Tryna settle an argument. So does something like CLB which has no promotional digital/physical or lead singles, have singles because songs like Way 2 Sexy and Girls want Girls were published to the radio and made as music videos?

OP attends special education classes so don't think 2 srsly abt their post btw

not really

20 min

If u use discogs ur banned from this thread

No

Labels can classify hit songs off albums as “singles” after the album drops and does well to try and boost it and maximize its chart performance but for me a single is a song released before an album drops in promotion of it

Depends on how pedantic you want to get. Songs are literally labeled "singles" on streaming services these days, making the debate really simple. On the other hand, it seems kind of weird to not consider hit songs that receive music videos singles, which happens a lot tbh. To me, Rich Baby Daddy is a single because it was promoted in some capacity.

Album cuts that organically rise up the charts without any promo are absolutely not singles.

Save your tears is a good example of this

I just use the term "hits" to avoid pedantry, but it's the physical/digital copy person in me that prevents calling them singles

When a single is promoted in relation to its parent album release date is a strange criteria for what isn't and isn't a single because it wasn't long ago that labels would only put out 1-2 singles before an album dropped and then put out another 2-3 during its release cycle.

It's only fairly recently that labels started dropping 4-5 singles ahead of the album's release, which I still dislike as a promotional method tbh.

if its sent to radio its a single

The remix trend got played out fast

Save your tears ft Ariana is fire tho

Lead single vs Promo single vs “just single”

Lead: pre-release
Promo: stand-alone, no album
Single: anything sent to radio

+ if it’s released prior to the album

Idc that the label called it a “promotional single”

For example “After Hours” by The Weeknd.

Was released in Feb 2020, about a month before the album dropped alongside album cover, release date, etc

But a lot of fans don’t consider it a “single” bc it wasnt sent to radio

Thriller (song/music video) were released a year after Thriller (Album) tho

It's a different era ofc, but that's definitely a single in most people's minds

Singles can definitely be released after the album for sure.

At least it was released solo, I just don't like people calling CLB an album with singles because none of it was released solo besides music videos...

I don’t think it has to be released solo in order to be singles

I think once an album is out and they send songs to radio some weeks later, those should be classified as singles

“Way 2 Sexy and Girls want Girls were published to the radio”

so they are singles

Its a single only if its sold as a single