How Ace’s 1975 Classic ‘How Long’ Hit No. 1 on a Billboard Chart This Week
A classic song that hit the Billboard Hot 100's top three in 1975 finally makes its way to No. 1 on a Billboard chart.
A classic song that hit the Billboard Hot 100’s top three in 1975 finally makes its way to No. 1 on a Billboard chart.
Ace‘s “How Long,” which rose to No. 3 on the Hot 100 in May 1975, debuts at No. 1 on Rock Digital Song Sales (dated March 14).
It enters after selling 4,000 downloads, a surge of 2,059%, in the week ending March 5, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Sparking the gain: Its sync in a new ad for Amazon Prime.
“How Long” also garnered 831,000 U.S. streams (up 30%) in the week ending March 5, which, combined with its download count (and minimal airplay on reporting stations), spurs its debut on the sales-, streaming- and airplay-based Hot Rock Songs tally, at No. 19 (as older songs are allowed to chart if in the top half of the ranking and with a meaningful reason for their return).
Formed in 1972, Ace released three albums in the mid-’70s prior to disbanding in 1977. “How Long” stands as the English band’s top-charting Hot 100 hit; a second song, “Rock & Roll Runaway,” peaked at No. 71 in August 1975.
Versatile Ace vocalist Paul Carrack, who wrote “How Long,” went on to subsequent success both solo and with Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics. He sang lead on Squeeze’s fellow classic “Tempted,” which climbed to No. 8 on Mainstream Rock Songs and (a perhaps surprisingly modest) No. 49 on the Hot 100 in 1981. Mike + The Mechanics sent two hits with Carrack on lead vocals to the Hot 100’s top 10: “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground),” a No. 6 hit in 1986, and “The Living Years,” which led for a week in 1989. In between those two top 10s, his own “Don’t Shed a Tear” reached No. 9 in 1988.