Worldwide Charts

[Rick Henry]

some of these charts from around the world are not complete and do not include all the songs Carpenters charted with in each of these countries. Though this still gives you a good idea of how popular Carpenters were around the world.

AUSTRALIA
This chart is not complete
1970 Close To You (#1 for 3 weeks)
1970 We've Only Just Begun #6
1973 Top Of The World (#1 for 4 weeks)
1975 Please Mr. Postman (#1 for 5 weeks)

CANADA
Close To You (#1 for 2 weeks)
We've Only Just Begun (#1 for 1 week)
Mr. Guder #50
For All We Know (#5)
Rainy Days And Mondays (#3 for 2 weeks)
Superstar (#3 for 3 weeks)
Hurting Each Other (#2)
It's Going To Take Sometime (#13 for 4 weeks)
Goddbye To Love (#4 for 1 week)
Sing (#4 for 2 weeks)
Yesterday Once More (#2 for 2 weeks)
Top Of The World (#1 for 2 weeks)
I Won't Last a Day Without You (#7)
Please Mr. Postman (#1 for 1 week)
Only Yesterday (#2)
Solitaire #12
There's A Kind Of Hush (#8)
I Need To Be In Love (#24)
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song (#38)
Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (#9)
sweet Sweet Smile (#33)

GERMANY
this is not a complete listing of all the songs C's charted with in Germany, but this was all I could find.

Yesterday Once More (#21)
Top Of The World (#38)
Jambalaya (#50)
Only Yesterday (#43)
Please Mr. Postman (#10)
Sweet Sweet Smile (#22)

SOUTH AFRICA
again this is not a complete list of charted songs.
Hurting Each Other (#18)
Please Mr. Postman (#1)

SWITZERLAND
Once again not a complete list of charted songs.
Please Mr. Postman (#5 for 2weeks)

NETHERLANDS
Singles
Close To You #33
Superstar #21
Yesterday Once More #7
Top Of The World #14
Jambalya #3
Please Mr. Postman #33

Albums
Now And Then #2
Singles 1969-1973 #2
Horizion #21
Beautiful Love Songs #27
The Collection #40
Only Yesterday Greatest Hits #4

NORWAY
Singles
Yesterday Once More #6
Please Mr. Postman also charted in Norway - though I do not have the position.

Albums
Now And Then #12
Horizion #5
A Kind Of Hush #16



UNITED KINGDOM
1970 Close To You (#6)
1971 We've Only Just Begun (#28)
1971 Superstar / For All We Know (#18)
1972 Merry Christmas Darling (#45)
1972 Goodbye To Love / I Won't Last A Day Without You (#9)
1973 Yesterday Once More (#2)
1973 Top Of The World (#5)
1974 Jambalaya (#12)
1974 I Won't Last A Day Without You (#32)
1975 Please Mr. Postman (#2)
1975 Only Yesterday (#7)
1975 Solitaire (#32)
1975 Santa Claus Is Coming To town (#37)
1976 There's A Kind Of Hush (#22)
1976 I Need To Be In Love (#36)
1977 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (#9)
1978 Sweet Sweet Smile (#40)
1983 Make Believe It's Your First Time (#60)
1990 Close To You / Merry Christmas Darling (#25)
1993 Rainy Days And Mondays (#63)
1994 Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (#44)


JAPAN
Singles
(They Long To Be) Close To You #71
We've Only Just Begun #71
Rainy Days and Mondays #72
Superstar #7
Bless The Beasts and The Children #85
Hurting Each Other #56
It's Going To Take Some Time #48
Goodbye To Love #55
Top Of The World (first issue) #21
Sing #18
Yesterday Once More #5
Jambalaya #28
Top Of The World (reissue) #52
I Won't Last A Day Without You #40
Please Mister Postman #11
Only Yesterday #12
Solitaire #44
There's a Kind of Hush #27
I Need To Be In Love #62
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do #71
All You Get From Love is a Love Song #68
Sweet Sweet Smile #59
I Need To Be In Love (rerelease) #5

Albums
Ticket To Ride #88
Close To You #53
Carpenters #47
A Song For You #5
Now And Then #1
Singles 1969-1973 #1
Live In Japan #8
Horizion #1
A Kind Of Hush #5
Live At The Palladium #24
Passage #7
Made In America #44
Voice Of The Heart #41

Ireland
1970 Close To You #6
1972 Goodbye To Love #12
1973 Yesterday Once More #8
1973 Top Of The World #3
1974 Jambalaya #12
1975 Please Mr. Postman #2
1975 Only Yesterday #5
1976 There's A Kind Of Hush #7
1976 I Need To Be In Love #14
1977 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft #1 (Carpenters' biggest Irish hit)
1983 Make Believe It's Your First Time #20
1990 Close To You/Merry Christmas Darling #18

[BethMosior]

:oWOW thanx Rick &^

[Jorge]

Hello

My name is Jorge, im 21 years old, writing from Argentina. This is the first time I find a Carpenter Forun which make me so happy and also was great to see that chart info becouse i love to look after charts positions of diferentes artists.

Im not a big Carpenetr fan, but i love their music, somedays i cant stop to listen over and over their music, its like a drug, i have not many of their releases but i would be so thankul if any of you want to writte me and talk me about this duo.

Hugs!

Jordi [e-mail]

Bye!

[Rick Henry]

Just an update for any of you who may not have looked at this thread in a while.

I added a few songs to the chart list of Canada. Which is in the first post of this thread. My original post only went up to "Only Yesterday". Hope you enjoy.

[Carps1000]

Thanx for the Chart positions. Just to update you if I maybe so bold. In the UK: Solitaire 36: Sweet Sweet Smile 40: Beeechwood45679 82: Touch Me When We,re dancing failed to chart despite me standing outside various stores screaming at people passing by to go in & buy a copy....the abuse I got!!!! Some people got no taste in music!!!

[Rick Henry]

Carps1000 said:

Thanx for the Chart positions. Just to update you if I maybe so bold. In the UK: Solitaire 36: Sweet Sweet Smile 40: Beeechwood45679 82: Touch Me When We,re dancing failed to chart despite me standing outside various stores screaming at people passing by to go in & buy a copy....the abuse I got!!!! Some people got no taste in music!!!

Hi Carps1000. Thank you for the information. I did make an error or two here. Somehow I did forget to list "Solitaire" which reached UK #32. and I did erroneously type in #42 for "Sweet Sweet Smile" instead of #40 which is what it peaked at. Although "Touch Me When We're Dancing" did reach UK #12 according to billboard magazine's UK chart. "Beechwood 4-5789" did not make the charts in UK once again according to billboard.

This is my revised UK list using Billboard magazine's UK Singles chart as my reference.

UNITED KINGDOM
1970 Close To You (#6)
1971 We've Only Just Begun (#28)
1971 Superstar / For All We Know (#18)
1972 Merry Christmas Darling (#45)
1972 Goodbye To Love / I Won't Last A Day Without You (#9)
1973 Yesterday Once More (#2)
1973 Top Of The World (#5)
1974 Jambalaya (#12)
1974 I Won't Last A Day Without You (#32)
1975 Please Mr. Postman (#2)
1975 Only Yesterday (#7)
1975 Solitaire (#32)
1975 Santa Claus Is Coming To town (#37)
1976 There's A Kind Of Hush (#22)
1976 I Need To Be In Love (#36)
1977 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (#9)
1978 Sweet Sweet Smile (#40)
1981 Touch Me When We're Dancing (#12)
1983 Make Believe It's Your First ime (#60)
1990 Close To You / Merry Christmas Darling (#25)
1993 Rainy Days And Mondays (#63)
1994 Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (#44)

[Carps1000]

Thanx 4 your reply. Me thinks that billboards UK chart might have been a bit kind to Cs as when Touch Me was 1st released I followed the Official UK singles charts for months & I didnt see it ever in the top 75, however a local chart run by local stores had it placed as their 17th best selling single for a week but it was only done by sales in their local stores & didnt reflect the national chart mores the pity I was heart broken & A & M in London got it in the neck from me for failing to advertise it properly. I often wonder if the sales of their singles then were put forward to this time that they would have fared much better now with chart placings than they did then as an artist seems to only have to sell 26 copies of a record to get to No 1 while in the 60s & 70s sales of a million didnt always mean a No1. Take care. Ken

[Rick Henry]

*/ */

Thank you again Carps1000 for keeping me posted. I decided to check my references again concerning "touch Me When We're Dancing". I discovered that I made another mistake. I must have been tired by the time I typed out the UK chart positions. It ends up that "Touch Me When..." did not make the charts. It was instead "Made In America" - the album which reached #12. But still not chart showing for "Beechwood..." in the UK.

So now here is the correct UK singles chart data for the Carpenters.

UNITED KINGDOM
1970 Close To You (#6)
1971 We've Only Just Begun (#28)
1971 Superstar / For All We Know (#18)
1972 Merry Christmas Darling (#45)
1972 Goodbye To Love / I Won't Last A Day Without You (#9)
1973 Yesterday Once More (#2)
1973 Top Of The World (#5)
1974 Jambalaya (#12)
1974 I Won't Last A Day Without You (#32)
1975 Please Mr. Postman (#2)
1975 Only Yesterday (#7)
1975 Solitaire (#32)
1975 Santa Claus Is Coming To town (#37)
1976 There's A Kind Of Hush (#22)
1976 I Need To Be In Love (#36)
1977 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (#9)
1978 Sweet Sweet Smile (#40)
1983 Make Believe It's Your First ime (#60)
1990 Close To You / Merry Christmas Darling (#25)
1993 Rainy Days And Mondays (#63)
1994 Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (#44)

[DR Drummer]

Wow, it's great to see in the UK "I Won't Last a Day Without You", a superb Carpenters song by all measure, released as a B side hit (sometimes called a double sided hit) with "Goodbye to Love" in 1972, when the awesome A Song For You album was made.

I never liked the fact that "I Won't Last A Day..." was released 2 years later in 1974 in the US and not do as well as it could have on the US Billboard charts, charting in at no. 11. I really love this great song , Karen and Richard ay their very best I think.

[Rick Henry]

Hello all. Just wanted to let you know I updated the worldwide chart history of the Carpenters. I added charts from Norway, the Netherlands, Japan and updated the Canadian charts.

You can see thes updates in the first post of this thread.

[Jamez]

This is my first post to the forum. So, Hello Everyone! I am most excited to contribute and what I have with me, are the statistics for most of Carpenters singles and albums on the official Japanese Oricon chart (Japan's equivalent to US Billboard).

For the singles, I only have information up till 1977 but for albums, I do have it till 2003.

The information is presented in terms of song title, followed by chart position (weeks spent in total on Top 100) and sales figures. Hope you find it interesting!

(They Long To Be) Close To You - No. 71 (10) - 22,000 copies
We've Only Just Begun - 71 (13) - 30,000 copies
Rainy Days and Mondays - 72 (5) - 10,000 copies
Superstar - 7 (29) - 271,000 copies
Bless The Beasts and The Children - 85 (8) - 16,000 copies
Hurting Each Other - 56 (14) - 41,000 copies
It's Going To Take Some Time - 48 (15) - 48,000 copies
Goodbye To Love - 55 (12) - 36,000 copies
Top Of The World (first issue) - 21 (22) - 111,000 copies
Sing - 18 (24) - 138,000 copies
Yesterday Once More - 5 (61) - 592,000 copies
Jambalaya - 28 (33) - 186,000 copies
Top Of The World (reissue) - 52 (12) - 52,000 copies
(Total: 163,000 copies)
I Won't Last A Day Without You - 40 (16) - 87,000 copies
Please Mister Postman - 11 (29) - 315,000 copies
Only Yesterday - 12 (23) - 236,000 copies
Solitaire - 44 (11) - 54,000 copies
There's a Kind of Hush - 27 (16) - 104,000 copies
I Need To Be In Love - 62 (7) - 27,000 copies
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - 71 (9) - 28,000 copies
All You Get From Love is a Love Song - 68 (4) - 11,000 copies
Sweet Sweet Smile - 59 (6) - 20,000 copies
"I Need To Be In Love/Top Of the World" (1995 reissue) #5

Albums:

Ticket To Ride - #88 (3,000 copies)
Close To You - #53 (13,000 copies)
Carpenters - #47 (11,000 copies)
Golden Prize - #3 (145,000 copies) - one of their self made compilations
Golden Double Deluxe - #10 (89,000 copies)
A Song For You - #5 (102,000 copies)
GEM - #13 (59,000 copies) - another compilation
MAX20 - #26 (104,000 copies)
Now and Then - #1 (514,000 copies)
GEM - #3 (128,000 copies)
Singles 1969-1973 - #1 (458,000 copies)
GEM - #13 (99,000 copies)
Carpenters in Japan - #8 (82,000 copies)
Horizon - #1 (214,000 copies)
GEM - #16 (92,000 copies)
Golden Prize Collection 3 - #8 (66,000 copies)
There's A Kind Of Hush - #5 (79,000 copies)
GEM - 342 (38,000 copies)
Live in London - #24 (19,000 copies)
Passage - #7 (48,000 copies)
Made In America - #44 (30,000 copies)
Voice Of My Heart - #41 (10,000 copies)
Yesterday Once More - #35 (273,000 copies) - 1993
Yesterday Once More (cheaper reissue) - #25 (320,000 copies) - 1994
22 Hits Of The Carpenters - (1995) - #3 - 2 million 286 thousand copies
Faraway First Love (literal translation) - #19 (54,000 copies)
22 Hits Of The Carpenters (Gold CD) (1997) - #40 (16,000 copies)
22 Hits Of The Carpenters (Digital Remaster) (1999) - #84 (9,000 copies)
Rainbow Collection - As Time Goes By - #18 (74,000 copies)
Carpenters Gold (2001) - #80 (4000 copies)
Carpenters Gold (2003) - #79 (16,000 copies)


Well, hope everyone found this interesting. Take Care!!

[GoodOldDreams]

Hi Jamez,

Thanks for the interesting statistics for the Japanese market, a huge segment of the Carpenters' fan base. What is the name of the 11-12 episode drama series that you mentioned about that was made around 1995, and who starred in it? Are copies of this show available for purchase commercially?

[Jamez]

Just did some research and finally found out the name of the Japanese drama. It is entirely in Japanese but there could be a copy with English subtitles if you search on Ebay, though I can't guarantee.

Apparently "Top Of the World" and "I Need to Be In Love" were both used in the drama "–¢¬”N" (kind of translates into a drama about growing up because the title kind of means "Not of age"). However, I do remember "I Need to Be In Love" being the first mentioned name on the double A-side CD single. It helped to spawn the now 3 million selling Best album (according to Universal Japan), and generated a new legion of younger fans in Japan.

Here is the link to the page:

www.dramadramadrama.tv/catalog/archives/1995/199504/tbs633.php

[Rick Henry]

Thank you Jamez for this great information. I will have to integrate it in to my other world chart listing. Very good work.

I knew that all these compilation albums had been released in Japan early on after Carpenters caught on. But never knew the chart positions - and I knew that with that many releases some of them had to have charted.

It's amazing how well the 1995 Best Of collection sold - though I do remember reading about it. Shortly after that "22 Greatest Hits" was released in Hong Kong and sold over two million copies. The Carpenters were (and are still) hot in Asia in the mid to late 90's.

I'm also happy to see "Please Mr. Postman" was one of their biggest hits in Japan. I was under the impression that PMP reached #1 in Japan though. PMP fared extremely well throughout the world. It ended up being their biggest selling single worldwide. PMP was a hit in countries that Carpenters had never hit before.

As popular as PMP was it was "Only Yesterday" that won Japan's prestigious Grand Prix award in 1975 - this song was also a pretty big worldwide hit.

[Jamez]

You are most welcome, Rick. I am happy to contribute.

Wow! I didn't know that "Only Yesterday" won an award in Japan. I think it could be one that was assigned for foreign acts because I know that none of their major awards were ever awarded overseas. It was also restricted to their local singers.

As for the chart positions, I believe The Carpenters would have topped most of the English charts that they have dedicated only to non-Japanese songs. There are different charts for those, like they have R&B, Country, Adult Contemporary etc on Billboard. However, Oricon is the definitive chart in Japan and they include all singers, regardless of the language of the song and is totally based on weekly sales, which they publish. If the singer sold best that week, it would hit No. 1.

I believe The Carpenters have to be one of the best selling foreign acts in Japanese history, if not the best in the 70s. For sales purely on acrylic LP records, both "Now and Then" and "Singles 1969-1973" are in the all time Top 50.

[Rick Henry]

This morning I decided to search for more Carpenters chart information and I found the official Irish Music Chart. This chart is titled Irish Singles Chart and has been compiled since 1963 for the Irish Music Association by Chart Track.

I was surprised to see what song ended up being the Carpenters' biggest hit in Ireland. Note that "Please Mr. Postman" was their second biggest hit there.

1970 Close To You #6
1972 Goodbye To Love #12
1973 Yesterday Once More #8
1973 Top Of The World #3
1974 Jambalaya #12
1975 Please Mr. Postman #2
1975 Only Yesterday #5
1976 There's A Kind Of Hush #7
1976 I Need To Be In Love #14
1977 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft #1 (Carpenters' biggest Irish hit)
1983 Make Believe It's Your First Time #20
1990 Close To You/Merry Christmas Darling #18

[smoothie2]

Jorge said:

Hello

My name is Jorge, im 21 years old, writing from Argentina. This is the first time I find a Carpenter Forun which make me so happy and also was great to see that chart info becouse i love to look after charts positions of diferentes artists.

Im not a big Carpenetr fan, but i love their music, somedays i cant stop to listen over and over their music, its like a drug, i have not many of their releases but i would be so thankul if any of you want to writte me and talk me about this duo.

Hugs!

Jordi [e-mail]

Bye!

:(HELLO JORGE...WE ALL WELCOME YOU HERE!
I dare say, that if you stick around here, you may become
even more of a Carps. fan! Because this site is also addictive!
Glad to have you.
smoothie

[smoothie2]

Very interesting Rick!..Thanks for taking
the time and effort of the research and typing it up for us.
MY OH MY....the C's Surely were POPULAR and I know they were,
but it is interesting also to know about the charts.
???and of course the C's are still popular among many, in spite of time and the many changes in styles of
music which have occured since the C's "hey day"
To me, the C's will always be classic of course.
I know of some of the current music and singers of today, but generally I'll prefer
those lush smooth harmonies and outstanding
songs C's brought to us.
////////////
ALSO, I THANK OUR GUEST JAMEZ FOR THE INFO. AS WELL AS THE
OTHERS CONTRIBUTING TO THIS LINK WITH INFO.