Chart Stats & Trivia

[muse samuse]

Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)

Top 100 Vinyl Albums Chart Run in Spain (July-September 2021)

#1 - Debut 

#15 - 2nd week

#31 - 3rd week

#36 - 4th week

#30 - 5th week

#58 - 6th week

#51 - 7th week

#54 - 8th week

#62 - 9th week (Re-entry)

OoS also re-entered the France Physical Albums sales chart at #193 a month ago, spending a fifth week on this tally.

Sources:  Promusicae/SNEP

 

Miscellaneous Touring Stats:

Artist who has opened for/supported MUSE the most during the band's career tours:

Biffy Clyro - 32 shows from 2007-2013

Other artists who have opened for/supported MUSE over the years:  Coldplay [8 UK gigs in May/June 2000], Tom Morello [3 UK gigs in 2019], Thirty Seconds to Mars [special guests on North America amphitheatre tour in 2017], Nothing But Thieves, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Bastille, Razorlight, Editors, Cage The Elephant, Silversun Pickups, Paramore, Fun., Nic Cester, Andy Burrows, Miles Kane, Kiefer Sutherland, Royal Blood, Lily Allen, Rise Against, Incubus, X Ambassadors, Cold War Kids, Walk The Moon, Phantogram, The Joy Formidable, Juliette and the Licks, Birds of Tokyo, Dizzee Rascal, Dead Sara, Band of Skulls, Passion Pit, Metric, White Lies, The Horrors, The Big Pink, The Noisettes, The Like, Everything Everything

 

Bands which MUSE have opened for/supported the most times:

U2 - 16 stadium shows in the USA (9), Brazil (3), Argentina (3) and Chile (1) in 11 different cities in 2009 and 2011

RHCP/Foo Fighters - 15 arena shows in France (1) and the USA (14) in 1999 and 2000

My Chemical Romance - 10 shows in the USA in 2007  [7 additional gigs were cancelled because of health issues]

The Cure - 10 shows in the USA in 2004 [MUSE performed on the second stage]

Among the other notable bands who have been supported by MUSE include:  Rage Against the Machine [a stadium show at LA Coliseum in 2011], Depeche Mode [a stadium show in Stockholm in 2006], Bush and LIVE [at club gigs in Europe early in their career]

 

Number of shows (1,667) MUSE have played by calendar year (Setlist.fm):

2000 - 150 

1999 - 146

2004 - 137

2001 - 119

2006- 103

2007 - 101  [Black Holes and Revelations holds the distinction of the album world-wide tour with the most dates]

2013 - 97

2010 - 97

2016 - 82

2015 - 68

2019 - 61

2023 - 56

2009 - 56

2003 - 56

1997 - 40

2012 - 39

2002 - 38

2017 - 37

2022 - 34

2005 - 23

1998 - 23

1995 - 23

2018 - 21

2011 - 18

2008 - 17

1996 - 12

1994 - 10

2014 - 3

2021 - 0  [None Announced - Subject to change]

2020 - 0  [Scheduled show in Berlin for the Global Citizen Festival was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic]

 

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

RIP Charlie Watts

"To me, Charlie IS the Rolling Stones," Keith Richards once told Billboard. "We can be as wild as we want, all over the place, but Charlie never falls out of place. He keeps it all locked in and moving forward."

The Jaded Hearts Club covered 'Paint It Black' at the 100 Club in London back in 2019, a song which hit No.1 on the singles charts in the UK, the USA, Canada, and the Netherlands in 1966 and peaked at no. 2 in Germany, Austria, Norway and Ireland:

 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

As noted by Claudio O in a recent post, Matt has spent some time this summer at Abbey Road Studios. Below is a timeline of gigs and recording sessions by the band at that iconic recording studio in St. John's Wood over the years:

November 1999 - Muscle Museum  [There is video of this performance on YouTube for those interested]

Late 2000/Early 2001 -  Seven tracks from Origin of Symmetry (including Feeling Good, Micro Cuts and Hyper Music) partially recorded in Studio 2 including strings recorded for Citizen Erased, Space Dementia, and Megalomania and skeleton bones percussion for Screenager.

June 2001 - Bliss (BBC Radio 1 session)

August 2006 - Starlight, Map Of The Problematique and Knights Of Cydonia (Live from Abbey Road TV show)

Early to mid 2021 - Remastered Origin of Symmetry XX Anniversary RemiXX at the studio by Alex Wharton

Mid 2021:  Tracking on LP9

Interview and live performances from the 2006 sessions at the studio for your viewing and listening pleasure on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/82911894

Edited November 15, 2021 by muse samuse

[Claudia O]

🤗 thanks for mentioning me!

[muse samuse]

Total cumulative views of all MUSE videos on YouTube in the past 90 days (Origin of Symmetry XX Anniversary RemiXX album era) sorted by continent and ranked by market in each region [Source: YouTube Music Charts & Insights]:

GLOBAL:  78.9 million views / 877K average daily views / Peak 1.195 million views on 18 June 2021 (Day of album release)

EUROPE

France  6.9 million total views

United Kingdom 3.99M 

Italy 3.7M

Russia 2.2M

Spain 1.95M

Ukraine  1.94M

Germany 1.37M

Turkey 1.15M

Poland 1.1M

Belgium 820K

Portugal

Netherlands

Greece

Switzerland

Romania

Czech Republic

Hungary

Austria

Israel

Finland

Ireland

Georgia

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Bulgaria

Serbia

Slovakia

Croatia

Belarus

Kazakhstan

Lithuania

Latvia

Slovenia

Estonia

North Macedonia

Reunion (France territory)

Armenia

Cyprus

Azerbaijan

Moldova

Luxembourg

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Malta

Albania

Iceland 25K 

 

 

[muse samuse]

AMERICAS:

United States 11.9M total views

Mexico 8.45M

Brazil 3.03M

Canada 1.73M

Colombia 1.55M

Argentina 1.47M

Chile 1.07M

Peru

Bolivia

Ecuador

Costa Rica

Guatemala

Venezuela

El Salvador

Paraguay

Honduras

Uruguay

Panama

Dominican Republic

Nicaragua

Puerto Rico (USA territory)

Trinidad and Tobago 18.8K

AFRICA:

South Africa 270K total views

Morocco

Egypt

Algeria

Tunisia

Mauritius

Kenya 16.3K

 

[muse samuse]

OCEANIA:

Australia 1.18M total views

New Zealand 224K

ASIA:

Indonesia 6.17M total views

South Korea 1.97M

Malaysia 1.52M

India 800K

Japan 556K

Philippines

Thailand

Taiwan

Singapore

Saudi Arabia

Vietnam

Hong Kong

United Arab Emirates

Bangladesh

Pakistan

Iraq

Uzbekistan

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Jordan

Kuwait

Nepal

Mongolia 16K

Brunei

Cambodia

[muse samuse]

Top 20 most viewed MUSE videos on YouTube during the past 90 days:

Uprising

Supermassive Black Hole

Hysteria

Starlight

Madness

Knights of Cydonia

Time Is Running Out

Resistance

Undisclosed Desires

Plug In Baby

Psycho

Feeling Good

Unintended

Supremacy

Pressure

New Born

Dead Inside

Bliss

Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)

Stockholm Syndrome

[muse samuse]

Matt and ABBA connections (Common UK Venue and Possible Song Inspiration)

Brighton Dome 1974:  ABBA win Eurovision performing Waterloo despite the UK panel giving them zero points

Brighton Dome 2015:  MUSE debut Dead Inside and also play rarities The Groove and Uno  [MUSE spent a lot of time in Brighton in 2002 writing songs for Absolution]

 

Quote from Matt's interview with NME in September 2002:

“The stuff we’re going to do on this [Absolution] album is going to surprise a lot of people. I can’t really say why that would be but I’ve got a feeling it won’t be what people expect. We’ve been writing loads of songs. A lot of the new songs are going in a different direction to what we’ve done before.”

Bellamy explained that the new songs are more “uplifting”, mostly because he has fallen in love. 

He added: “I think there’ll be some songs that are straightforward rock. (But) some of my favourite new songs are like ABBA!”

Matt in later interviews said the beginning of the Iraq war in early 2003 had an effect on the composition of the lyrics.

 

Unnatural Selection ('Counter balance this commotion') and ABBA's Lay All Your Love On Me ('Don't go wasting your emotion') - The Resistance track also features an organ intro and riffs/chord progressions/vocals which could have been inspired by rockers Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down, and Iron Maiden.

One possible interpretation of the lyrics: 

The "they" that laugh as we fall are big businesses - and perhaps by an extension, governments. People who are lucky can also be the big businesses and people of wealth in general.  We don't have a chance at "fate" because the common person can't change the economic situation, while big businesses can get bail-outs (which goes against natural selection.)  We want the truth - which is for the big businesses and governments to admit their corruption and lies.  He wants the common person to not be treated like nothing - but as something great and powerful that needs to be listened to (hence the reference to the ocean.) He doesn't want religion or 'mind virus' propaganda to make people believe that this is their fate - being subordinate to businesses and governments ['the special ones']. He wants people to realize that they have power and influence in their societies and they need to do something to make their conditions better.
 

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

Showbiz was released 22 years ago this month.  The album charted first in France debuting at #66 on the 18.09.1999 dated tally and then fell to #67 and #71 the next two weeks in that market. In the UK, the band's first studio album entered the albums survey at #69 on the 16.10.1999 dated list and then dropped off.  It re-entered the chart in early 2000 after the release of Sunburn and spent a total of 31 weeks in the Top 100 in calendar year 2000 in their home country and a cumulative total of 46 charted weeks since its release.

Supermassive Black Hole has recently overtaken Uprising as the top downloaded song at iTunes in both the US and the UK likely due to the track trending on TikTok referencing the Twilight movie in which it appeared.

Another anniversary

Uprising from The Resistance peaked at #37 on the US Billboard  Hot 100 chart dated 3 October 2009 after the band played the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City in mid-September. On the same singles chart Lady Gaga's Paparazzi [Matt's favourite song of the decade/NME interview] was at #7 and Poker Face was at #43 in its 40th week on the tally.  MUSE opened for U2 at FedExField in Landover MD USA on 29 September 2009 opening with Knights of Cydonia with USoE in mid-set and closing with Plug In Baby.  This was the first MUSE gig I attended. Matt and Dom left the stadium early that evening to watch Lady Gaga perform at a venue in nearby Washington DC.  They met her after the show and had a brief chat. On the singles chart dated 14 November 2009 Lady Gaga's Bad Romance debuted at #9, while Paparazzi held at #7 and Uprising was at #65 in its 8th week on the chart.  At the 53rd GRAMMY Awards in early 2011, the albums containing Uprising and Bad Romance won Best Rock Album and Best Pop Vocal album, respectively.  Both of these albums contain tracks with some lyrics in French:  I Belong to You [...Réponds à ma tendresse! Ah! verse-moi l'ivresse!...] and Bad Romance [...Je veux ton amour, et je veux ta revanche...].  These two artists were also among the first to use drones in their performances [Drones Worldwide Tour and Super Bowl Halftime show in Houston] in the mid 2010s.

Other British and American artists/acts and one well-known Swedish pop group who have French lyrics in one or more of their songs:

Debbie Harry/Blondie - Denis [#2 in the UK], Sunday Girl, Call Me [#1 in the UK and US]

Paul McCartney/The Beatles - Michelle [Won GRAMMY Award for Song of the Year in 1967]

Sting/The Police - J'aurais toujours faim de toi

Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music - Lost In Europe

Peter Gabriel w/ Kate Bush - Games Without Frontiers (Jeux Sans Frontieres)

Jeff Lynne/ELO - Hold On Tight 

Visage - Fade To Grey (Devenir Gris)

Damon Albarn/Blur - To The End

Limahl - The NeverEnding Story (L'Histoire Sans Fin)

David Byrne/Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

Brendon Urie/Panic! At The Disco - Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)

Prince - Boys and Girls

Labelle/Christina Aguilera, Mya, P!nk and Lil' Kim [Cover]  - Lady Marmalade

Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour

Madonna - La Vie En Rose and Je t'aime...Moi Non Plus [Performed live in concert]

ABBA - Voulez-Vous

Melanie - Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma

Adam Ant - Vive Le Rock

Andy Bell/Erasure - Oh L'Amour

Michael Stipe/R.E.M. - Talk About The Passion

Best known French-speaking vocalists:

Celine Dion (Canada) - Multiple songs

Johnny Hallyday  (France/Belgium) - Multiple songs

Edith Piaf (France) - Non, Je ne regrette rien, La Vie En Rose

The Singing Nun/Jeannine Deckers (Belgium) - Dominique

Plastic Bertrand (Belgium) - Ca Plane Pour Moi

Netherlands Band:

Tee Set - Ma Belle Amie

 

Chart-topping songs with German lyrics:

Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn...) - Elvis Presley (#1 UK and #2 West Germany) and Joe Dowell (#1 USA)

99 Luftballons - Nena (#2 USA and #1 West Germany [German version] / #1 UK [English version]

Rock Me Amadeus - Falco (#1 UK, USA and West Germany)

Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst] / Major Tom (Coming Home) - Peter Schilling (#1 West Germany / #14 USA English Version) 

Der Kommissar - Falco (#1 West Germany) and After The Fire (#5 USA)

Autobahn - Kraftwerk (#9 West Germany, #11 UK and #25 USA)

Du hast - Rammstein (#5 West Germany and #186 UK)

Edited October 19, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

Peaks for recent MUSE LPs on the US Billboard Top Vinyl Albums chart:

#7 The 2nd Law (#1 Babel - Mumford & Sons)  - October 2012

#2 Drones (#1 Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones) - June 2015

#2 Simulation Theory (#1 The White Album - The Beatles) - November 2018

#3 Origin of Symmetry (# 1 Plastic Hearts - Miley Cyrus) - July 2021

 

Artists who have featured harpsichord in their recordings (Acoustic or Electric/Keyboard/Synthesizer Harpsichord Sound)

21st century artists:

MUSE - Micro Cuts [Matt played an acoustic harpsichord on this track which was muted on the original album release in 2001 but highlighted on Origin of Symmetry XX Anniversary RemiXX]

Vampire Weekend - M79, Step and Taxi Cab

Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies, She Had The World

The Black Keys - Too Afraid To Love You 

Arcade Fire - Rococo

Paul McCartney - The Kiss of Venus

twenty one pilots - Isle Of Flightless Birds [Before Josh Dun became the drummer]

P!nk - There You Go

Belle & Sebastian - The Model

The Hold Steady - One For The Cutters

Deerhunter - Death In Midsummer

Elliott Smith - Junk Bond Trader

1990s:

Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills

TLC - No Scrubs

Blur - Clover Over Dover

Supergrass - Your Love

R.E.M. - Half A World Away

Beck - Lazy Flies

Tori Amos - Several tracks on album Songs For Pele

1980s:

Sting - Englishman In New York

The Stranglers - Golden Brown

The Damned - Grimly Fiendish

1970s:

Queen - The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play

Elton John - Skyline Pigeon

Michael Jackson - I'll Be There

Barry White - Never, Never Gonna Give You Up

The Partridge Family - I Think I Love You

1960s [Golden Age for Baroque Pop/Rock]:

The Rolling Stones - At least seven songs including Lady Jane and Playing With Fire and Dandelion

The Beach Boys - Several songs on Pet Sounds and The Smile Sessions albums including Caroline No, You Still Believe In Me, Wonderful and When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)

The Beatles - Fixing A Hole, Piggies, and Because [In My Life features a sped up piano to sound like a harpsichord]

The Yardbirds - For Your Love 

The Who - I Need You

The Zombies - Imagine The Swan and I Want Her She Wants Me

The Troggs - I Just Sing

The Left Banke - Several tracks including Walk Away Renee and Haven't Got The Nerve

The Kinks - Several tracks including Two Sisters and Session Man

The Association - Windy

Roy Orbison - Blue Bayou

Donovan - Several tracks including Sunshine Superman 

Simon and Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Our House

Judy Collins - Both Sides Now

Linda Ronstadt - Different Drum

Janis Ian - Society's Child

Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town

The Mamas & The Papas - Monday, Monday

The Doors - Several tracks including Love Me Two Times

Traffic - No Face, No Name and No Number

Jimi Hendrix - Burning Of The Midnight Lamp

Grateful Dead - China Doll

The Supremes - Love Is Here And Now You're Gone

The Isley Brothers - Got To Have You Back

Love - The Castle

The Monkees - Several tracks including The Girl I Knew Somewhere

Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue

MacArthur Park - Richard Harris

Calcutta - Lawrence Welk And His Orchestra  [Based on a German pop song from 1958)

 

Wind instruments featured on some notable songs:

Bassoon - The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (#1 Pop Single in the UK and the USA)

Oboe - I Got You Babe - Sonny & Cher (#1 Pop Single in the UK and the USA)

Oboe - Dandelion - The Rolling Stones (#8 Pop Single in the UK and #14 in the USA)

English Horn - Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins

Recorder - Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones (#1 Pop Single in the USA and #3 in the UK)

Recorder - Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin

Recorder - The Fool On The Hill - The Beatles/Cover Version by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 (#6 Pop Single in the USA

Flute - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

Flute - Down Under - Men at Work (#1 Pop Single in the UK and the USA)

Flute - Walk Away Renee - The Left Banke

Flute - Legend Of A Mind - The Moody Blues

Flute - Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann (#10 Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - Spill The Wine - Eric Burdon & War (#3 Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - Crazy On You - Heart (#35 Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - Color My World - Chicago

Flute (Alto) - California Dreamin' - The Momma and the Papas (#4 Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head (#3 Pop Single in the USA and #12 in the UK)

Flute - There Is A Mountain - Donovan (#8 Pop Single in the UK and #11 in the USA)

Flute - Dusk - Genesis

Flute - John Barleycorn - Traffic

Flute - Undun - The Guess Who (#22  Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - You Are The Woman - Firefall (#9 Pop Single in the USA)

Flute - Going Up The Country - Canned Heat (#11 Pop Single in the USA)

Clarinet (Bass) - I Belong To You (+Mon Cœur S'ouvre a ta Voix) - MUSE

Clarinet - Breakfast In America, Take The Long Way Home - Supertramp

Clarinet - Stranger On The Shore - Acker Bilk (#1 Pop Single in the USA, #2 in the UK)

Clarinet - Those Were The Days - Mary Hopkin (#1 Pop Single in the UK, #2 in the USA)

Clarinet - Life In A Glasshouse - Radiohead

Saxophone - Panic Station - MUSE 

Trumpet - City of Delusion - MUSE

Trumpet - Survival - MUSE

Trumpet - Penny Lane - The Beatles

French Horn - Overture from Tommy and When I Was A Boy - The Who

French Horn - For No One - The Beatles

Brass/Horns - Tusk - Fleetwood Mac (#8 Pop Single in the USA)

Brass/Horns - Panic Station - MUSE

Brass/Horns - Pressure - MUSE

Brass/Horns - Life In A Glasshouse - Radiohead

Edited December 20, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

FIRST CHARTED BILLBOARD POP HITS IN THE USA - DEBUT PEAK POSITIONS

#116 From Me To You - The Beatles (August 1963) - Based mostly on Los Angeles radio airplay + sales  [It was released again in 1964 and peaked at #41]

#118 Hysteria (I Want It Now) - MUSE (February 2005) - Alternative rock radio airplay + sales boosted by MTV official music video plays of the track from Absolution

 

UPDATED MUSE SINGLES SALES CERTIFICATIONS IN THREE MARKETS

 

Plug In Baby and Knights of Cydonia both recently awarded Gold status in the UK 

United Kingdom (10) - 3.6 million certified units sold (BPI) as of 2021

Platinum (600,000 units sales + streaming) -  Uprising and Supermassive Black Hole

Gold (400,000 units) - Feeling Good, Plug In Baby, Starlight and Knights of Cydonia

Silver (200,000 units) - Time Is Running Out, Hysteria, Madness and Psycho 

 

Italy (9) - 325,000 certified units sold (FIMI) as of 2018

Platinum (50,000 units sales + streaming) - Time Is Running Out, Starlight, Uprising and Madness

Gold (25,000 units) - Supermassive Black Hole, Undisclosed Desires, Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever), Psycho and Dead Inside

 

USA (6) - 6 million certified units sold (RIAA) as of June 2016

Platinum (1 million units sales + streaming) - Madness (2x), Uprising, Supermassive Black Hole and Starlight

Gold (500,000 units) - Time Is Running Out and Knights of Cydonia

Note:  Uprising has likely sold 3 million-plus units in the States since its Platinum certification in June 2010

 

Matt's spoken words in Italian during the Stadio Olimpico gig in early July 2013 - sono impressionato!

Buonasera, Roma!  

Grazie!  

Come state stasera?

La prossima canzone è per mio figlio!

 Grazie mille!

E daje Roma!

Siete bellissimi!

Come va ragazze? Come state voi laggiù? Ah, state bene!

Viva l'Italia!

Grazie mille, Roma! Vi amo, Roma!

Matt said Morricone! before Knights of Cydonia and sang a few notes of Ave Maria during the end of Blackout

Source:  MuseWiki

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by muse samuse

[Claudia O]

Ave Maria during Blackout? Never heard of that! Interesting! 🙂 thx!

just watched it … btw I prefer Matt playing guitar, but he could have belted  Ave Maria… but this way if fitted the song. But just imagine …. 🤩

Edited September 12, 2021 by Claudia O

[muse samuse]

Some United States stats for MUSE

First two headliner club shows:

22 March 2000 at the Double Door in Chicago, IL - 177 attendees and $1,415 reported box office - Pollstar

14 April 2000 at the Cotton Club in Atlanta, GA - 338 attendees and $2,000 reported box office - Pollstar

Career gigs:  359 (including shows at arenas, amphitheaters, clubs, stadiums, and radio/television performances) - setlist.fm

Career estimated unofficial box office grosses and festival artist fees:  Over $70 million (Pollstar and Billboard Boxscore)

Career estimated ticket sales/attendance: 1.3 million (excluding festival performances and U2 support stadium shows) 

Career estimated album sales:  Over 4.5 million (RIAA and MRC Data)

Career estimated singles sales: Over 9 million (RIAA and MRC Data)

Career estimated streams: Over 1 billion (Spotify and YouTube) -  6 billion global streams x 20% 

#1 'Uprising' - Greatest Of All Time Alternative Songs - Billboard

#4 'Madness'  - Greatest Of All Time Alternative Songs - Billboard

#13 Greatest Of All Time Alternative Artists - Billboard  (Based on Alternative Rock radio airplay spins)

#14 Top Rock Artists in the 2010s - Billboard  (Based on the Hot 100 singles and Top 200 albums charts)

#16 The Best Rock Trios Of All Time - Ranker.com 

#93 The 100 Most Popular Rock Bands Of All Time (24/7 Wall St.)

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-rock-trios/ranker-music

 https://www.billboard.com/charts/decade-end/top-rock-artists

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-100-most-popular-rock-bands-of-all-time-2018-9

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

More stats in four European markets:

FRANCE 

Career estimated album sales:  4 million (including over 800,000 sold for diamond-certified The Resistance)

Career gigs (1995-2019):  139  [including radio/television promotional shows]

Career estimated unofficial box office grosses and festival artists fees:  Over $80 million

Career estimated concert ticket sales/attendance:  About 1.1 million at stadiums, arenas, clubs and one concert in front of the Eiffel Tower for the UEFA EURO 2016 football championship tournament (excluding festival performances)

Break-down of estimated attendance in 16 selected cities and 25 venues below totaling over 1 million concert-goers:

Paris:  735,000  [Stade de France (6 gigs); AccorHotels Arena (11 gigs); Parc des Princes (1 gig); Champ de Mars/Eiffel (1 gig); Le Zenith (2 gigs); La Cigale (3 gigs); and Le Bataclan (1 gig)]

Marseille:  63,000  [Orange Velodrome (1 stadium gig) and Le Dome (1 indoor amphitheatre gig)]

Lyon:  58,000  [Halle Tony Garnier (4 arena gigs)]

Nice:  50,000  [Stade Charles-Ehrrmann (1 stadium gig) and Le Palais Nikaia (1 arena gig)]

Bordeaux:  38,000  [Matmut Atlantique (1 stadium gig)]

Toulouse:  20,000  [Le Zenith (3 gigs)]

Lille:  18,000  [Le Zenith (3 gigs)]

Montpellier:  15,000  [Sud de France Arena (1 gig) and Le Zenith Sud (1 gig)]

Nantes:  10,000  [Le Zenith (2 gigs)]

Strasbourg:  7,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

Dijon:  5,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

Limoges:  5,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

Orleans:  5,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

Nancy:  5,000  [Le Zenith Maxeville(1 gig)]

Rouen:  5,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

Auvergne:  5,000  [Le Zenith (1 gig)]

 

ITALY

Top 4 Venues ranked by career estimated concert ticket sales/attendance:

145,000  Stadio San Siro in Milan - 3 shows in 2010 and 2019

111,000  Stadio Olimpico in Rome - 2 shows in 2013 and 2019

73,000  Mediolanum Forum di Assago (near Milan) - 7 shows in 2006 and 2016

63,000  Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in Turin - 2 shows in 2013

 

SPAIN

Top 5 Venues ranked by career estimated concert ticket sales/attendance:

82,500  WiZink Center/Palacio de Deportes in Madrid - 5 shows from 2006-2016

51,000  Estadio Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid - 1 show in 2019  [Virtual reality interactive Simulation Theory concert experience was filmed here] 

39,000  Estadio Vicente Calderon in Madrid - 1 show in 2010

33,000  Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona - 1 show at this stadium in Catalonia in 2013

30,000  San Mames in Bilbao - 1 show at this stadium in the Basque country in 2018   [MTV World Stage performance]

 

GERMANY

Top 5 Venues ranked by career estimated concert ticket sales/attendance:

40,000  RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne - 1 show in 2019

30,000  Lanxess Arena in Cologne - 2 shows in 2009 and 2016

28,000  Olympiahalle in Munich - 3 shows in 2009, 2012 and 2016

25,000  Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin - 2 shows in 2016 and 2019

19,000  Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg - 2 shows in 2009 and 2016

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

Some figures and numbers for MUSE in the United Kingdom:

Career estimated album sales:  5.1 million (including 1.2 million sold for 3x Platinum-certified Black Holes and Revelations)

Career estimated singles sales:  Over 4 million

Career gigs (1994-2019):  407 

Career estimated unofficial concert ticket sales/attendance:  Around 1.4 million (excludes festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds)

Career estimated unofficial box offices grosses and artist festival fees:  Over $110 million*

 

Break-down attendance at some notable cities and venues in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Over 1,150,000 tickets sold at just 18 venues located in the following 9 cities 

London:  660,000  [Wembley Stadium (4 gigs); O2 Arena (11 gigs); Emirates Stadium (2 gigs); London Stadium (1 gig); Wembley SSE Arena (4 gigs); and O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (3 gigs)]

Manchester:  235,000  [Manchester Arena (6 gigs); Etihad Stadium (2 gigs); and Old Trafford Cricket Ground (1 gig)]

Birmingham:  90,000  [Resorts World Arena (4 gigs) and Utilita Arena (3 gigs)]

Glasgow:  60,000  [SEC Centre (4 shows) and SSE Hydro (2 shows)]

Teignmouth:  40,000  [The Den (2 gigs] - Seaside Rendezvous

Bristol:  23,000  [Ashton Gate Stadium (1 gig)]

Coventry:  21,000  [Ricoh Arena (1 gig)]

Belfast:  18,000  [SSE Arena (2 gigs)]

Cardiff:  15,000  [International Arena (2 gigs)]

*Difficult to estimate exactly because the exchange rate of the GBP to the USD ranged from a high of $2.05 to a low of $1.25 over the past twenty years

Sources:  BPI; setlist.fm; and Pollstar

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

Top MUSE Venues in Canada ranked by career estimated attendance:

85,000  Bell Centre in Montreal (6 shows)

69,000  Scotiabank Arena/Air Canada Centre in Toronto (5 shows)

40,000  Centre Videotron in Quebec City (3 shows)

24,000  Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City (2 shows)

22,000  Rogers Arena in Vancouver (2 shows)

18,000  Rexall Place in Edmonton (2 shows)

16,000  Saddledome in Calgary (2 shows)

 

 

[muse samuse]

Top MUSE Venues in the USA ranked by estimated career attendance:

110,000  Staples Center in Los Angeles (7 shows)

69,500  Madison Square Garden in New York City (5 shows)

54,500  United Center in Chicago (4 shows)

52,000  Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA (4 shows)

50,000  Wells-Fargo Center in Philadelphia (4 shows)

48,000  TD Garden in Boston (4 shows)

41,500  Key Arena in Seattle (4 shows)

39,000  Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (4 shows)

37,000  Toyota Center in Houston (4 shows)

34,000  Pechanga Arena in San Diego (3 shows)

32,000  Capital One Arena in Washington, DC (3 shows)

29,000  American Airlines Center in Dallas (3 shows)

27,000  Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix (3 shows)

27,000  Forum in Inglewood, CA (2 shows)

26,000  Moda Center in Portland, OR (4 shows)

25,000  Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, GA (3 shows including 1 supporting My Chemical Romance)

21,000  Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA (1 show w/ 30 Seconds to Mars)

Sources:  Pollstar and Billboard Boxscore

Edited October 1, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

MUSE Sales Certifications in DENMARK:

Starlight (Single) - Gold (45,000 units/sales+streaming)

The Resistance (Album) - 2x Platinum (40,000 units)

The 2nd Law (Album) - Gold (10,000 units)

Sources:  Hitlisten/IFPI Danmark

 

Recent Headlines:

MUSE announced as one of the headliners at the 2022 Isle of Wight festival and will perform on the final night on Sunday 19 June.

Two new dinosaur species discovered on the Isle of Wight.

The opening scenes at the 40 second mark of the official music video for track Invincible from Black Holes and Revelations features dinosaurs. Invincible also was on the setlist for the band's first gig at the Isle of Wight festival in June 2007. 

Invincible along with Take A Bow were maybe the only songs from the album recorded in France.  It has not been performed live since 2008.  It was influenced by David Bowie's song Heroes according to Matt and features a tapping guitar solo with a Whammy pedal.  It reportedly was David Bowie's favourite track when he visited the band while they were in the studio in New York City recording other songs for BHAR.

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

MUSE Festival Shows in 2022

Anticipated Number of Daily Attendees:

80,000-100,000  Mad Cool in Valdebebas-IFEMA north of Madrid near Barajas Airport [Other headliner acts include Metallica, twenty one pilots, QOTSA, Placebo, Imagine Dragons*, The Killers*, Kings of Leon, Florence + The Machine, Jack White, HAIM, and Pixies supported by bands Deftones, Wolf Alice, Royal Blood, Alt-J, The War on Drugs, Editors and Nothing But Thieves among many other artists on the bills for the four night festival]

80,000-85,000  Rock Am Ring in Nurburg, Germany  [Green Day and Volbeat are the other headliners]

60,000-65,000  Rock Im Park in Nuremberg, Germany  [Green Day and Volbeat are the other headliners]

50,000-60,000  Nova Rock in Nickelsdorf, Austria  [Foo Fighters, Volbeat and Five Finger Death Punch are the other headliners]

50,000-60,00  Tempelhof Sounds in Berlin, Germany [The Strokes are one of other headliners with Alt-J, Interpol and Royal Blood among the many other artists on the three bills]

50,000-60,000  Firenze Rocks in Florence, Italy  [Metallica, Green Day/Weezer and Red Hot Chili Peppers are the other headliners]

50,000-60,000  Isle of Wight in Newport, England  [Kasabian, Lionel Ritchie, Lewis Capaldi and Nile Rodgers/Chic are among the other headliners]

40,000-45,000  Tinderbox Festival in Odense, Denmark

30,000-40,000  Deferlantes Festival in Ceret, France

30,000-40,000  Volt Festival in Sopron, Hungary

30,000  Eurockeennes in Belfort, France (Sold Out for MUSE gig)

30,000  Beauregard in Herouville-Saint-Clair (Normandie) in France  (Sold Out for MUSE gig)

25,000-30,000  St. Gallen Open Air in Switzerland

20,000-30,000  Ejekt Festival in Athens, Greece

20,000-30,000  Mallorca Live in Spain  [One of the other headliners is Christina Aguilera}

*These two young bands recently decided to cash out and sell their song catalogues to companies/investment firms/record labels for reported eight or nine figure deals [$100 million-plus] joining over 40 veteran artists and songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Sting, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Neil Young, David Crosby, Debbie Harry, Stevie Nicks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Ryan Tedder and Jack Antonoff who have completed similar transactions for some or all of their career songs and publishing rights.

Edited December 28, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

This English novelist influenced the songwriting of MUSE, The Beatles, David Bowie, Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Stevie Wonder, The Jam and Eurythmics on one or more tracks.

This music video shot in Sheffield, UK in 2004 features the three band members traveling in a spacecraft with an attached 'cryomodule' and entering a wormhole.   

The two legislative bodies Matt visited in 2016 and 2019.

This MUSE song features the theremin.

Two tracks most influenced by American musician and record producer Timbaland.

The musician who played trumpet on both 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder and 'Panic Station' by MUSE.

The instrument Matt 'stole' in the early 90's from a school he attended while taking music lessons.

Answers appear at the bottom of this post.

 

Five Artists Who Have Influenced Dom and MUSE

The Police - "...They played in a certain way that made these three people sound big and create this big sound..."  Favourite Track: 'Message In A Bottle'

Queen:  "...I always like the diversity of their music..."

Rage Against The Machine - "...I was in the crowd [at Reading Festival in 1996] jumping up and down...and thinking hopefully one day we can be on the stage and headlining it..." 

N.W.A. - "...When I was 10 or 11 I was really into hip-hop...'Express Yourself' was the first record I actually bought."  

Nirvana - "...It was the power and the feeling and the energy and emotion in [American rock music in the early nineties] that was something we just loved.  The heaviness.  That [Nevermind] is quite an important album."

Source:  Interview with NPO 3FM radio station in the Netherlands in 2016

 

MUSE and Prague

The band has played several concerts in the capital city of the Czech Republic (two at the O2 arena in 2012 and 2016 and one at Letnany Airport in 2019) with around 65,000 fans in attendance for these three gigs

The music video for 'New Born' from Origin of Symmetry was filmed mostly in Prague early in 2001 with later exterior crowd shots at a warehouse in West London. It was directed by David Slade who also directed the videos for 'Bliss' and the double A-side single 'Hyper Music/Feeling Good.' According to Matt:  "He [Slade] always used to make us wear a lot of yellow make-up.  It made us look golden." 

INXS also shot the video for 'Never Tear Us Apart' in Prague.

 

Answers:

George Orwell especially his classics 1984 and Animal Farm  

'Sing for Absolution' - The band was shot separately, seated in a dentist's chair, for the cockpit scenes with lots of CGI added later for the spacecraft, spacesuits, helmets, and background shots

Visited Parliament in the UK with his dad in July 2016 and visited the U.S. Capitol with his mum and a California congressman in April 2019 before a gig in Washington DC

'Break It To Me'

'Undisclosed Desires' and 'Propaganda'

Steve Madaio who toured with the Rolling Stones in the early 70's and recorded with such rock legends as Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Ringo Star and such blues and jazz singers as B.B. King and Etta James

Double bass according to an interview with Gonzo in 2003

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by muse samuse

[muse samuse]

People Of The Pride from Coldplay's new album Music Of The Spheres contains a glam rock guitar riff reminiscent of a certain band we all know and love.  Check it out.

 

Matt speaking about Jeff Buckley and the influence of the Grace album on his vocal style in an interview with Deezer in 2015 and a quote from Matt in another interview very early on in the band's career.  He was initially unsure about his [high pitched] vocal style with his new band and felt somewhat embarrassed because of it.

"When I started singing, my voice was very high. I sang a lot of falsetto. I felt my voice was not really suitable for rock.  Nirvana were popular in the early to mid-90's and you had groups then which had a very different type of voice - a rock voice. So I didn't think my voice was suitable for rock music until I heard this album [Grace] and it made me feel confident a high pitched, softer voice can work very well with rock.''

Q:  When did you decide to make music your profession?

A:  "When I saw Jeff Buckley perform at Glastonbury in '95."

Songs sung entirely or mostly in falsetto:

Micro Cuts [baroque rock opera aria] and Supermassive Black Hole [funky R&B alternative rock] - Matt and MUSE

Corpus Christi Carol (Benjamin Britten cover of an English 16th century hymn) and Dido's Lament (cover of aria When I Am Laid In Earth from the English opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell from 1689 - Jeff Buckley    Note:  The latter song was performed at the Meltdown Festival in the UK in 1995 at the request of Elvis Costello

Other notable Buckley songs:  Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover); Grace; Last Goodbye; and Mojo Pin

MUSE and Buckley have also both covered different songs from Nina Simone and the Smiths

[muse samuse]

MUSE have played seven shows in Moscow the capital city of the Russian Federation (2001, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2019) for 140,000+ fans

From Russia With Love for MUSE

 

 

[muse samuse]

19 OCTOBER 2021

HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN

TOP DOWNLOADED SONGS ON iTUNES 

#1 MUSE - RESISTANCE

#2 ADELE - HELLO

#3 IMAGINE DRAGONS - DEMONS

#11 ADELE - EASY ON ME

#16 GLASS ANIMALS - HEAT WAVES

#23 HOT BUTTER - POPCORN

#33 ED SHEERAN - SHAPE OF YOU

#37 COLDPLAY - A SKY FULL OF STARS

#59 ONE DIRECTION - STORY OF MY LIFE

#60 ADELE - SOMEONE LIKE YOU

[muse samuse]

Matt was seated next to the late General Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington DC held in late April 2012.  Both of them were among the guests seated at the CNN table about 30 yards from U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Matt asked a lot of probing questions of the highly decorated army officer and statesman and gave this quote below about him in an interview with the Metro newspaper in the UK a few months later.  

'...He was a lovely man and it was a very pleasant conversation but these guys are hardcore. You ask them questions about the military-industrial complex [hollow-point bullets, the conspiracy press] and they don't fanny about.'

Matt met and conversed with another former U.S. Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton in Hollywood, CA in November 2015. 

Three years ago in December 2018 MUSE played a gig at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London in aid of The Prince's Trust.  The performance helped raise 500,000 pounds for The Prince's Trust.  MUSE incidentally was supported by The Trust youth charity and given a small grant of 250 pounds in the early 90's which the band used to buy a PA system in Teignmouth which they still own today according to Matt and Dom.  Earlier that year Matt was among the guests invited to meet with HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, at his official residence in London.

Edited December 1, 2021 by muse samuse