Song of the day for June 28, 2024

Paranoid Android by Radiohead is today’s featured song.

On this day in 1997 Radiohead went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their third album OK Computer. The British groups first self-produced album later appeared in many critics’ lists and listener polls for best album of the year and also won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.

OK Computer was released in Japan on 21 May, in the UK on 16 June, in Canada on 17 June and in the US on 1 July. It was released on CD, double-LP vinyl record, cassette and MiniDisc. It debuted at number one in the UK with sales of 136,000 copies in its first week. In the US, it debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200. It held the number-one spot in the UK for two weeks and stayed in the top ten for several more, becoming the UK’s eighth-bestselling record that year.

By February 1998, OK Computer had sold at least half a million copies in the UK and 2 million worldwide. By September 2000, it had sold 4.5 million copies worldwide. The Los Angeles Times reported that by June 2001 it had sold 1.4 million copies in the US, and in April 2006 the IFPI announced it had sold 3 million copies across Europe. It has been certified triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US, in addition to certifications in other markets. By May 2016, Nielsen SoundScan figures showed OK Computer had sold 2.5 million digital album units in the US, plus 900,000 sales measured in album-equivalent units. Twenty years to the week after its release, the Official Charts Company recorded total UK sales of 1.5 million, including album-equivalent units. Tallying American and European sales, OK Computer has sold at least 6.9 million copies worldwide (or 7.8 million with album-equivalent units).