The impact of Shania Twain's Come On Over, 20 years after it hit Number 1 in the UK
Shania Twain’s Come On Over album proved the old adage that slow and steady really can win the race. After debuting at Number 15 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart in March 1998, the record finally took the Number 1 spot some 74 weeks later, this week in 1999.
The UK were slow to warm to Shania’s sound - country music didn’t have a big audience and a glance over the Top 40 at the time shows little else was comparable to its sound. By contrast, Shania was a superstar in the US. At the time, her 1995 album Woman In Me was America’s best-selling country music album ever released. The album didn’t chart in the UK until 2000, long after Come Over Over’s release.
Such was the UK’s aversion to country music that Come On Over was remixed to give it more of a pop and world feel. All 16 songs on the exclamation-heavy tracklist remained, but new artwork was shot, and only one song was kept in its original form, the country fiddle of Rock This Country! proving too sublime to mess around with. As with the original album, Shania and her then husband Robert Lange solely worked on the revised version for an international audience.
The original Come On Over artwork vs. the international version.
They certainly succeeded in their mission. The result of the new mixes sent sales of the album and its singles stratospheric. A reworked version of That Don’t Impress Me Much peaked at Number 3, and Man! I Feel Like A Woman! managed the same. The album’s final single Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), pushed the album’s country-meets-dance melding to the max, so much that the dance edit released as a single doesn’t appear on the album - or even on streaming platforms today. Look at Shania's full Official UK Chart history here.
In total, Come On Over has racked up 3.4 million in pure sales (physical and downloads) in the UK, making it the country's 15th best-selling record ever. Its biggest sales week was the penultimate week of 1999, when it shifted 278,000 copies in seven days. Internationally, the collection has reportedly sold more than 40 million, including 20 million in the US.
Come On Over is still proving popular in the streaming era: since records began in 2014, Come On Over has notched up 84 million plays across all its tracks in the UK. The album’s most popular song is Man! I Feel Like A Woman!, with 22 million plays. That won’t be surprising news to most; its rallying “let’s go girls!” intro is still frequently referenced today. Meanwhile, the most popular album track is the title track, which was released as the record’s tenth single (of twelve!) in America.
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Bengy
3.4 million in pure sales (physical and downloads) plus 84 million streams.
So what is the combined sales total?
nicosnectarinegirl
correct Woman In Me was her 2nd album released but first to have any significant impact on the charts for example it shipped 12 million in the US earning diamond status as did Come On Over and Up making her the first female solo artist to have 3 consecutive diamond albums in both US and her native Canada several female soloists currently have 2 diamond albums each including Whitney Houston Madonna Mariah Carey Celine Dion Britney Spears and Adele Whitney and Mariah are both on the cusp of earning their 3rd each and Taylor Swift is on the cusp of earning her 2nd with 1989 and possibly a 3rd likely with Red also the group with the Most is the Beatles with 6
G
guilherme
woman in me is her second album. her fist is a self-titled album.
etin
Nope. İts name was "wild & wicked"
SS
Scott Sheppard
No, that was an unofficial album full of old demos that was not released by Shania or her label.
etin
it was #62 in chart
thierry henon
A must buy album!! She made me discovered country music at its best with a sound of pop added to it!! Since then i became a fan of hers but of country music too which wasn't big in Europe before Shania!! This album is just one of my favourite of all time but it is, i reckon, an amazing album!! I mean there isn't a weak song on the album and most of the tracks could have been easily released as a single, but i think that was the case in USA!! My favourite "THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH"...I highly recommended that album if you haven't yet, i am sure you did, buy it!! SHANIA TWAIN at her best...the follow up is very good too but COME ON OVER is just pure perfection!!!