Ok Chartheads this one is for you. Emancipation although had 4 music videos, there wasnt any official singles. However had the "charts" been run the way they are today PRINCE would have had a few charted singles. Since nowadays U dont have to release a single most positions are determined by airplay. I spoke to someone that does Billboard research and gave them PRINCE's airplay peaks for the songs from EMANCIPATION and according to them the following was determined. First BETCHA BY GOLLY, this song took off for Prince at RB radio but even POP radio embraced it too. Based on airplay points BETCHA would have been a TOP 20 RB hit and Quite possibly a TOP40 hit on POP. Next up SOMEBODY SOMEBODY this one clearly was an RB favorite and did not have any success at POP, after some research SOMEBODY would have been a TOP15 RB single, however would not have charted on POP. Next up was HOLY RIVER this song was aimed at POP but POP radio was already dismissing PRINCE's project, RB radio was not serviced with this one at all. So Results show that HOLY would have been in the 70-80 range on top 100. And last but not least FACE DOWN, no POP airplay was given at all and minimal RB, a poor choice for a fourth track to be released, based on RB airplay this one may have charted in at around 90 on the RB 100 with no POP charting.
So there U have it, enjoy!

Airplay isn't really a good way of determining a song's success or lack of I would have thought. Some DJ could play the hell out of it but that doesn't mean people like it or would have gone out and bought the single. Songs are pushed onto record stations by publicity executives, "Here's the new record by our latest next big thing, put it on your playlists and we'll give you all these freebies blah blah" and back then Prince didn't have some big company backing him in the promotion stakes.

Although I still think a good single is a good single and people will buy it if they genuinely like it and are fans, not because it's drilled into the brain by the radio.

Besides, I thought 'Betcha by Golly' WAS released as a single, at least in the UK?

Betcha was released in the u.s as a radio only single and it made it into the regular billboard top 40 and got up to #31

and oh yea Holy River made up to #58 on the hot 100 singles chart

Mazerati, those were the peak positions on Billboard's AIRPLAY chart, not the actual Hot 100. The Hot 100 is a combination of sales and airplay, and back then (up until December 1998), a song had to be released as a commercial cassette or CD single in order to be eligible for the Hot 100. None of the tracks from Emancipation were issued as physical, commercial singles in the US. So none of them actually made the Hot 100. Based on airplay, "Betcha By Golly Wow!" might have made the top 40, or at least gotten close, and "Holy River", as stated above, would likely have peaked somewhere in the 60s or 70s. If Prince had issued a commercial single for "BBGW!" it most likely would have made the pop top 20. The previous year, "I Hate U" reached number 46 on the airplay chart and number 6 on the sales chart. Sales were so strong that it reached number 12 on the Hot 100 with minimal pop airplay. Will Prince ever reach the top 40 again? I don't think "Musicology" will be the one to do it but I wouldn't completely count him out. Lots of other artists have made less likely commercial comebacks.

renfield said:

Yeah...Tom Jones, Stevie Nicks...two people who never go away.

I was in college at the time and didn't really listen to the radio so I wasn't tracking what the reaction to Emancipation was, I was just listening to the CD's over and over. Now that I know that those were the singles, no WONDER it wasn't a huge hit for him. Those were the worst choices for singles--Oh LAWD! WHere is Dreamin About U, Emale, The Human Body, In THis Bed I Scream? The Holy River? Face Down? Can U say FILLER?