The X Factor, notably by finalist Frankie Cocozza, whose rendition during the show’s Bootcamp stage sent Iris to Number 3 on the Official Singles Chart the following week.
Over the past year alone in the UK, it has been downloaded an average of 148 times a week and streamed around 410,000 times weekly, while its music video gets 95,000 plays per week on average. See Goo Goo Dolls full Official Chart history, click on ‘Chart Facts’ to see the stats and week by week chart positions for Iris.
Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik told OfficialCharts.com: “I’m so happy that this song has had such a long life in the UK. Thank you to everyone who gave us this amazing gift.”
“Iris” – the title of which was inspired by a country singer named Iris DeMent – has, 22 years on, slowly-but-surely earned its place in the love ballads hall of fame. Its unreservedly romantic lyrics have made it an extremely popular choice for one particular occasion: never underestimate the power of a wedding song!
The band are set to tour the UK starting on 19th Feb in Glasgow, full dates below.
