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Paul McCartney said one of his Wings songs sold 100,000 copies a day. He contrasted this with record sales in the modern music industry. While the tune in question was a massive hit in the United Kingdom, it made no impact whatsoever in the United States.

Paul McCartney got to experience the ‘best’ of the music industry through 1 of his songs

During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul discussed music sales. “The scene has changed, but it doesn’t disturb me, because I had the best of it — selling 100,000 a day on something like ‘Mull of Kintyre,'” he said. “I’ve had the joy of that. 

“If I don’t have it now, it’s not just about me,” he added. “All of my contemporaries, who are still pretty cool, don’t have it, because things have moved on. And you know what? We had it. And it was great.”

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Paul was asked what qualified as a hit in the modern era. “I’ve given up trying to figure it out,” he said. “You can’t. Like this Pure album — I’ll get rung up: ‘It’s No. 3.’ ‘Wow, that’s cool, man. What did it sell?’ ‘15,000.’ I think inside, ‘It’s a joke, man — 15,000 a day was not good then.'” Paul may have been referring to the 2016 album Pure by the heavy metal band In the Woods…

“But that’s the new world in record sales, unless you’re Rihanna or Beyoncé,” he explained. “I’ll put out my next album, but I won’t think I’m gonna sell a lot. I’m putting it out because I have songs that I like. And I will do my best job.” Interestingly, Paul collaborated with Rihanna on the 2015 hit “FourFiveSeconds.”

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“Mull of Kintyre” was not a hit in the United States as it didn’t chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Considering nine of Paul’s post-Beatles singles topped the Billboard Hot 100, the performance of “Mull of Kintyre” is a bit surprising. The song appeared on some editions of the record London Town. That album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 28 weeks.

On the other hand, The Official Charts Company reports the song became massive in the United Kingdom. There, “Mull of Kintyre” was No. 1 for nine of its 17 weeks on the chart. Meanwhile, the album London Town peaked at No. 4 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for 23 weeks. 

Perhaps the single has special appeal to U.K. audiences because it’s about a place in Scotland. Considering it came out in 1977, the track must’ve sounded like an old-fashioned antidote to the punk rock revolution that was dominating British radios. While “Mull of Kintyre” was famous, it was one of the songs that gave Paul a reputation for being archaic.

“Mull of Kintyre” isn’t one of Paul’s groundbreaking songs but it struck a chord with the British public in 1977.

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