What is the longest song to have become chart hit?

Off the top of me 'ed...

Hey Jude and O Superman. Don't remember either being shortened into radio-play versions.

"The Blue Room" by the Orb runs 39.57. The radio edit was only ever available on compilations.

No, it was on the CD2.

Anyroad, have some of this:What is the longest (in minutes) top 10 hit song?

That 39 minute "Blue Room" was only the 12inch version I think. Mine burnt down many years ago :(

That's weird... "O Superman" clocks at 8:21, and I can't find any info that there ever was a shorter edit of it, but Wikipedia still claims "Blue Monday" is the longest ever UK chart hit, even though "O Superman" made the UK top 10 as well.

I want a valid reason why 12-inch mixes "don't count."

i have a 7" of o superman that is definitely not 8 minutes long, unfortunately i don't have it to hand to tell you how long it actually is

Because they usually weren't the versions that became the hit.

(x-post)

If radio edits weren't available commercially they shouldn't be counted - for instance, "All Around The World" by Oasis had a five-minute radio edit but in single format ran for its whole nine-and-a-half minute length.

But people usually hear the radio/video version before they buy the single.

That's weird... "O Superman" clocks at 8:21, and I can't find any info that there ever was a shorter edit of it, but Wikipedia still claims "Blue Monday" is the longest ever UK chart hit, even though "O Superman" made the UK top 10 as well.

It's almost as if Wikipedia contained...inaccurate information! [Thunder crash]

This thread is sort of going nowhere.

Surprisingly. Hey, guess what I found on The Orb's wiki page?

Clip from The Orb's near 40 minute version of "Blue Room", the longest single to chart in the UK.

ok so apparently the o superman 45 does feature the full eight minutes,

"Blue Room" is probably the longest single to chart in the UK, but not the one with the longest radio version (according to Discogs the radio edit was only 4:08).

http://www.fest21.com/files/images/movie%20posters%20002%20(2).jpg

Blue Room was two CD singles. One had the full 40 minute version, one had the radio edit, another different edit, and a b-side track, forget which (Towers of Dub, possibly)

The 12" did not have all 40 mins on one side, it had part one and two.

This thread is equivalent to saying that Ernest Saves Christmas is a longer film than Magnolia because it had a longer trailer.

A better film, tho.

Dingbod, no need to take it so seriously, this is just a harmless pop trivia thread. If you want to, you can start your own "What is the longest single ever?" thread.

I've just had a better idea.

Also, the correct answer, as in only available in that format as a single with no radio edit, is "Inside - Looking Out" by Grand Funk Railroad from 1971 - nine minutes and 31 seconds.

Oh, I've got that somewhere, a 33rpm single. The b-side is "Paranoid", just not the one you are thinking of right now, blokes. Also, quite long.

I'm going to go with "Thick As A Brick" since the chart wasn't specified (it was #1 album in the US). The single version wasn't a hit. Hair splitting to the max.

Mike Oldfield's "Amarok" (which is around 14 minutes longer than "Thick As a Brick") apparently didn't hit the charts, so I guess you're right

For U.S. single charts, I think "Hey Jude" is No. 1 and "November Rain" No. 2 ("American Pie" not counting b/c it was separated into Parts I and II for its chart run on Billboard).

"Hey Jude": 7:04 (or that's what I found).

Macarthur Park": 7:20!

"Bohemian Rhapsody" maybe? (I have not read every post upthread)

BoRap's a mere 5:55 according to the wikipedia page I briefly glanced at a while ago.

Is this "MacArthur Park" in the US?

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida @ 17:10

IIRC 'The Crown' by Gary Byrd and the GB Experience was at 10+ minutes the longest charting single at the time (1983) inthe UK as it was only released on 12", though there were edited versions released in France and Germany.

"November Rain" is almost 9 minutes and went to #3. Wikipedia says it's the longest song that charted top 20 in the US.

i was gonna say "american pie" but i think "november rain" dwarfs it. also, "stairway to heaven" was never a single.

"hurricane" by bob dylan?

"The Crown" is the correct answer here.

There was a radio edit, however.

I well remember Gary Byrd's Saturday afternoon gospel show on Radio 1 when he used to announce forthcoming gigs by "Jesus and the Many Chains."

You sure there was a radio edit and that the song wasn't just edited by some radio station to make it shorter?

I remember listening to Radio Lux every night that summer, and that song would always go on for ages.

"I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf is twelve minutes long and went to #1 in 28 countries, but the radio version is only six minutes.

Beethoven's 5th Symphony is 31 minutes long and went Top 10 in 43 countries, but the disco edit is only 3 minutes.

Where is Walter Murphy Big Apple Band band?

Dropped by label after unsuccessful "A Fifth of Stockhausen" follow-up.

Beethoven's Fifth was an "album". The 1st movement, which was the "hit", only lasts for around 6 minutes, depending on the speed of the conductor.

The New Testament is the length of ten full-length albums, but John Paul Joans was able to edit it down to three minutes on his memorable 1970 smash "The Man From Nazareth."

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