A-side and B-side

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"B-Side" redirects here. For the Mr. Children album, see B-Side (album). For the Baiyu EP, see B-Side (EP).

The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78 and 45 rpm gramophone (phonograph) records, whether singles or extended plays (EPs). The A-side usually featured the recording that the artist, record producer, or the record company intended to receive the initial promotional effort and then receive radio airplay, hopefully, to become a "hit" record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that has a history of its own: some artists, notably Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Oasis, released B-sides that were considered as strong as the A-side and became hits in their own right. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits, usually unintentionally, with both the B-sides of their A-side releases. Others took the opposite track: producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side.

Contemporary pop charts such as Billboard's Hot 100 are based on radio play and digital downloads, which do not have "sides", so the terms are becoming antiquated.


The earliest 10-inch, 78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on each side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records and by the late 1910s they had become the norm in both Europe and the United States. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations (by and large) did not play recorded music until the 1950s (when top 40 radio overtook full-service network radio). In this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important; the "side" did not convey anything about the content of the record.






B-side songs may be released on the same record as a single to provide extra "value for money". There are several types of material commonly released in this way, including a different version (e.g., instrumental, a cappella, live, acoustic, remixed version or in another language/text), or, in a concept record, a song that does not fit into the story line.

Additionally, it was common in the 1960s and 1970s for longer songs, especially by soul, funk or R&B acts, to be broken into two parts for single release. Examples of this include Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", the Isley Brothers' "Shout", and a number of records by James Brown, including "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud". Typically, "Part 1" would be the chart hit, while "Part 2" would be a continuation of the same performance. A notable example of a non-R&B hit with two parts was the single release of Don McLean's "American Pie". With the advent of the 12" single in the late 1970s, the Part 1/Part 2 method of recording was largely abandoned.

Since both sides of a single received equal royalties, some composers deliberately arranged for their songs to be used as the B-sides of singles by popular artists. This became known as the "flipside racket".

On a few occasions, the B-side became the more popular song. This was usually because a DJ preferred the B-side to its A-side and played it instead. Examples include "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor (originally the B-side of "Substitute"), "I'll Be Around" by the Spinners (originally the B-side of "How Could I Let You Get Away"), "Ruby Tuesday" by the Rolling Stones (originally the B-side of "Let's Spend the Night Together"), "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart (originally the B-side of "Reason to Believe"), and "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice (originally the B-side of "Play That Funky Music"). More rarely, both sides of the single would become hits, such as the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper", or "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane".

The song "How Soon Is Now?" by the Smiths started out as the extra track on the 12" of "William, It Was Really Nothing" but later gained a separate release as an A-side in its own right, as did Oasis's "Acquiesce", which originally appeared as a B-side to "Some Might Say" in 1995, but gained subsequent release in 2006 as part of an EP to promote their forthcoming compilation album, Stop the Clocks. Feeder in 2001 and 2005 had the B-sides "Just a Day" from "Seven Days in the Sun", and "Shatter" from "Tumble and Fall" released as A-sides after fan petitions and official website and fansite message board hype, and both charted at #12 and #11 in the UK. In 1986, the first single from XTC's record Skylarking, "Grass", was eclipsed in the United States by its B-side, "Dear God" – so much so that the record was almost immediately re-released with one song ("Mermaid Smiled") removed and "Dear God" put in its place, becoming one of the band's better-known hits.

On some reissued singles the A- and B-sides are by completely different artists, or two songs from different albums that would not normally have been released together. These were sometimes made for the jukebox, as one record with two popular songs on it would make more money, or to promote an artist to the fans of another. For example, in 1981 Kraftwerk released their new single "Computer Love" coupled with the B side "The Model", from their 1978 LP The Man-Machine. With synthpop increasingly dominating the UK charts, the single was re-released with the sides reversed. In early 1982 "The Model" reached number one.

Double A-side[edit]

A "double A-side" is a single where both sides are designated the A-side; there is no B-side on such a single. The double A-sided single was invented in December 1965 by the Beatles for their single of "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out", where both were designated A-sides.[2] Other groups followed suit thereafter, notably the Rolling Stones in early 1967 with "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday" as a double-A single.

A double A-sided single is often confused with a single where both sides, the A and the B, became hits. Although many artists in the late 1950s and early 1960s like Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, the Beach Boys, Brenda Lee, Pat Boone, and others routinely had hit singles where both sides of the 45 received airplay, these were not double A-sides. The charts below tally the instances for artists' singles where both sides were hits, not where both sides were designated an A-side upon manufacture and release. For instance "Hound Dog," the B-side of "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley, became as big a hit as its A-side even though "Hound Dog" was indeed not an A-side at all when released in 1956. Reissues later in the 1960s (and after the Beatles' "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out") listed the single with both songs as the A-side. Also, for Cliff Richard's 1962 "The Next Time"/"Bachelor Boy", both sides were marketed as songs with chart potential, albeit with "Bachelor Boy" pressed as the B-side.

In the UK, before the advent of digital downloads, both A-sides were accredited with the same chart position, as the singles chart was compiled entirely from physical sales. In the UK, the biggest-selling non-charity single of all time was a double A-side, Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre"/"Girls' School", which sold over two million copies. It was also the UK Christmas No. 1 that year, one of only two occasions on which a double A-side has topped that chart, the other being Queen's 1991 re-release of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with "These Are the Days of Our Lives".[3] Nirvana released "All Apologies" and "Rape Me" as a double A-side in 1993, and both songs are accredited as a hit on both the UK Singles Chart,[4] and the Irish Singles Chart.[5]

Queen released their first double-A single, "Killer Queen"/"Flick of the Wrist", in 1974. "Killer Queen" became a hit, while "Flick of the Wrist" was all but ignored for lack of promotion. Three years later, they released "We Are the Champions" with "We Will Rock You" as a B-side. Both sides of the single received much radio airplay, which made them sometimes referred to as double A-side. In 1978 they released "Fat Bottomed Girls"/"Bicycle Race" as a double A-side; that time both sides of the single become hits.

Occasionally double-A-sided singles were released with each side targeting a different market. During the late 1970s, for example, Dolly Parton released a number of double-A-sided singles, in which one side was released to pop radio, and the other side to country, including "Two Doors Down"/"It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" and "Baby I'm Burning"/"I Really Got the Feeling". In 1978, the Bee Gees also used this method when they released "Too Much Heaven" for the pop market and the flip side, "Rest Your Love on Me", which was aimed toward country stations.

Many artists continue to release double A-side singles outside of the US where it is seen as more popular. Examples of this include Oasis's "Little by Little"/"She Is Love" (2002), Bloc Party's "So Here We Are"/"Positive Tension" (2005) and Gorillaz's "El Mañana"/"Kids with Guns" (2006).

Artists having the most U.S. double-sided singles on which each side charted in the US Hot 100, according to Billboard:[6]

Artist Number
Elvis Presley 51
The Beatles 26
Fats Domino 24
Pat Boone 21
Ricky Nelson 19
Nat King Cole 19
Brenda Lee 16
Ray Charles 16
Connie Francis 13
The Everly Brothers 13
Perry Como 12
Brook Benton 12
Aretha Franklin 11
Sam Cooke 11
The Platters 10
Jackie Wilson 10
The Beach Boys 8
Creedence Clearwater Revival 7
Bill Haley & His Comets 6
Johnny Mathis 6
Rolling Stones 6
The Monkees 6
  • Perry Como (12) and Nat King Cole (19) both had additional double-sided singles on Billboard's pre-1955 charts.[7]

Artists having the most U.S. double-sided singles on which each side reached the Billboard Top 40, according to Billboard:[6]

Artist Number
Elvis Presley 26
The Beatles 14
Ricky Nelson 11
Pat Boone 10
Fats Domino 9
Brenda Lee 6
Connie Francis 6
Everly Brothers 6
Perry Como 6
Nat King Cole 5
The Beach Boys 5

Double B-side[edit]

On vinyl, double A-side singles had one song on either side of the record, while double B-sides contained two songs on the same side (on the B-side, making three songs in all). When such singles were introduced in the 1970s, the popular term for them was "maxi single", though this term is now used more ambiguously for a variety of formats. These would not quite qualify as EPs – as that is generally four songs on a 45. The term is also sometimes used in a derogatory fashion for a release with no A-side at all, suggesting neither side is of high quality.[citation needed]

Examples include "Styrafoam"/"Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boogie" by Tyla Gang (1976), and "Jack Rabbit"/"Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)" by Elton John (1973).

Paul McCartney's 1980 single "Coming Up" had a studio version of the song on the A-side, while the B-side contained two songs, a live version of "Coming Up" and a studio instrumental called "Lunchbox/Odd Sox".

The singles from U2's album The Joshua Tree were released with two B-side songs each, which were pressed at 3313 rpm. Versions for jukeboxes included only one of those songs, which played at 45.

The Rolling Stones released "Brown Sugar" from their album Sticky Fingers in May 1971. While the American single featured only "Bitch" as the B-side, the British single added a third track, a live rendition of "Let It Rock", the Chuck Berry classic, recorded at the University of Leeds during the 1971 tour of the UK.

An extreme example of a similar phenomenon was Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant. Such was the length of the title track (18 minutes) that it took up the entire A-side of an album, and the B-side included six Guthrie compositions.

Humorous implementations[edit]

The concept of the B-side has become so well known that many performers have released parody versions, including:

  • The 1988 "Stutter Rap (No Sleep 'Til Bedtime)" by parody band Morris Minor and the Majors featured a B-side titled "Another Boring 'B'-side".
  • Parody band Bad News recorded a video B-side to the VHS version of their single "Bohemian Rhapsody" titled "Every Mistake Imaginable" in which the band discusses that they have to record an extra three minutes of footage for the single to be chart eligible.
  • Tracey Ullman's hit "They Don't Know" was backed by a song entitled "The B Side" and featured Ullman in a variety of comic monologues, many of which bemoaned the uselessness of B-sides.
  • Paul and Linda McCartney's B-side to Linda McCartney's "Seaside Woman" (released under the alias "Suzy and the Red Stripes") was a song called "B-Side to Seaside".
  • The single "O.K.?" based on the TV series Rock Follies of '77 contained a song called "B-Side?" which featured Charlotte Cornwell tunelessly singing about the fact that she is not considered good enough to sing an A-Side.
  • Blotto's 1981 single "When the Second Feature Starts" features "The B-Side", a song about how bad B-sides are compared to A-sides.
  • Love and Rockets' novelty side project the Bubblemen released only one single in 1988, "The Bubblemen Are Coming" coupled with "The B-Side", which is a field recording of bees.
  • The Wall of Voodoo 1982 12" EP Two Songs by Wall of Voodoo has the 10-minute joke track "There's Nothing On This Side" on the B-side.
  • Metric released in 2008 single "Help, I'm Alive" with a B-side "Help, I'm a B-Side".
  • Three Dog Night's 1973 single "Shambala" featured "Our 'B' Side", about the group wishing it could be trusted to write their own songs for single release. It is most notable as the only Three Dog Night single written and produced by the whole group, and features family members on background vocals.
  • Dickie Goodman's 1974 release "Energy Crisis '74" featured "The Mistake" as the B-side. "The Mistake" is simply a false start of the A-side, with Goodman saying, "Hello, we're...", followed by two minutes of silence.
  • The Pearl Harbor and the Explosions song "You Got It" was backed by "Busy Little B Side", also found on the Warner Bros. 2-LP sampler, Troublemakers.
  • The B-side of B.A. Robertson's 1979 single "Goosebumps" is entitled "The B-Side" and contains lyrics from the song's point of view. The lyrics describe the song as being "the back of a hit" and "real popular after the war" which can be said to relate to the dominance of the 45 RPM single after this time and the change of significance of the A-side and the B-side after this time. This track also opens side two of Robertson's album Initial Success.
  • One of the B-sides from Lenny Kravitz's Single "Heaven Help" is called "B Side Blues" and implements the sheer boredom of him being obviously under a lot of pressure from his record company to write more successful material. For example, the lyrics state "...They say I got to write some new songs..." and "...I was born, long ago. That sells right..." citing his very own hit "Are you gonna go my way".
  • Kaiser Chiefs released a 7" single of "You Can Have It All" which featured a blank B-side. Parodying their hit record "I Predict A Riot", the label on this blank side suggested it contained the track "I Predict Some Quiet".
  • The 2002 Pulp single "Bad Cover Version" included cover versions of earlier Pulp songs by Nick Cave and Roisin Murphy as B-sides.
  • Less Than Jake Released a compilation album called B is for B-sides.
  • A compilation of B-sides and unreleased tracks by Ocean Colour Scene has the name B-sides, Seasides and Freerides

Additionally, Shonen Knife released an album called The Birds & the B-Sides in 1996. Later, Relient K released The Bird and the Bee Sides in 2008. Neither are related to one another, but both albums' names are a play on an idiom, "the birds and the bees", and the term B-Side. In fact, both recordings also include many B-sides, as their respective names would suggest.


"b/w" redirects here. For the shortened form of "black and white", see black-and-white. For other uses, see B&W.

The term "b/w", an abbreviation of "backed with" or occasionally "bundled with", is often used to introduce the B-side of a record. The term "c/w", for "combined with", "comes with", or "coupled with", is used similarly.[8]

B-side compilations[edit]


  1. ^ MacDonald, p. 296
  2. ^ Hutchins, Chris. "Music Capitals of the World" Billboard December 4, 1965: 26
  3. ^ 1977-12-24 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive | Official Charts
  4. ^ Nirvana - UK Singles Chart Archive officialcharts.com. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  5. ^ User needs to do an artist search for "Nirvana" irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  6. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel, Top Pop Singles 1955–2006, Record Research Inc., 2007
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel, Pop Memories 1890–1954, Record Research Inc., 1986
  8. ^ "The Straight Dope: In the record business, what do "b/w" and "c/w" mean?". Retrieved 2009-01-12.