# Ace of Base

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402 "2001-08-08T03:17:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DaveoRad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@DaveoRad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveoRad)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402/1 "2001-08-08T03:17:04Z")

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Not long after Ace of Base’s single “The Sign” came out, I heard the remarkable news that it became the third-best-selling single of all time. Which singles had sold better? (I’m not sure, but I suspect that a certain quartet from Liverpool may have figured on the list.)

Was this figure based on sales in the USA or worldwide?

Also, what singles (if any) have since sold better than “The Sign”?

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402/2 "2001-08-08T03:51:56Z")

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Sounds unbelievable to me.  
According to this site it doen’t even make the top 10.  
[http://www.jpgr.co.uk/stats\_top10s\_world.html](http://www.jpgr.co.uk/stats_top10s_world.html)  
There are lots other sites with slightly different lists, but they all seem to agree on the top 3 at least.

Are you sure someone didn’t say it was the top-selling single from a Swedish group or whatever nationality Ace of Base are?

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402/3 "2001-08-08T04:28:29Z")

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They had the best-selling debut album of all time. If that’s worth anything…

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**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ace-of-base/75402/4 "2001-08-08T05:58:12Z")

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Sure its not the fastest _selling_ single of all time.

The way that the music industry targets its products, using discounts plus product placement to a certain groups means that singles can sell very fast and reach unlikely chart positions but yet not sell all that many copies in overall terms.

This results in a high turnover of musical product and artists, the classic boy/girl band syndrome.