Cannonball (Damien Rice song)

"Cannonball"
Single by Damien Rice
from the album O
Released	1 February 2002 (2002-02-01) (Ireland) 20 October 2003 (2003-10-20) (UK)
Recorded	2000 (Monkstown, Rathgar, and Celbridge)
Genre	Folk rock
Length	3:27 (radio version 1) 3:32 (radio version 2) 5:10 (album version) 4:20 (single version) 4:37 (video version)
Label	Damien Rice (Ireland) 14th Floor (UK)
Songwriter(s)	Damien Rice
Producer(s)	Damien Rice
Damien Rice singles chronology
"The Blower's Daughter" (2001) "Cannonball" (2002) "Volcano" (2002)
Music video
"Cannonball" on YouTube

"Cannonball" is a song written and performed by Irish folk singer Damien Rice. It was released on 1 February 2002, as the second single from his debut album O. It was later re-released in 2003 (reaching number 32 on the UK Singles Chart), 2004 (reaching number 19) and 2011 (reaching number 9).

Release

In Ireland the single was issued as a CD maxi single in May 2002 on the artist's own label Damien Rice Music.^[1] It contained a remixed version of the track by Paul "P-Dub" Walton and Mark "Spike" Stent, plus a demo, a live track and an instrumental of the A-side.^[2] Unlike the album version, the single mix includes drums.

In Britain the single was released in October 2003 by 14th Floor Records, on a standard CD single and Enhanced CD. The Enhanced CD featured an exclusive B-side, "Moody Monday", and the music video for "Cannonball". It was packaged in a gatefold card sleeve with a poster.^[3] The second CD contained live versions of "Cannonball", "Amie" and "The Blower's Daughter", recorded live at Union Chapel.^[4] This release included four postcards. A limited edition one-track 7" single was also pressed.^[3]

The single was re-released on 5 July 2004, with an additional DVD single containing two remixes and a filmed interview and a biography, rising to #19 on its re-release.

The single versions (of which there are two, with slightly differing production) are markedly different from the original version found on the album, with background production and a quicker vocal.

Chart performance

The song was originally released on 17 May 2002 and did not chart at the time.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, it reached number 32 on the UK Singles Chart on the chart of 1 November 2003, slipping back to 57 the following week for a total run of just 2 weeks in the charts.^{[citation needed]}

On its re-release in 2004, the song had limited success, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 19 on 17 July 2004 and then slipping back in the charts. It had a total run of seven weeks in the charts that year. It also peaked at number 21 on the Irish Singles Chart.^{[citation needed]}

The song was rereleased in 2011 reaching number 13 on 22 September 2011 (week 38) in Irish Singles Chart.^[5] Due to an impressive and popular X Factor audition from John Adams, singing an acoustic cover in the first round of 2011 auditions, Cannonball reentered the British Singles Chart on 24 September 2011 at number 39, and rising to 9 in the week of 1 October 2011^[5] before slipping back in the charts.

As of December 2011, the song has sold 191,696 copies in the UK.^[6]

Track listings

Irish CD

1. "Cannonball" (Single Version)
2. "Lonelily" (Original Demo)
3. "Woman Like a Man" (Live Unplugged)
4. "Cannonball" (Instrumental Album Version)

British CD

1. "Cannonball" (live)
2. "Amie" (live)
3. "The Blower's Daughter" (live)

British Enhanced CD

1. "Cannonball" (Radio Remix)
2. "Moody Monday"
3. "Cannonball" (Video)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2002) Peak position Ireland (IRMA)[7] 21 Chart (2003) Peak position UK Singles (OCC)[8] 32 Chart (2004) Peak position UK Singles (OCC)[8] 19 US Triple-A (Billboard)[9] 1 Chart (2011) Peak position Ireland (IRMA)[7] 13 UK Singles (OCC)[8] 9

Year-end charts Chart (2004) Position US Triple-A (Billboard)[10] 5 Chart (2011) Position UK Singles (OCC)[11] 189

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12]	Platinum	600,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Little Mix version

"Cannonball"
Single by Little Mix
Released	11 December 2011 (2011-12-11)
Recorded	December 2011
Length	3:25
Label	Syco Sony
Songwriter(s)	Damien Rice
Producer(s)	Richard "Biff" Stannard Ash Howes Steve Mac
Little Mix singles chronology
"Cannonball" (2011) "Wings" (2012)

The song was chosen as the winner's single for the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011. It was then released by girl group and X Factor champions Little Mix (formerly known as Rhythmix) on 11 December 2011, through Syco Music.^[13] It was later included on the expanded edition of Little Mix's debut album DNA (2012).

"Cannonball" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart; becoming the fastest-selling single of 2011 in the UK.^[14][1] By the end of the year, it had sold over 390,000 copies. The song also reached number one in Scotland and Ireland; later becoming the Christmas number one single of that year.^[2][4]

Rice had no involvement with the production of the Little Mix cover of "Cannonball".^[15] After the X-Factor release, he proceeded to donate money to Haiti to "cleanse myself of any possible X Factor money that could come in".^[16] As of 2022, "Cannoball" had sold over 561,000 copies in the UK and has been certified gold in the country and in Ireland.^[6] It also ranks as the ninth best-selling X Factor winner's single.^[17]

Critical reception

In a positive review, Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song three stars out of five, stating: "Naturally the production has been given the deluxe valet, swapping the raw acoustics of the original for a Casio keyboard piano riff, fist-clenching strings and the inevitable key change. But credit where it's due, they've played around (or as Gary put it, "Little Mixed") with it enough to distance themselves from the original."^[18]

Music video

The music video for "Cannonball" was uploaded onto Little Mix's official Vevo page on 20 December 2011. It depicts their best moments throughout The X Factor, and their performance of the single.^[19]

Chart performance

For the first time since series 1, The X Factor winner's single was not released the week of the coveted Christmas number one chart battle. The Official Charts Company announced that the 2011 Christmas number-one would be announced on Christmas Day,^[20] meaning releases on 18 December 2011 will be new entries in the chart that week. The winner's single was released in shops on 14 December 2011,^[21] which means it would have had to maintain significant sales numbers in its second week to achieve the Christmas number-one.

The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart selling over 210,000 copies in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling single of the year.^[22] It is the third lowest-selling X Factor winner's single. The song has sold 465,000 copies in the UK as of December 2012.^[23]

In Ireland, the song was Christmas number one and remained at the top of the Irish Singles Chart for four weeks until it dropped to number four on 13 January.^[24]

Track listings

Digital download

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cannonball"	3:25
2.	"Little Mix - Audio Message"	0:22

CD single

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Cannonball"	3:25
2.	"Super Bass" (X Factor performance)	2:26
3.	"E.T." (X Factor performance)	2:13
4.	"Don't Let Go (Love)" (X Factor performance)	2:33

Credits and personnel

• Damien Rice – songwriter
• Richard "Biff" Stannard – producer, keyboards, programming
• Ash Howes – producer, keyboards, programming
• Steve Mac – producer, keyboards, programming
• Chris Laws – keyboards, programming, mixing
• Dann Pursey – lead vocals, bass and drums engineering
• Jez Ashurst – programming, acoustic guitar
• Cliff Masterson – additional programming, strings and choir arrangement, conductor
• Seton Daunt – guitar
• Steve Pearce – bass
• Neal Wilkinson – drums
• Rolf Wilson – strings leader
• Diva Singers – choir
• Emma Rohan – backing vocals
• Jasette Amos – backing vocals

Credits adapted from CD single liner notes.^[25]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2011) Peak position Europe (Euro Digital Songs)[26] 1 Ireland (IRMA)[7] 1 Scotland (OCC)[27] 1 UK Singles (OCC)[28] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position UK Singles (OCC)[29] 41

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Ireland	—	10,000[30]
United Kingdom (BPI)[32]	Gold	561,000[31]

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United Kingdom[33]	11 December 2011	Digital download	Syco Music
Ireland[34]
Germany[35]	12 December 2011
Ireland[36]	14 December 2011	CD single
United Kingdom[36]

References

1. "The Page You Requested is No Longer Here | The Official Community of DamienRice". Damienrice.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
2. "Damien Rice - Cannonball (CD) at Discogs". Discogs. Archived from the original on 30 March 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
3. [1] Archived 27 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Damien Rice - Cannonball (CD) at Discogs". Discogs. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
5. http://acharts.us/song/8949 Archived 3 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine aCharts.us
6. Jones, Alan (19 December 2011). "Official Singles Chart Analysis: Little Mix sell 210k units". Music Week. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
7. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Cannonball". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
8. "Damien Rice: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
9. "Adult Alternative Airplay". Billboard. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
10. "2004 The Year in Charts: Most-Played Triple-A Songs". Billboard Radio Monitor. Vol. 12, no. 51. 17 December 2004. p. 54.
11. "Official Singles Chart 2011" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
12. "British single certifications – Damien Rice – Cannoball". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
13. "iTunes Store". iTunes. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
14. Graham, Daniella (19 December 2011). "Little Mix's Cannonball achieves worst X Factor sales since Steve Brookstein". Metro. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
15. "Damien Rice has no interest in X Factor money". RTE. rte.ie. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
16. "Damien Rice donated to charity to 'cleanse' himself of X Factor 'Cannonball' cover money". Irish Independent. independent.ie. 14 November 2014. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
17. "Every Little Mix single and album cover". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
18. Robert Copsey (12 December 2011). "Little Mix: 'Cannonball' - Single review". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
19. "Little Mix - Cannonball". 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2013 – via YouTube.
20. "The Christmas chart battle starts here!". Official Charts Company. 25 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
21. "Cannonball: Amazon: Music". Amazon. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
22. "X Factor's Little Mix Cannonballs to Number 1!". Official Charts Company. 18 December 2011. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
23. Lane, Dan (20 December 2012). "The Top 10 biggest selling X Factor debut singles and albums revealed!". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 11 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
24. Corner, Lewis (13 January 2012). "Flo Rida claims Irish singles No.1 with 'Good Feeling'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
25. Cannonball (liner notes). Little Mix. Syco Music, Sony Music. 2011. 88691925052.
26. "Euro Digital Songs – Week Ending December 17, 2011". Billboard. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
27. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
28. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
29. "End of Year Singles Chart Top 100 - 2011". Official Charts Company. 3 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
30. Sweeney, Ken (21 December 2011). "Cannonball hits Saw Docs' No 1 hope". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
31. Copsey, Rob (15 November 2021). "Little Mix Top 20 Biggest Singles on the Official Chart". www.officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
32. "British single certifications – Little Mix – Cannonball". British Phonographic Industry.
33. "iTunes Store". iTunes Store. Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
34. "iTunes Store". iTunes Store. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
35. "iTunes - Musik – "Cannonball - Single" von Little Mix". iTunes Store. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
36. "Little Mix - Cannonball". Discogs. 13 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.