Sam Smith had the fastest selling debut album of the year with 100k copies sold, also making In The Lonely Hour the third fastest selling album of the year. This follows the first ever life music TV advert for Google Play.
In a world broadcasting first, Google Play Music – Google’s music store and streaming service – and Sam Smith took over an entire three and a half minute ad break and transmitted a live music performance.
BRITs Critics’ Choice winner 2014 Sam Smith performed to a sold-out crowd at London’s Roundhouse. Throughout the live advertising break, which aired on Channel 4 at approximately 10.45pm during ‘Alan Carr: Chatty Man’, Sam performed his No.1 single ‘Stay With Me’ from his debut album ‘In The Lonely Hour’.
Millions of viewers tuned into watch the live performance which is now available exclusively as a stream on Google Play UK. Watch it below:
Sam Smith said: “Stay With Me being broadcast live to the nation is a very special moment for me.”
Google UK’s Azi Eftekhari said: “We’re so delighted Google Play Music, Sam and his millions of fans could be a part of music and TV history this evening. Google Play’s all about connecting music lovers with the tracks and artists they love.”
The groundbreaking idea originated from a close collaboration between Channel 4, Google Play, MediaCom, Universal Music label Capitol, BBH, The Outift and Essence.
On 26th May Google Play released an exclusive deluxe format of Sam’s debut album, including an unreleased acoustic version of the title track ‘In The Lonely Hour’ plus an acoustic version of fan-favourite ‘Nirvana’.
You can purchase the album below:
