Counting TFM hits of IR - now @1776 - year 1996 is WIP - poll for "rAman abdullA"

2 songs: Thendral varum theru and Pudhiya paravai were superhits.  Unna pola and Amma pillaiyaa were Tier-2 hits.

(I used to think it was "Thaeru" as in chariot, looking at the English name in the movie poster back then, but soon realized it is "Street" when the title song released!) 

Video Jukebox (watch at your own risk(!) as usual!):



Album is on iTunes, Mio, Gaana and Jio Saavn: https://mio.to/album/Thendral+Varum+Theru+%281994%29

Adding 2 hits identified by TN-ers from "thenRal varum theru" :

#1571 puthiya paRavai paRanthadhE (SL with chorus, thenRal varum theru)
Lovely #IR_waltz with typical arrangements and a nice melody!

#1572 thenRal varum theru (Minmini-Mano duet, thenRal varum theru)
Though this was popular, could have reached bigger heights had it not been sidelined by some biggies it seems.

The next album does not need a poll (if I ask for votes KH fans will come and beat me ) - thEvar magan

#1573 sAnthuppottu oru sandhanappottu (KH-SPB duet, thEvar magan)
Rhythm thookkal song - not a personal favorite

#1574 pOtRippAdadi ponnE (Two versions - Sruthi-Sivaji / Sundarrajan-DC et al, thEvar magan)
Problematic song - supposedly got used in south TN to motivate mobsters for violence. Even otherwise definitely not a favorite for me - with the 'kAladi maNNE' kind of nonsense references

#1575 vAnam thottuppOna (SPB with chorus, thEvar magan)
Some nice choral arrangements but basically this is another version of 'kAladi maNNE' business. Despite SPB voice and IR brilliance, could not listen to this often. There is another short song (vettaruvA thAngi) which gets played on another occasion in the movie.

#1576 ada puthiyadhu piRandhadhu (MV with chorus, thEvar magan)
Super energy and zestful singing - enjoyable song!

#1577 inji iduppazhagA (2 versions, SJ solo / SJ-KH duet, thEvar magan)
What a song! An all-time favorite classic!

#1578 mAsaRu ponnE varuga (SL-Minmini-Sindhuja, thEvar magan)
Brilliant song!

#1579 maNamagaLE maNamagaLE(SL-Minmini-Sindhuja, thEvar magan)
Poignant yet for a mangaLa situation, quite a different song!

The next album should have been a biggie as well but I'm not sure about EVERY song being a hit in TN, so we need a poll for thirumathi Palanichamy album.

Yet another gem that IR gave to director R Sundarrajan :

pAtha kolusu pAttu pAdi varum	S.P.Balasubramaniam
amman koyil vAsalilE vAsalilE	S.P.Balasubramaniam / Minmini / T.S.Ragavendar / Sundarajan
kuRRAla kuyilE kuRRAla kuyile	Malaysia Vasudevan / Minmini
nadu sAmathilai sAmanthipoo ALai asathuthu	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
reNdulai nee oNNai thodu mAmA	Mano / S.Janaki
OthAmal orunALum irukka vENdAm	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki / Chorus

Almost-superhit album.  Except Rendula onna (a moderate hit, back then), all songs were superhits.

Kuthaala kuyile is one of my personal favorites in this album - innumerable changeovers in the charanam!

Album Jukebox on IR-O:

Nice to see confirmation from a lot of TN-ers on the hit status of TP album. Actually all the 4 SPB songs were quite familiar to me (means reached Kerala) and got recorded as hits and were part of the IR-SPB thread in tfmpage those days. Let us add the songs to our list here as well:

#1580 pAdhakkolusu (SPB solo, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
What a lovely melody and sweet singing by Balu! This song is quite there in greatness with "pacha malappoovu" in my books

#1581 amman kOyil vAsalilE vAsalilE (Minmini / TS Raghavendar / Sundarrajan with SPB, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
Lovely song with sweet orchestration and enjoyable energy levels!

#1582 kutRAlakkuyilE kutRAkalluyilE (Minmini-MV duet, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
4/4 themmAngu with some twists and turns in the saraNam, nice song!

#1583 nadu sAmaththilE sAmanthippoo (SJ-SPB duet, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
Sweet on ears, despite SJ's voice showing age - SPB on upper hand in this album

#1584 reNdula nee onnaththodu mAmA (SJ-Mano duet, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
I love that dialog between singer and instrument in the anu pallavi - IR kuRumbu - enjoyable number!

#1585 OthAmal oru nALum (SJ-SPB with chorus, thirumathi pazhanichAmy)
Though not a super hit, this was reasonably popular (means reached me in Palakkad ) and the interludes are fantastic!

Next album, uLLE veLiyE, needs a poll - as I don't know how it fared in TN

vuttAlakadi vuttAlakadi pAttirukuthu [Title Song]	S.P.Balasubramaniam / Chorus
kaLLathanamAga kannam vaitha kAdhalanE	Mano / K.S.Chithra / Chorus
kaNdupidi neethAn koodu katti vachcha thEnthAn	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
solli adikiRathil machchAn superadi	Mano / Chorus
sakkarai katti sakkarai katti santhana petti	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
ArirArO pAdum uLLam thunba rAgam isaikka	ilaiyaRaaja

Except Kandupidi and Aariraaro (could be Tier-3 hits), the rest of them were superhits; heard/played more on Radio than Television.

The album is on Mio: https://mio.to/album/Ulley+Veliye+%281992%29

Per TN-ers, this uLLE veLiyE is another super hit album. Let us add the songs to our list

#1586 uttAlakkadi uttAlakkadi pAttirukkudhu (SPB with chorus, uLLE veLiyE)
First time listen for me and this one is not my cup of tea

#1587 kaLLaththanamAga kannam vaiththa kAdhalanE (KSC - Mano duet, uLLE veLiyE)
A big favorite - most preferred song of this album (obviously) with "only-IR-possible" orchestration!

#1588 kaNdu pidi nee thAn (SJ-SPB duet, uLLE veLiyE)
Song designed for silukku, with all the necessary ingredients - brilliant song!

#1589 solli adikkiRadhil machchAn superadi (Mano with chorus, uLLE veLiyE)
Typical fun song, with enjoyable orch

#1590 sakkarakkatti sakkarakkatti sandhanappetti (SJ-SPB duet, uLLE veLiyE)
Possibly the most popular song among the masses (millions of YT views as well) - not a personal favorite

#1591 ArArO pAdum uLLam thunba rAgam isaikka (IR solo, uLLE veLiyE)
Got introduced to this terrific number, thanks to Pulamaipithan thread!

It is possible the next album was a super hit one as well - but I don't know the popularity of all songs. (ennaiththottu is obviously an all-time classic)

Let us have TN-ers comment on the album's reach...

munthi munthi nAyagarE [yentha ooru kiLiyAnAlum] [Title Song]	ilaiyaRaaja / Malaysia Vasudevan
yennai thottu aLLi koNda mannan pErum yennadi	S.P.Balasubramaniam / Swarnalatha
mAnam idi idikka maththaLangaL saththam ida	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki / Chorus
thottu thottu thookkiputtE	Minmini
kaNNA un kaNNil kaNNeerO	Swarnalatha

Except the internet-breaking Ennai thottu and the beautiful Maanam idi idikka, the rest were not even Tier-3 hits, let alone superhits.

But there are 2 other good songs that were completely smothered by those 2 giants in the album.

Mundhi mundhi starts with a delectable Ganjira rhythm with a prelude that veers off to a pallavai that is totally different from the prelude.  Kannaa un kannil is a haunting sober melody.

Jukebox: 



Audio is on Spotify, iTunes, Jio Saavn and Gaana: https://open.spotify.com/album/1iPPM5nX6nCdbDPJ1MSnZ9

Thottu thottu thuki putta paatu konjam hit dhan. Theriyadha paatu illai.

Adding the 2 popular numbers from unnai nenachEn pAttu padichEn, as identified by TN-ers...

#1592 ennai thottu aLLikkoNda mannan pErum ennadi (SL-SPB duet, unna nenachEn pAttu padichEn)
What a song! Phenomenal number with everything superlative - and I cannot praise the song enough

#1593 mAnam idi idikka (SJ-SPB duet, unna nenachEn pAttu padichEn)
Another superb duet, this one by the famed SJ-SPB pair and so enjoyable!

The next album is "vA vA vasanthamE" (name sounds like something for a dubbed movie)... needs a poll.

intha kAdhal vanthu paduthum pAdu	ilaiyaRaaja / Malaysia Vasudevan / Arunmozhi / Chorus
ithu yeththanai kAla thavippu	Mano / K.S.Chithra
pOthumA innum konjam vENumA	Swarnalatha / Chorus
kAdhal oru kOlam nALum athu mARum	Mano
poovE siRu poove siRu poovil varum thEnE	Mano / K.S.Chithra / Chorus
vanthavAsi mAnA madhurai	Chorus

The song "Poove siru poove" was a moderate hit (played quite often on Radio channels); the rest were not.

The album is on Mio: https://mio.to/album/Va+Va+Vasanthame+%281992%29

While the songs of 'vA vA vasanthamE' sound enjoyable to me personally (all first time listen) let us pass this as most opinions say this was a "washout"  The early 90's sounds always give a nice kick!

Next one is "vAliban" (sounds like Telugu dubbing). 

Let us have a poll anyways :

kanniyAkumari kalaimagaLA rAni	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra / Chorus
pAppAmpatti mAman poNNu	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra
vENdAnnA vidalai pOkkiri	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra
aiyO aiyO aiyaiyO	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra
yeppa sintha yeppa sintha	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra / Chorus

BC wrote:The song "Poove siru poove" was a moderate hit (played quite often on Radio channels); the rest were not.

The album is on Mio: https://mio.to/album/Va+Va+Vasanthame+%281992%29

nanRi for the link! 

The song 'ithu eththanai kAla thavippu' is on repeat this afternoon

Unfortunate that such a gem gets only <100 views on YT while ordinary (even kuppai) songs get millions of views...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyxA9KNBIS8

Vaaliban is the Tamil version of the Tollywood's sensational chartbuster album "Bobbili Raja".  So, none was a hit  in TN (because they had NO broadcast at all); same fate as with other dubbed ventures.

Telugu jukebox: 

So, vAliban has no additions to the list of this thread.

I believe the next one is similar (dubbing stuff) but I'll let TN-ers make that call

"vasanthamE varuga"

 

Asaigal oonjal AduthammA	Mano / K.S.Chithra
rAthiri unakena AdattumA	K.S.Chithra
vAzhai ilai unakkuthAn pOdavA	S.P.Sailaja
punnagai poo thoovuthE muthu muthu sOlai	Mano / K.S.Chithra
yEi muththam konjum intha nEram	Mano / K.S.Chithra

OK, that "vasanthamE varuga" was another case of "super-hit-in-Telugu-unknown-in-Tamil" category

Moving on to the next album, which surely had some super hit songs (as I myself have heard them frequently). Needs a poll for rest of the songs!

villuppAttukkAran

 

thanthanathOm yendRu solliyE [sakthi bagavathy] [minnalai pinnidum]	Mano / Kulatheivam Rajagopal / Chorus
kalaivAniyO rANiyO avaLthAn yArO [1]	S.P.Balasubramaniam
ponnil vAnam pOttathu kOlangaLE	S.Janaki
sOlai malai Oram kOla kuyil pAdum	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
thanthEn thanthEn isai [thendRal vanthu]	Malaysia Vasudevan
vAnam yennum thAyE thAyE	K.S.Chithra / Chorus

Kalaivaaniyo, Thandhaen thandhaen and Solai malai oram were superhits.  Ponnil vaanam was a moderate hit.  The rest were not hits, but played on TV and Radio few times when the movie released.  Good folk album for the hero who was made an overnight sensation through Enga Ooru Paattukkaaran, and later a bankable star, mostly because of IR music.

Thandhaen thandhaen was a grand hit for another reason: the lyrics were touted (song promotion) to be in such a way that the upper and lower lip will not touch when you sing!  We at school back then, even tried it out when a girl brought in the "song booklet" (Paattu puthagam), and of course, the lips do not touch each other for the entire song.

Jukebox on IR-O:

Most TN-ers voted for the same 3 hits in villuppAttukkAran and let us add them to our list!

#1594 kalaivANiyO rANiyO (SPB solo, villuppAttukkAran)
What a lovely themmAngu with superb rhythm! Unfortunately, I was not familiar with this song when running the IR-SPB thread and missed including there (and got chastised by people on that thread). It became a big favorite after that!

#1595 sOlai malai Oram (SJ-SPB duet, villuppAttukkAran)
Lovely, lovely song - a personal favorite!

#1596 thanthEn thanthEn isai (MV solo, villuppAttukkAran)
As mentioned by BC above, it was known for the "lips not touching" song  Like the thirukkuRaL "வசையொழிய வாழ்வாரே வாழ்வார் இசையொழிய வாழ்வாரே வாழாதவர்"

The next album was for a super hit movie, Walter vetrivEL - just a small catch that I don't know how the song "ovvru pakkam ovvoru mutham" fared in TN (as I don't remember hearing it on my travels)...so need a poll

chinna rAsAvE chitteRumbu yennai kadikuthu	Mano / S.Janaki
poongkARRE ingE vanthu vAzhthu	Mano / Uma Ramanan / Sunandha
ovvoru pakkam ovvoru muththam	Swarnalatha
pattu nilA metteduthu pAduvathu bilA hOi	S.Janaki
mannavA mannavA mannAthi mannanallavA	Sunandha

I was like "WHERE are the songs?  What songs are "Yes" and "NO"?!".  It took a couple of seconds for me to realize that you were actually only polling for the hit-status of the least popular song in the album!

In the Hindi remake Khuddar, Anu Malik "used" the Background Score of this movie very generously!

Anyway, except that song, Walter Vetrivel (4 other songs) is an almost-superhit (read: Smash-hit / Chartbuster) album.  Here is the jukebox on IR-O:

ok, adding the 4 super hit songs of Walter vetRivEL

#1597 chinna rAsAvE siththeRumbu (SJ solo, Walter vetRivEL)
SJ delivers effortlessly a song that is kind of loud in rhythm arrangements but was popular among masses!

#1598 poongAtRE inge vandhu vAzhththu (Sunanda, UR, Mano group song, Walter vetRivEL)
Career best song of Mano, IMHO and what mesmerizing melody and orchestration! Phenomenal!

#1599 pattu nilA metteduththu pAduvadhu bailA hoi (SJ, Walter vetRivEL)
Superbly orchestrated, enjoyable mass number! Much preferred over the more popular siththeRumbu (for me)

#1600 mannavA mannavA (Sunanda solo, Walter VetRivEL)
That first interlude - every time generates goose bumps in me! Fantastic!

With that album, we are done with 1992 releases

Will post the stats ASAP

1600 hits by the time industry was ALMOST successful in their conspiracies to unseat the emperor from COMMERCIAL top spot.

However, one must remember that IR was NOT unseated due to lack of hits or quality or consistency, as shown by phenomenal numbers from the albums released in 1992!
  

Year	Cat A (Super Hits)	Cat B (Hits)	Cat C (Moderate Hits)	Year Total
1976	7	4	2	13
1977	21	14	15	50
1978	25	15	10	50
1979	33	29	33	95
1980	40	6	10	56
1981	54	38	N/A	92
1982	77	33	N/A	110
1983	56	24	N/A	80
1984	62	35	N/A	97
1985	107	27	N/A	134
1986	77	37	N/A	114
1987	68	25	N/A	93
1988	47	13	N/A	60
1989	86	34	N/A	120
1990	113	52	N/A	165
1991	93	31	N/A	124
1992	117	30	N/A	147
Total so far	1083	447	70	1600

Until the gumbals pushed him out of big projects / money spending production houses etc, he had been clocking greater than 100 hit songs each year  i.e. in TN alone - consistently!

As briefly mentioned above, from 1993 onward the # of albums released each year came down a lot. Multiple reasons for that (and they had been discussed quite a lot on media / forums etc).

Also, during this period, IR's output in other languages (particularly Malayalam) went up a little bit.

Let us keep those distractions away from this thread, to the extent possible  Though I may lament from time to time

Starting the 1993 albums with a poll for "AthmA" (being a Pratap Pothen movie, IR possibly gave fantastic songs - unfortunately, I wasn't even aware of this movie / album until recently. No way of knowing how it did in TN). I'm sure I've heard 'kaNNAlE kAdhal kavidhai' when it came out, though not knowing which album the song was from!

viLakku vaippOm viLakku vaippOm	S.Janaki / Chorus
vidiyal pozhuthu namakku uNdu	Mano / Chorus
innaruL tharum annapooraNi	T.N.Sheshagopalan / Chorus
kaNNAlE kAdhal kavithai sonnAlE yenakkAga	K.J.Yesudas / S.Janaki
vArAyo unakkE saraN nAngaLE	Mano
ninaikindRa pAthaiyil nadakindRa thendRalE	S.Janaki / Chorus

Superb album of IR.  Sad that the movie bombed at the box-office.  Kannaale kaadhal kavidhai and Vilakku veppom were superhits, while Vaaraayo and Ninaikkindra were moderate hits.

The song "Ninaikkindra" was orchestrated by Karthik Raja.  InnaruL tharum was familiar because of few instances on DD and AIR, but most probably not a "hit".

Jukebox on IR-O:

app_engine wrote:1600 hits by the time industry was ALMOST successful in their conspiracies to unseat the emperor from COMMERCIAL top spot.

However, one must remember that IR was NOT unseated due to lack of hits or quality or consistency, as shown by phenomenal numbers from the albums released in 1992!
  

Year	Cat A (Super Hits)	Cat B (Hits)	Cat C (Moderate Hits)	Year Total
1976	7	4	2	13
1977	21	14	15	50
1978	25	15	10	50
1979	33	29	33	95
1980	40	6	10	56
1981	54	38	N/A	92
1982	77	33	N/A	110
1983	56	24	N/A	80
1984	62	35	N/A	97
1985	107	27	N/A	134
1986	77	37	N/A	114
1987	68	25	N/A	93
1988	47	13	N/A	60
1989	86	34	N/A	120
1990	113	52	N/A	165
1991	93	31	N/A	124
1992	117	30	N/A	147
Total so far	1083	447	70	1600

Until the gumbals pushed him out of big projects / money spending production houses etc, he had been clocking greater than 100 hit songs each year  i.e. in TN alone - consistently!

Thanks for the priceless stats, app_engine.  Highly appreciated work that is.

Stunning numbers there, that would make any other composer look pale in comparison.

And this is just the "hits" part of the equation, and that too in Tamil.  More in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

If one takes into account the good compositions of IR, the numbers will be much more staggering and unattainable (it already is/was!).

Adding the 2 songs that have been supported overwhelmingly by all (and leaving out the number by KR, as reported) from AthmA...

#1601 viLakku vaippOm viLakku vaippOm (SJ with chorus, AthmA)
Quite a different song, by way of "sounds" (sorry I'm not a fan of it) - but a nice melody regardless!

#1602 kaNNAlE kAdhal kavidhai sonnALE (SJ-KJY duet, Athma)
Lovely misra nadai number, great singing as well! Thoroughly enjoyable song!

Moving on to the next album, that needs a poll again (as I had not listened to the songs when they arrived in TN) - amaithippadai.

ippadai thORkin [veRRi varuthu] [Title Songs]	Mano / Dheeban Chakaravarthy / S.N.Surendar
yenakku unnai ninaichchA majA majA	Swarnalatha / Chorus
muththumaNi thErirukku mullai kodi pOvathaRku	Mano / S.Janaki
solli vidu veLLi nilavE	Mano / Swarnalatha
ada nAnAchu neeyAchu	Mano / Chorus
ammA thAyE thAyammA	ilaiyaRaaja

There's a discussion going on in twitter on "sollividu veLLi nilavE"

@rmdeva has informed that the song didn't have a reach at the time of release (perhaps because this was not on-screen and also the movie's dialogs had a bigger reach than songs those days).

Interestingly, there are so many versions of this song on YT (Sanjeevi has pointed out that there is a YT with more than 42 million views  I have seen one with close to 10 million views and there's an "audio only" version that has more than 400K views). 

This one 42 million plus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUubntzTsBc



Looks like this song made it really big on the internet (regardless of how people received it at the time audio got released).

Interesting case!