Phonograph cylinders (also referred to as Edison cylinders after its creator Thomas Edison ) are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound . Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyday (c. 1896–1916), a name which has been passed on to their disc-shaped successor , these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph . The first cylinders were wrapped with tin foil but the improved version made of wax was created a decade later, after which they were commercialized. In the 1910s, the competing disc record system triumphed in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium.
67-589: The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon . Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In Japan, physical sales decreased sharply in the 2000s, while download sales hit three to four times the amount of single sales. In November 2017, Oricon introduced its first digital songs chart, separate from its main physical singles chart. On December 24, 2018, Oricon launched
134-743: A diamond stylus. Beginning in 1915, new Edison cylinder issues consisted of re-recordings from Edison discs; they therefore had lower audio quality than the disc originals. Although his cylinders continued to be sold in steadily dwindling and eventually minuscule quantities, Edison continued to support the owners of cylinder phonographs by making new titles available in that format until the company ceased manufacturing all records and phonographs in November 1929. Cylinder phonograph technology continued to be used for Dictaphone and Ediphone recordings for office use for decades. In 1947, Dictaphone replaced wax cylinders with their Dictabelt technology, which cut
201-535: A "single album" would otherwise be called a "single" or "extended play", depending on the length. As a distinct release type, the single album developed during the CD era in the 1990s. Single albums were marketed as a more affordable alternative to a full-length CD album. The Circle Album Chart tracks sales of all albums released as physical media (described as "offline" media), therefore, single albums compete alongside full-length studio albums (LPs) and mini-albums (EPs) on
268-470: A 46:1 gear ratio, resulting in a rotation speed of 78.3 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium. The three-minute single remained the standard into the 1960s, when the availability of microgroove recording and improved mastering techniques enabled recording artists to increase the duration of their recorded songs. The breakthrough came with Bob Dylan 's " Like
335-415: A Rolling Stone " in 1965: although Columbia Records tried to make the record more "radio-friendly" by cutting the performance into halves and separating them between the two sides of the disc , both Dylan and his fans demanded that the full six-minute take be placed on one side and that radio stations play the song in its entirety. The next milestone, which cemented pop radio's tolerance for longer songs,
402-403: A display such as a television set . The most common form of the vinyl single is the 45 or 7-inch . The names are derived from its play speed, 45 rpm, and the standard diameter, 7 inches (17.8 cm). The 45 rpm speed was chosen to allow a 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 minute playing time from the 7-inch disc. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released March 31, 1949, by RCA Victor as
469-437: A foundation to sustain" and added that "When artists have one big record and go run with that, it doesn't work because they never had a foundation to begin with." The same article cited examples such as Cardi B , Camila Cabello and Jason Derulo releasing four or more singles prior to their album releases. Kanye West released singles weekly in 2010 with his GOOD Fridays series. He did this to support his upcoming release at
536-434: A gearshift and a 'model K' reproducer with two different styli, which allowed it to play both two-minute and four-minute cylinders. Cylinder records continued to compete with the growing disc record market into the 1910s, when discs won the commercial battle. In 1912, Columbia Records , which had been selling both discs and cylinders, dropped the cylinder format, while Edison introduced his Diamond Disc format, played with
603-698: A harder (and more fragile) form of wax to withstand the smaller stylus used to play them. The longer playing time was achieved by reducing the groove size and placing them half as far apart. In 1912, the Edison company eventually acquired Lambert's patents to the celluloid technology, and almost immediately started production under a variation of their existing Amberol brand as Edison Blue Amberol Records . Edison designed several phonograph types, both with internal and external horns for playing these improved cylinder records. The internal horn models were called Amberolas . Edison marketed its "Fireside" model phonograph with
670-401: A large-hole record on a player with a quarter-inch spindle by inserting a single "puck" or by using a spindle adapter . Although 7 inches remained the standard size for vinyl singles, 12-inch singles were introduced for use by DJs in discos in the 1970s. The longer playing time of these singles allowed the inclusion of extended dance mixes of tracks. In addition, the larger surface area of
737-460: A major marketing mistake on the part of record companies, as it eliminated an inexpensive recording format for young fans to become accustomed to purchasing music. In its place was the predominance of the album, which alienated customers by the expense of purchasing a longer format for only one or two songs of interest. That in turn encouraged interest in file sharing software on the internet like Napster for single recordings, which began to undercut
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#1732772661780804-452: A mechanical groove into a plastic belt instead of into a wax cylinder. This was later replaced by magnetic tape recording. However, cylinders for older style dictating machines continued to be available for some years, and it was not unusual to encounter cylinder dictating machines into the 1950s. In the late 20th and early 21st century, new recordings have been made on cylinders for the novelty effect of using obsolete technology. Probably
871-422: A range of playback speeds (from 16 to 78 rpm ) and in several sizes (including 12 inches or 30 centimetres). By about 1910, however, the 10-inch (25 cm), 78-rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format. The inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century. The relatively crude disc-cutting techniques of
938-407: A relatively soft wax formulation and would wear out after they were played a few dozen times. The buyer could then use a mechanism which left their surfaces shaved smooth so new recordings could be made on them. Cylinder machines of the late 1880s and the 1890s were usually sold with recording attachments. The ability to record as well as play back sound was an advantage of cylinder phonographs over
1005-518: A remix. "Irony" was later included on their debut studio album The Wonder Years . A single album is distinct from a single even if it includes only one song. The single " Gotta Go " by Chungha was released on a single album titled XII , which was a one-track CD. Even though "Gotta Go" was the only song on XII , the two releases charted separately: XII reached No. 4 on the Gaon Album Chart, and "Gotta Go" reached No. 2 on
1072-634: A smaller, more durable and higher- fidelity replacement for the 78 rpm shellac discs. The first 45 rpm records were monaural , with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s. Columbia Records , which had released the 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm 12-inch vinyl LP in June 1948, also released 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm 7-inch vinyl singles in March 1949, but they were soon eclipsed by
1139-756: A streaming chart, and introduced a combined singles chart that utilizes physical single sales, downloads, and streams. Original Confidence Inc., the original Oricon company, was founded by the former Snow Brand Milk Products promoter Sōkō Koike in 1967. That November, the company began publishing a singles chart on an experimental basis. Entitled Sōgō Geinō Shijō Chōsa ( 総合芸能市場調査 , Surveys of total entertainment markets) . The chart became official on January 4, 1968. Charts are published every Tuesday in Oricon Style and on Oricon's official website. Every Monday, Oricon receives data from outlets, but data on merchandise sold through certain channels does not make it into
1206-603: A thicker all-wax cylinder, the surface of which could be repeatedly shaved down for reuse. Both the Graphophone and Edison's " Perfected Phonograph " were commercialized in 1888. Eventually, a patent-sharing agreement was signed, and the wax-coated cardboard tubes were abandoned in favor of Edison's all-wax cylinders as an interchangeable standard format. Beginning in 1889, prerecorded wax cylinders were marketed. These have professionally made recordings of songs, instrumental music or humorous monologues in their grooves. At first,
1273-431: Is not known, perhaps a copyright or other legal problem. The lightweight and inexpensive 45 rpm discs introduced by RCA were quickly popular and in the early 1950s all major US labels had begun manufacturing seven-inch singles. In the decades that followed, the seven-inch single was the format that many major artists made their recording debut on and some recordings were exclusively released as vinyl 45s only. According to
1340-500: Is released specifically on physical media. A "single album" refers to a physical release (such as a CD, LP, or other media) that typically contains one to three unique tracks, while a "single" is only a song itself, typically a digital stream or download. Although the terms "single albums" and "singles" are similar and sometimes may overlap, they are generally considered two distinct release types in South Korea. In Western contexts,
1407-533: Is unique and includes an additional term, the single album ( Korean : 싱글 음반 ; RR : singgeul eumban ). In contemporary usage in English, the term "album" refers to an LP-length recording regardless of the medium. In contrast, under the country's copyright law, the Korean usage of "album" ( Korean : 음반 ; RR : eumban ) denotes a musical recording of any length that
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#17327726617801474-543: The New York Times , the popularity of the seven-inch single reached a peak in 1974 when 200 million were sold. In the 1980s its popularity began to decline as jukeboxes became fewer, consumers tended to prefer to buy albums and formats such as cassettes and CDs was overtaking vinyl 45s. Despite its major decline, vinyl seven-inch singles has continued to released in the 2000s by indie labels such as Sub Pop and Third Man Records . In some regions (e.g. US),
1541-749: The Archéophone player, designed by Henri Chamoux and the "Endpoint Cylinder and Dictabelt Machine" by Nicholas Bergh. The Archéophone is used by the Edison National Historic Site, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio), the Department of Special Collections at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library , and many other libraries and archives, including the Endpoint by The New York Public Library for
1608-512: The Bandcamp storefront. Nowadays physically-released music is mainly bought in the form of full-length albums instead of singles. The most common physical formats of singles had been the 7" (45) vinyl records and the CD single , but singles have also been released on other formats such as 12" vinyl records , 10" shellac records, cassette single , and mini CD . The origins of the single are in
1675-605: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced digital single certification due to significant sales of digital formats, with Gwen Stefani 's " Hollaback Girl " becoming RIAA's first platinum digital single. In 2013, RIAA incorporated on-demand streams into the digital single certification. Single sales in the United Kingdom reached a low in January 2005, as the popularity of
1742-620: The phonograph using a thin sheet of tin foil wrapped around a hand-cranked, grooved metal cylinder. Tin foil was not a practical recording medium for either commercial or artistic purposes, and the crude hand-cranked phonograph was only marketed as a novelty, to little or no profit. Edison moved on to developing a practical incandescent electric light , and the next improvements to sound recording technology were made by others. Following seven years of research and experimentation at their Volta Laboratory , Charles Sumner Tainter , Alexander Graham Bell , and Chichester Bell introduced wax as
1809-469: The 12-inch discs allowed for wider grooves (larger amplitude) and greater separation between grooves, the latter of which results in less cross-talk. Consequently, they are less susceptible to wear and scratches. The 12-inch single is still considered a standard format for dance music , though its popularity has declined in recent years. Before the 7-inch single was introduced, 78 rpm 10-inch shellac records with around three minutes of music on them were
1876-593: The 2007 holiday season. The format included three songs by an artist, plus a ringtone accessible from the user's computer. Sony announced plans to release 50 singles in October and November, and Universal Music Group expected to release somewhere between 10 and 20 titles. In a reversal of this trend, a single has been released based on a ringtone itself: the Crazy Frog ringtone, which was a cult hit in Europe in 2004,
1943-572: The 45 player in March 1949. There was plenty of information leaked to the public about the new 45 rpm system through front-page articles in Billboard magazine on December 4, 1948, and again on January 8, 1949. RCA was trying to blunt the lead Columbia had established upon releasing their 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 LP system in June 1948. To compete with Columbia, RCA released albums as boxes of 45 rpm seven-inch singles that could be played continuously like an LP on their record changer. RCA
2010-509: The British musical group The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing released the track "Sewer", from their debut album, Now That's What I Call Steampunk! Volume 1 on a wax cylinder in a limited edition of 40, of which only 30 were put on sale. The box set came with instructions on how to make a cylinder player for less than £20. The BBC covered the release on Television on BBC Click , on BBC Online , and on Radio 5 Live . In June 2017
2077-604: The Circle Digital Chart. Even when a single album and single share the same name, they still chart separately, as was the case with the Wonder Girls single album and single " Why So Lonely ": the single album peaked at No. 3 on the Gaon Album Chart, while the single peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart. Phonograph cylinder In December 1877, Thomas Edison and his team invented
Oricon Singles Chart - Misplaced Pages Continue
2144-501: The Cthulhu Breakfast Club podcast released a special limited wax cylinder edition of a show. In April 2019, the podcast Hello Internet released ten limited edition wax cylinder recordings. In May 2023, Needlejuice Records released wax cylinder singles for Lemon Demon songs "Touch-Tone Telephone" and "The Oldest Man On MySpace", from albums Spirit Phone and Dinosaurchestra , respectively. Because of
2211-572: The Indestructible Record Company in 1906 and Columbia Phonograph Company in 1908. The Edison Bell company in Europe had separately licensed the technology and were able to market Edison's titles in both wax (popular series) and celluloid (indestructible series). In late 1908, Edison had introduced wax cylinders that played for nominally four minutes (instead of the usual two) under the Amberol brand. They were made from
2278-550: The Oricon Singles Chart was " Kitaguni no Futari (In a Lonesome City) " by Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets on November 2, 1967. Single (music) In music , a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album or LP record , typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standalone tracks or connected to an artist's album, and in
2345-504: The Performing Arts . In an attempt to preserve the historic content of the recordings, cylinders can be read with a confocal microscope and converted to a digital audio format. The resulting sound clip in most cases sounds better than stylus playback from the original cylinder. Having an electronic version of the original recordings enables archivists to open access to the recordings to a wider audience. This technique also has
2412-699: The RCA Victor 45. The first regular production 45 rpm record pressed was "PeeWee the Piccolo": RCA Victor 47-0146 pressed December 7, 1948 at the Sherman Avenue plant in Indianapolis ; R.O. Price, plant manager. The claim made that 48-0001 by Eddy Arnold was the first 45 is evidently incorrect (even though 48-0000 has not turned up, 50-0000-Crudup, 51-0000-Meisel, and 52-0000 Goodman are out there) since all 45s were released simultaneously with
2479-564: The United States as albums, which on compact disc had virtually identical production and distribution costs but could be sold at a higher price, became most retailers' primary method of selling music. Singles continued to be produced in the UK and Australia and survived the transition from compact disc to digital download. The decline of the physical single in the US during this time has been cited as
2546-478: The chart, even if they only contain one song. The Circle Digital Chart , which tracks downloads and streams of sole tracks, is regarded as the official "singles" chart. To give an example of the differences between full-length albums, single albums, and singles, the K-pop girl group Wonder Girls released the single album The Wonder Begins , which consists of the single "Irony" alongside two other unique tracks and
2613-480: The charts. For example, the debut single of NEWS , a pop group, was released only through 7-Eleven stores, which are not covered by Oricon, and its sales were not reflected in the Oricon charts. Oricon's rankings of record sales are therefore not completely accurate. Before data was collected electronically, the charts were compiled on the basis of faxes that were sent from record shops. The first number-one song on
2680-553: The compact disc was overtaken by the then-unofficial medium of the music download. Recognizing this, on 17 April 2005, Official UK Singles Chart added the download format to the existing format of physical CD singles. Gnarls Barkley was the first act to reach No.1 on this chart through downloads alone in April 2006, for their debut single " Crazy ", which was released physically the following week. On 1 January 2007, digital downloads (including unbundled album tracks ) became eligible from
2747-420: The competition from cheaper disc record phonographs, which began to be mass-marketed at the end of the 1890s, as the disc system machines could be used only to play back prerecorded sound. In the earliest stages of phonograph manufacturing, various incompatible, competing types of cylinder recordings were made. A standard system was decided upon by Edison Records , Columbia Phonograph , and other companies in
Oricon Singles Chart - Misplaced Pages Continue
2814-407: The cylinders after purchase. Their general appearance allowed bandleader John Philip Sousa to deride their contents as "canned music", an epithet he borrowed from Mark Twain . On March 20, 1900, Thomas B. Lambert was granted a US patent (645,920) that described a process for mass-producing cylinders made from celluloid , an early hard plastic. ( Henri Jules Lioret [ fr ] of France
2881-430: The default hole size fitted the original RCA 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) hub which, due to a format war , was incompatible with the 0.25-inch (6.4 mm) spindle of a Columbia-system 33 1/3 RPM 12-inch LP player. In other regions (e.g. UK, Australia), the default was a small hole compatible with a multi-speed 0.25-inch spindle player, but with a "knock out" that could be removed for usage on a larger hub player. One could play
2948-457: The introduction of Apple's iTunes Store originally known as iTunes in January 2001, along with the emergence of portable music devices like the iPod . In September 1997, with the release of Duran Duran 's " Electric Barbarella " for paid downloads, Capitol Records became the first major label to sell a digital single from a well-known artist. Previously, Geffen Records also released Aerosmith 's " Head First " digitally for free. In 2004,
3015-637: The last a song about the site of the recording. These recordings were officially released online as MP3 files in 2001. Small numbers of cylinders have been manufactured in the 21st century out of modern long-lasting materials. Two companies engaged in such enterprise are the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company of Sheffield , England, and the Wizard Cylinder Records Company in Baldwin, New York . In 2010
3082-421: The late 1880s. The standard cylinders are about 4 inches (10 cm) long, 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (5.7 cm) in diameter, and play about two minutes of recorded material. Originally, all cylinders sold needed to be recorded live on the softer brown wax, which wore out after as few as 20 plays. Later cylinders were reproduced either mechanically or by linking phonographs together with rubber tubes. Over
3149-546: The late 19th century, when music was distributed on phonograph cylinders that held two to four minutes' worth of audio. They were superseded by disc phonograph records , which initially also had a short duration of playing time per side. In the first two to three decades of the 20th century, almost all commercial music releases were, in effect, singles (the exceptions were usually for classical music pieces, where multiple physical storage media items were bundled together and sold as an album). Phonograph records were manufactured with
3216-431: The latter case would often have at least one single release before the album itself, called lead singles . The single was defined in the mid-20th century with the 45 (named after its speed in revolutions per minute ), a type of 7-inch sized vinyl record containing an A-side and a B-side , i.e. one song on each side. The single format was highly influential in pop music and the early days of rock and roll , and it
3283-495: The list. To be eligible for inclusion in charts, the single must meet the requirement set by the charting company that governs the playing time of the single. In popular music , the commercial and artistic importance of the single (as compared to the EP or album) has varied over time, technological development, and according to the audience of particular artists and genres. Singles have generally been more important to artists who sell to
3350-642: The most famous of these are by They Might Be Giants , who in 1996 recorded "I Can Hear You" and three other songs, performed without electricity, on an 1898 Edison wax recording studio phonograph at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey . This song was released on Factory Showroom in 1996 and re-released on the 2002 compilation Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants . The other songs recorded were "James K. Polk", "Maybe I Know", and "The Edison Museum",
3417-426: The music recording market. Dance music , however, has followed a different commercial pattern and the single, especially the 12-inch vinyl single, remains a major method by which dance music is distributed. Another development of the 2000s was the popularity of mobile phone ringtones based on pop singles. In September 2007, Sony BMG announced that it would introduce a new type of CD single, called "ringles", for
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#17327726617803484-415: The nature of the recording medium, playback of many cylinders can cause degradation of the recording. The replay of cylinders diminishes their fidelity and degrades their recorded signals. Additionally, when exposed to humidity, mold can penetrate a cylinder's surface and cause the recording to have surface noise. Currently, the only professional machines manufactured for the playback of cylinder recordings are
3551-402: The only customers for them were proprietors of nickelodeons —the first jukeboxes —installed in arcades and taverns, but within a few years, private owners of phonographs were increasingly buying them for home use. Unlike later, shorter-playing high-speed cylinders, early cylinder recordings were usually cut at a speed of about 120 rpm and can play for as long as three minutes. They were made of
3618-430: The point of release, without the need for an accompanying physical. Sales gradually improved in the following years, reaching a record high in 2008 that still proceeded to be overtaken in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the late 2010s, artists began a trend of releasing multiple singles before eventually releasing a studio album. An unnamed A&R representative confirmed to Rolling Stone in 2018 that "an artist has to build
3685-464: The production of several hundred cylinders to be made from the mold. The process was labeled "Gold Moulded" because of the gold vapor that was given off by gold electrodes used in the process. The earliest soft wax cylinders were sold wrapped in thick cotton batting . Later, molded hard-wax cylinders were sold in boxes with a cotton lining. Celluloid cylinders were sold in unlined boxes. These protective boxes were normally kept and used to house
3752-544: The recording medium, and engraving, rather than indenting, as the recording method. In 1887, their " Graphophone " system was being put to the test of practical use by official reporters of the US Congress , with commercial units later being produced by the Dictaphone Corporation . After this system was demonstrated to Edison's representatives, Edison quickly resumed work on the phonograph. He settled on
3819-462: The standard format. Later, 10-inch vinyl singles have commonly been released as limited edition collectors items, which sometimes includes rare tracks or special artwork. With the rise of digital downloading and audio streaming, individual tracks within an album became accessible separately. Despite this shift, the notion of a "single" from an album remains, pinpointing the more promoted or favored songs. The surge in music downloads escalated following
3886-411: The time and the thickness of the needles used on record players limited the number of grooves per inch that could be inscribed on the disc surface and a high rotation speed was necessary to achieve acceptable recording and playback fidelity. 78 rpm was chosen as the standard because of the introduction of the electrically powered synchronous turntable motor in 1925, which ran at 3,600 rpm with
3953-514: The time, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , and ended up releasing 15 tracks in the program. CD singles and 7-inch records are now obscure and uncommon for new releases: as of the 2020s singles are predominantly digital, and physical releases are mainly full-length albums instead, on CD and 12-inch LPs. The sales of singles are recorded in record charts in most countries in a Top 40 format. The charts are often published in magazines and numerous television shows and radio programs count down
4020-419: The years, the type of wax used in cylinders was improved and hardened, so that cylinders could be played with good quality over 100 times. In 1902, Edison Records launched a line of improved, hard wax cylinders marketed as "Edison Gold Moulded Records". The major development of this line of cylinders is that Edison had developed a process that allowed a mold to be made from a master cylinder, which then permitted
4087-445: The youngest purchasers of music (younger teenagers and pre-teens ), who tend to have more limited financial resources. Starting in the mid-1960s, albums became a greater focus and became more important as artists created albums of uniformly high-quality and coherent themes, a trend that reached its apex in the development of the concept album . Over the 1990s and the early 2000s, the single generally received less and less attention in
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#17327726617804154-466: Was also releasing 7-inch singles pressed in different colors for different genres, making it easy for customers to find their preferred music. The novelty of multicolored singles wore off soon: by 1952, all RCA singles were pressed in black vinyl. The lowest recording numbers found (so far) for each genre of RCA 45s are: 47-0146 yellow, 47-2715 black, 48-0001 green, 49-0100 deep red, 50-0000 cerise, 51-0000 light blue. 52-0000 deep blue. What became of 48-0000
4221-467: Was producing celluloid cylinders as early as 1893, but they were individually recorded rather than molded.) That same year, the Lambert Company of Chicago began selling cylinder records made of the material. They would not break if dropped and could be played thousands of times without wearing out. The color was changed to black in 1903, but brown and blue cylinders were also produced. The coloring
4288-470: Was purportedly because the dyes reduced surface noise . Unlike wax, the hard, inflexible material could not be shaved and recorded over, but it had the advantage of being nearly permanent. A 1905 Edison Phonograph may be seen and heard playing a celluloid cylinder at the Musical Museum , Brentford, England and the quality of the sound is surprisingly good. This superior technology was licensed by
4355-463: Was released as a mashup with " Axel F " in June 2005 amid a massive publicity campaign and subsequently hit No. 1 on the UK chart. The term single is sometimes regarded as a misnomer since one record usually contains two songs: the A-side and B-side . In 1982, CBS marketed one-sided singles at a lower price than two-sided singles. In South Korean music , the terminology for "albums" and "singles"
4422-770: Was the Beatles Hey Jude ; released August 1968 it clocked in at over seven minutes, pushing the limits of the 45 rpm single. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch (18 cm), 10-inch and 12-inch discs, usually playing at 45 rpm; 10-inch shellac discs, playing at 78 rpm; maxi singles ; 7-inch plastic flexi discs ; cassettes ; 8 or 12 cm (3.1 or 4.7 in) CD singles, and less commonly on Digital Compact Cassette and many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc (5 in or 13 cm, 8 in or 20 cm, etc.). Singles were also released on DVD and Laserdisc video formats, which would additionally contain music videos to be watched on
4489-592: Was the format used for jukeboxes and preferred by younger populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Singles in digital form became very popular in the 2000s. Distinctions for what makes a "single" have become more tenuous since: the biggest digital music distributor, the iTunes Store , only accepts as singles releases with three tracks or fewer that are less than ten minutes each (with longer releases being classified as " EPs " or "albums"). However, releases which do not fit these criteria have been promoted as singles by artists and labels elsewhere, such as on Spotify and
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