PATROLLING THE CHARTS
What are Snow Patrol’s hit songs other than Chasing Cars and who are the band members?
SNOW Patrol's catchy track Chasing Cars has been named as the most-played track of the 21st century on UK radio.
And after a hiatus, the band released new music in 2018 for the first time in seven years. Here's everything you need to know about the band and their success so far.
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What are Snow Patrol's hit songs?
The band released their debut album Songs For Polarbears in 1998 and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up in 2001.
Their first UK chart success came in 2004 after the release of their third album Final Straw which included the single Run.
The album peaked at No3 with their fourth, Eyes Open, released in 2006, becoming the UK's best-selling album of that year - it sold 1.6 million copies.
It reached No1 and was in the charts for 151 weeks.
This album included the single Chasing Cars which reached number six in the UK charts and You're All I Have which reached number seven.
This was followed by No2 hit A Hundred Million Suns in 2008, Up To Now in 2008, and Fallen Empires in 2011.
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In 2018 the band got back together to release Wildness, which saw them reach No2.
It is their seventh studio album and the first one on which Johnny McDaid is a full member of the band.
He joined as a guest for their previous album Fallen Empires which was released in 2011.
Wildness included the tracks Life On Earth, Heal Me, Don't Give In and Empress.
Their other popular singles include:
- Run - No5
- You're All I Have - No7
- Chasing Cars - No6
- Signal Fire - No4
- Take Back The City No6
- Just Say Yes - No15
- Called Out In The Dark - No11
Who is in Snow Patrol?
Snow Patrol were formed in 1994 by University of Dundee students Gary Lightbody, Michael Morrison and Mark McClelland.
They were originally called Shrug before changing to Polar Bear in 1996, then plumping for Snow Patrol in 1997.
Drummer Morrison left in 1996 and was replaced by Jonny Quinn.
Lead guitarist Nathan Connolly joined in 2002, and when McClelland left in 2005 he was replaced by bass guitarist Paul Wilson, with keyboardist Tom Simpson also joining the line-up.
Johnny McDaid too joined the band on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals in 2011.
The line-up now is Lightbody, Quinn, Connolly, Wilson and McDaid.
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Is Chasing Cars the most played song of the 21st Century?
Yes it is! The Snow Patrol track is officially the most played song of the 21st Century.
Chasing Cars was first released on the band's fourth album Eyes Open in 2005 and became the 14th biggest-selling track of 2006.
However it has never actually reached number one, although it has managed to stay in the charts for more than three years.
Following in its tracks is Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling which came in at second place.
And Pharrell Williams' catchy Happy scooped the third spot in the list by PPL which ranked the most-played songs of the 21st century so far.
Though the artists still have another 81 years to be knocked off the top spots!
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Why did Snow Patrol take a break?
In an exclusive interview with The Sun in 2018, Gary Lightbody revealed that the band were "burnt out" and had to take a break for the sake of their mental health.
He also opened up about his own battle with depression and said: “We’d been in a cycle of ‘album, tour, album, tour’ and we needed a break. We needed a rest from the road.”
Gary also struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction as well as his father's dementia diagnosis.
Shortly after they released their Greatest Hits album in 2013, keyboardist Tom Simpson left the band and the other members also decided to pursue solo projects.
Johnny McDaid collaborated with Harry Styles, Kodaline, and Liam Gallagher and also co-wrote Ed Sheeran's number one hit Shape Of You.
Meanwhile, Gary Lightbody featured on The Last Time from Taylor Swift's 2012 album Red and also had a small part in Game of Thrones in 2013.
Nathan Connolly also formed his own band Little Matador who released their self-titled album in 2014.
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