Goo Goo Dolls’ love ballad tops one million UK sales
Iris was released in 1998.
Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik has thanked fans after the band’s love song Iris topped one million UK sales in time for Valentine’s Day.
The song, released in 1998, has reached 1.003 million downloads and physical CD sales, according to the Official Charts Company.
The feat is rare in 2020, when the preference is often to stream music.
Frontman 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.”
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.
A re-release the following year saw it enter the Top 40 for just one week, landing at 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 three on the Official Singles Chart the following week.
Iris has so far managed 22 separate stints in the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100 – totalling 92 weeks on chart. Its last appearance was 2015.
Over the past year 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.
