Trollheart

The Irish abroad
Though not as prolific as UK acts, we Irish have troubled the charts more than you might expect, even scoring a few number ones. Here is a shortlist of Irish artistes who have made it into the UK singles charts over the years.

Gilbert O'Sullivan

One of our biggest and most successful exports of the 70s was Gilbert O'Sullivan, who racked up a total of six top ten hits, including two number ones. Here are some of them. Well, okay, “Matrimony” didn't chart, but I like it so it's here: was one of the first records I ever heard, so it holds a particularly special place in my heart.






The Boomtown Rats

Of course, before he became all knighted and respectable, Bob led the Boomtown Rats on an assault on the charts which yielded two number one singles...


Clannad

As mentioned by the Earworm earlier, Clannad had a hit with the theme to “Harry's game”, and they teamed up with Bono to record another hit, the rather dour “In a lifetime”.


The Corrs

For a while there the Corrs were the real flavour of the month, their biggest hit being “Breathless” --- can't get bigger than number one!

--- although their breakout single, and probably most popular in Ireland, though it charted outside the top 40 in the UK, has to be “Runaway”. A later, remixed version finally cracked the top flight, getting to number 2 in 1998.

They had other big hits later on too, in particular a cover of Fleetwood Mac's classic “Dreams”

“What can I do”, which failed to chart in 1997 but was remixed and reissued the next year and got to number 3

But the single that hit number one in Ireland never broke the top 100 even in the UK, you philistines!


Snow Patrol

One of our biggest and most recent success stories, Snow Patrol of course busted the charts wide open with the worldwide smash “Chasing cars”

and more recently the lead-in single from their new album “Fallen empires”


Enya

Not to be outdone by her famous sister Mairead, who fronts Clannad, Enya Brennan (going under the single name of Enya) had two number one hits, sixteen years apart. In 1988 her best-known and most recognised song was “Orinocco flow”


then in 2004 she had another number one with “I don't wanna know”.


Ronan Keating

We've already covered the impact his band Boyzone had on the charts in our boyband special, but Ronan Keating had several hits and indeed three number ones on his own, the first being from the movie “Notting Hill”, with “When you say nothing at all”


then he insisted life was a rollercoaster, even though it quite patently is not...


and finally he wondered what would happen “If tomorrow never comes”.


Brian MacFadden

And anything Boyzone could do, Westlife could copy! Brian MacFadden had a number one hit with the rather good “Real to me” in 2004


Johnny Logan

Hero of the Eurovision for Ireland --- twice --- Johnny hit the number one spot with the Shay Healey-penned “What's another year?”


Sinead O'Connor

Of course, Sinead had her big hit with a Prince-written song, “Nothing compares 2 U”.


U2

And of course we can't forget U2 and their many hits, among them “Pride (in the name of love)”


“Still haven't found what I'm looking for”


“With or without you”


“Where the streets have no name”


“The unforgettable fire”


and “Staring at the sun”, just a small selection of the huge impact they've made on the UK charts, many of their songs going to number one.


The Nolans

Then there were the Nolans (originally the Nolan Sisters), whose two big hits were of course “I'm in the mood for dancing”


and “Attention to me”.


Westlife of course had a fistful of number ones, but as we'll be delving into their work in part three of our boyband special we're not going to feature them here. Another recent success story out of Ireland, though, we are going to feature...

The Script

With five chart singles from their first album and two so far from their second, the Script continue the time-honoured practice of exporting good Irish rock music beyond these shores. Their biggest hit single to date has been “The man who can't be moved”


closely followed by the first single from the current album, “For the first time”.


Bagatelle

Another Irish band to make it relatively big overseas was Bagatelle, whose biggest hit single, “Summer in Dublin”, was featured by our serpentine friend a few days ago. But they also had hits with “Second violin”

and “Trump card”.


The Cranberries

And finally, we can't forget the Cranberries, whose two big hit singles “Zombie”

and “Linger”

made them a household name outside Ireland. Proof positive that you just can't keep good Irish music confined to this island. Expect much more in the near future. The genie is out of the bottle, and heading your way!

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