The Circus is the fifth studio album from the British pop band
Take ThatTake That are a BRIT Award-winning English pop band consisting of members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen. Barlow is the group's main songwriter. All of them perform primarily on vocals though each have some instrumental talent/song-writing capability. The band achieved major...
. The album was released on 1 December 2008.
In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, the album was released in direct (albeit unintentional) competition to the new
Britney SpearsBritney Jean Spears is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to...
album, also titled
CircusCircus is the sixth studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. It was released on November 28, 2008 by Jive Records. Spears started working on the album earlier that year with a range of new producers, as well as with Bloodshy & Avant and Danja, combining the electropop and urban sound...
, released on the same day. The band's manager claimed the album's title choice was a coincidence, and that Take That had worked 'months in advance' and would not be changing the title.
Take That released their first single from the album,
"Greatest Day""Greatest Day" is a song by British group Take That from their album, The Circus.-Song information:"Greatest Day" was written by Take That themselves and was produced by John Shanks...
, on 24 November, and the second single "
Up All Night"Up All Night" is a song by British group Take That. It was released as the album's second single.-Song information:Released on 2 March 2009, it was the second single from the album The Circus. The single was only released in the UK and Ireland. The band performed "Up All Night" on Ant and Dec's...
" was released on 2 March 2009.
The Circus is the fifth studio album from the British pop band
Take ThatTake That are a BRIT Award-winning English pop band consisting of members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen. Barlow is the group's main songwriter. All of them perform primarily on vocals though each have some instrumental talent/song-writing capability. The band achieved major...
. The album was released on 1 December 2008.
Album information
In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, the album was released in direct (albeit unintentional) competition to the new
Britney SpearsBritney Jean Spears is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to...
album, also titled
CircusCircus is the sixth studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. It was released on November 28, 2008 by Jive Records. Spears started working on the album earlier that year with a range of new producers, as well as with Bloodshy & Avant and Danja, combining the electropop and urban sound...
, released on the same day. The band's manager claimed the album's title choice was a coincidence, and that Take That had worked 'months in advance' and would not be changing the title.
Take That released their first single from the album,
"Greatest Day""Greatest Day" is a song by British group Take That from their album, The Circus.-Song information:"Greatest Day" was written by Take That themselves and was produced by John Shanks...
, on 24 November, and the second single "
Up All Night"Up All Night" is a song by British group Take That. It was released as the album's second single.-Song information:Released on 2 March 2009, it was the second single from the album The Circus. The single was only released in the UK and Ireland. The band performed "Up All Night" on Ant and Dec's...
" was released on 2 March 2009. The third single "
The Garden"The Garden" is a song by British group Take That. It was the third single to be released from their latest album, The Circus.-Song information:...
", was released in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, The Netherlands and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
on 20 March 2009. The video for the song was shot at the Greenwich Maritime Museum,
South LondonSouth London is the southern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes.-Boundary Commission:...
.
On 7 May 2009, Take That's Official Website confirmed the next single would be "Said It All". The official videoclip debuted on 8 May on GMTV. The single was released on 15 June 2009.
Critical reception
BBC Music said: "A stunning album, Take That are the vintage champagne of pop fizzing with playful bubbles and happily maturing with age". Daily Mirror stated that "they bring a fallible human quality to an album which is all about gilding their strong bond with their original fans."
Sunday MercurySunday Mercury is a Sunday newspaper published in Birmingham, UK. A tabloid, with a sensationalist streak, it is owned by Trinity Mirror and produced in the same newsroom as The Birmingham Post and The Birmingham Mail....
said: "Like its predecessor,
The Circus boasts one killer track. Hit single Greatest Day is as pop-perfect now as Patience was back in 2006."
Yahoo! Music UKYahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
stated that "as with its predecessor Beautiful World,
The Circus possesses well crafted pop songs, with faultless production". Orange said: "An album of measured, mature songwriting by all four, it is by far their best".
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
stated that "
The Circus will, no doubt, achieve similar sales, with songs as propulsive and swollen with giant choruses as
The Garden"The Garden" is a song by British group Take That. It was the third single to be released from their latest album, The Circus.-Song information:...
,
Greatest Day"Greatest Day" is a song by British group Take That from their album, The Circus.-Song information:"Greatest Day" was written by Take That themselves and was produced by John Shanks...
, Said It All and the apparently Amy Winehouse-referencing "How Did It Come to This".
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
said "then Take That’s return is the gold standard: a hugely successful second coming from a band determined not to fritter away their reserves of goodwill".
Promotion
Following the release of the album, Take That announced plans for a stadium tour titled "
Take That Present: The Circus LiveTake That Presents: The Circus Live is a concert tour by reunited British boyband, Take That. The tour promoted their fifth studio album, The Circus. The tour began on 5 June 2009 in Sunderland and finished on 5 July 2009 at London's Wembley Stadium. The Circus Live is Take That's biggest tour to...
" in 2009. The tour became the fastest selling tour in UK history selling £35m of tickets in one day (600,000 in less than 5 hours),
beating the previous record set by
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson , known as the "King of Pop", was an American musician and one of the most commercially successful and influential entertainers of all time...
for his
Bad World TourThe Bad World Tour was the first world concert tour by Michael Jackson as a solo artist, covering Japan, Australia, United States and Europe from September 12, 1987 to January 27, 1989. The tour, sponsored by PepsiCo and spanning 16 months, included 123 concerts to 4.4 million fans across 15...
in 1987.
The ScriptThe Script are a three-piece Irish pop rock band from Dublin, Ireland. They are currently based in London after signing to RCA Label Group imprint Phonogenic, and their multi-platinum selling debut album The Script was released in August 2008...
have been confirmed to be special guests at their upcoming performance at
Croke ParkCroke Park in Dublin, Ireland is the largest sports stadium in Ireland and the fourth largest stadium in Europe. It is the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association , Ireland's biggest sporting organisation...
.
Take That also presented their own TV show
Take That Come To Town, a variety show where they performed some of their biggest hits and new material from
The Circus, which aired on December 7 2008 on
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
.
To launch the album's release in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the band performed at a lavish nightclub exclusively for the first time in 12 years in the city on December 2, 2008. The performance included acrobats, trapeze artists, stilt-walkers and jugglers, all in keeping with the circus theme.
Commercial reception
The Circus sold 133,000 copies on its first day of release. In the
UK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
, the album sold 306,000 copies (going platinum) in the first four days of being on sale making
The Circus the fastest selling album of the year. The album reached the top of the UK album charts on 7 December 2008 with total first-week sales of 432,490, the third highest opening sales week in UK history. The album debuted at #3 on the
Irish Albums ChartThe Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...
and a week later rose to #1. On Friday 19 December 2008, the album had sold 1 million copies sold by its 19th day in UK shops, making it the second fastest album in the UK to reach 1 million copies, behind
OasisOasis were an English rock band that formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul Arthurs , Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
's
Be Here Now in 1997. The album stayed on top of the UK albums chart for 5 weeks and became one of the biggest selling albums of 2008 in the UK.
The album has been certified double platinum in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
(inc the UK and Ireland) for sales in excess of two million copies and was the 27th best-selling album worldwide in 2008 according to
IFPIThe International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organization that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide...
.
Track listing
- "The Garden
"The Garden" is a song by British group Take That. It was the third single to be released from their latest album, The Circus.-Song information:...
" – 5:07 (lead vocals by Mark OwenMark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
, Gary BarlowGary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
, Jason OrangeJason Orange is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He is a member of the successful English boyband Take That who gained popularity in the early 1990s and are currently enjoying success since their reunion in 2005.-Early fame and Take That:Orange's first experience with fame came...
and Howard DonaldHoward Donald is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, club DJ and house producer. He is one quarter of the English musical ensemble, Take That. As well as working with Jason Orange as band choreographers, he sang lead vocals on one of the band's many number one singles, "Never Forget"...
)
- "Greatest Day
"Greatest Day" is a song by British group Take That from their album, The Circus.-Song information:"Greatest Day" was written by Take That themselves and was produced by John Shanks...
" – 3:59 (lead vocals by Gary BarlowGary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
)
- "Hello" – 3:31 (lead vocals by Mark Owen
Mark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
)
- "Said It All"– 4:15 (lead vocals by Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
and Mark OwenMark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
)
- "Julie" – 3:53 (lead vocals by Mark Owen
Mark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
)
- "The Circus" – 3:33 (lead vocals by Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
)
- "How Did It Come to This" – 3:12 (lead vocals by Jason Orange
Jason Orange is an English singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He is a member of the successful English boyband Take That who gained popularity in the early 1990s and are currently enjoying success since their reunion in 2005.-Early fame and Take That:Orange's first experience with fame came...
)
- "Up All Night
"Up All Night" is a song by British group Take That. It was released as the album's second single.-Song information:Released on 2 March 2009, it was the second single from the album The Circus. The single was only released in the UK and Ireland. The band performed "Up All Night" on Ant and Dec's...
" – 3:24 (lead vocals by Mark OwenMark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
)
- "What Is Love" – 3:27 (lead vocals by Howard Donald
Howard Donald is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, club DJ and house producer. He is one quarter of the English musical ensemble, Take That. As well as working with Jason Orange as band choreographers, he sang lead vocals on one of the band's many number one singles, "Never Forget"...
)
- "You" – 4:12 (lead vocals by Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
)
- "Hold Up A Light" – 4:27 (lead vocals by Mark Owen
Mark Owen is an English singer-songwriter from Oldham, Lancashire and a founding member of pop group Take That...
)
- "Here" – 8:00 (lead vocals by Howard Donald
Howard Donald is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, club DJ and house producer. He is one quarter of the English musical ensemble, Take That. As well as working with Jason Orange as band choreographers, he sang lead vocals on one of the band's many number one singles, "Never Forget"...
)
- Here runs 'til minute 4:27, then at 5:27 you can hear the hidden track "She Said" – 2.33 (lead vocals by Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and producer. He is a member of the pop group Take That and was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 16 hit singles during the decade. Barlow had two No. 1 hits and five other top 40 UK singles as a solo...
)
Release history
| Region |
Date |
Label |
Format |
Catalog number |
| Germany |
28 November 2008 |
Polydor |
CD |
B001JCDWAS |
| CD + book |
B001IA46DI |
| United Kingdom |
1 December 2008 |
Polydor |
CD |
1787444 |
| CD + book |
1790124 |
| United States |
2 December 2008 |
Universal International |
CD |
B001IA46D8 |
| CD + book |
B001IA46DI |
| Japan |
3 December 2008 |
Universal International |
CD |
UICP1101 |
| Brazil |
17 December 2008 |
Universal Brazil |
CD |
602517919914 |
Charts
| Chart (2008) |
Peak
position |
Copies Sold |
Certification |
| Austrian Albums Chart |
42 |
|
|
| Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart |
94 |
|
|
| Danish Albums Chart |
13 |
|
|
| Dutch Albums Chart |
68 |
|
|
| European Albums Chart |
5 |
2,273,870 |
2x platinum |
| German Albums Chart |
14 |
100,000 |
Gold |
| Greek Albums Chart The Greek Albums Chart, officially the Top 50 Ellinikon Album Chart , is the official albums chart of Greece...
|
13 |
|
|
Irish Albums ChartThe Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. They are a for profit association set up by record companies and companies carrying on associated trades in the Republic of Ireland, to provide members with a means to discuss matters of common interest between...
|
1 |
120,000 |
8x platinum |
| Italian Albums Chart |
48 |
|
|
| Japanese Albums Chart |
25 |
15,000 |
|
| Norwegian Albums Chart |
38 |
|
|
| Spanish Albums Chart |
27 |
|
|
| Swedish Albums Chart |
25 |
|
|
| Swiss Albums Chart |
22 |
|
|
| UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
|
1 |
1,897,998 |
6x platinum |
Year-End Chart Performance
| Chart (2008) |
Peak
position |
| Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...
|
5 |
| UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website ; the full Top 200 is published exclusively in ChartsPlus.To qualify for the UK albums...
|
2 |