Photo: Wenn
U2's album Songs Of Innocence is the band's lowest chart debut in 33 years, entering the album charts at No.6.
Since its surprise release on 9 September, the band's 13th studio LP was downloaded 26 million times worldwide and has been apparently heard by 38 million people.
However, bar a tiny number of vinyl copies, the physical releases was held back until 13 October. On Sunday (19 October) it was revealed the album entered the charts below Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, George Ezra, Jessie J and new entry Ella Henderson.
Speaking this Friday on the Graham Norton Show, U2 frontman addressed the criticism he received for automatically uploading Songs of Innocence onto iTunes.
"We wanted to do something fresh but it seems some people don't believe in Father Christmas," he said. "All those people who were uninterested in U2 are now mad at U2. As far as we are concerned, it's an improvement."
The frontman also had to respond recently when asked on Facebook why they had released the album in shuch a 'rude' manner. “Oops … I’m sorry about that," Bono explained. "I had this beautiful idea … might have gotten carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that thing. A drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years might not be heard. There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess, we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."
Bono recently expressed his interest to play venues such as The O2 Arena in London when the band get around to touring the album, however no dates have been announced yet.
In the singles chart, Meghan Trainor's bizarre body positive/anti skinny-bitch anthem 'All About That Bass' remains at No.1. This week, it has become the second longest chart topper of 2014 behind Clean Bandit's inescapable 'Rather Be'.
Below: Who could be the next artist to release a surprise album on iTunes?
