Push IT (Garbage Song) - Single Release

Single Release

The Version 2.0 album campaign officially began on March 16, 1998 when "Push It" debuted on European radio. In the United Kingdom, the song was A-listed at Radio One, Virgin, XFM, GLR and playlisted at a further sixty-two regional radio stations; with such support "Push It" subsequently reached #20 on the airplay chart. Mushroom Records issued "Push It" commercially on April 27 on CD and cassette single; both contained a brand new Garbage track, "Lick the Pavement", on the b-side, while the CD format also included a remix by Japanese band Boom Boom Satellites. A collectable 3"CD Blisterpack was also issued, backed with a cover version of Big Star's "Thirteen". At the end of its first week on sale "Push It" debuted at #9 on the UK Singles Chart becoming the band's third Top Ten hit single. Two weeks later, Version 2.0 launched with sales of 32,000 units and debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart. "Push It" remained on the UK top seventy-five for five weeks.

Mushroom's European distributor, BMG, released "Push It" across the continent on April 20, 1998 in two CD formats; a four-track maxi single collecting together both b-sides and the Boom Boom Satellites remix, and a two-track card sleeved single backed with "Lick the Pavement". In France, "Push It" charted for a single week at #99. In the Netherlands it debuted at #98 and peaked the following week at #77, while in Germany, the single peaked at #88. Some of the higher European chart positions came from Iceland, where "Push It" reached #2 after five weeks, Ireland where it reached #26, Finland where it peaked at #14, and in Spain, where the single was released by RCA, "Push It" debuted at #5. The single spent a second week at that peak, before dropping out of the Spanish top ten at the start of June. The song also peaked at #20 on the Spanish airplay chart. "Push It" was a success at radio across Europe, reaching #15 on the airplay charts. This set up Version 2.0 for a strong first week of continental sales; the album debuted at the top in France, Belgium and also at #1 on the European Top 100 Albums chart.

In Australia and New Zealand, "Push It" was released by White Records on April 20, 1998 on two CDs, in the same combination as Europe had received. At the end of the month, "Push It" debuted on the ARIA Charts at #31 where it stayed for a second week before dropping out of the chart on its seventh week. At the same time, "Push It" debuted on the RIANZ Charts at #16, and climbed seven days later to peak at #15. It ultimately spent six weeks on the charts. The top forty success of the single set up the May release of Version 2.0; the album debuted at #5 in Australia and at #1 in New Zealand. White also licensed out commercial singles of "Push It" internationally for release in South Africa and Venezuela.

In North America, Almo Sounds serviced "Push It" to alternative radio on March 30, 1998. Several radio stations jumped the add date for "Push It", even though Almo served cease and desist orders. Almo's campaign for "Push It" centered around breaking the single at alternative radio, as the format had strongly supported the band before. The label weren't too concerned whether or not "Push It" would crossover into Top 40 radio as they had confidence in the album's follow-up singles. In its first week, "Push It" became the #1 Most Added record on the alternative format and debuted in mid-April as the highest new entry on Modern Rock at #25. The same week "Push It" debuted at #72 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The following chart saw "Push It" rocket into the Modern Rock top ten at #8 with an "Airpower" status (meaning the song had registered over 900 detections for the first time). Almo released a limited edition pressing of "Push It" on CD to record stores in both the States and Canada on April 21. At the end of that week, the physical release debuted at #63 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart and at #52 on the Hot 100. The song also reached an airplay peak of #56 as it rose to #5 on the Modern Rock chart. At alternative, "Push It" remained at that position for the rest of May; parent album Version 2.0 impacted retail on May 12 and debuted at #13, shifting 88,000 copies in its first seven-day period.

"Push It" eventually proved to have long legs at radio, staying in the Modern Rock top ten and hovering around the mid-50s on the Hot 100 until the second week of July. By this time, second single "I Think I'm Paranoid" had debuted on the Modern Rock chart. Almo serviced remixes of "Push It" by New York producer Victor Calderone to DJs; the song debuted on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in mid-July at #44. "Push It" rose to #5 by the end of August. Capitalizing on the song's gain in popularity in nightclubs, the label commercially issued a double A-side 12" vinyl of Calderone remixes of "Push It" backed with mixes of "I Think I'm Paranoid" by The Crystal Method, on October 20. In total, "Push It" clocked up eighteen weeks on the Hot 100 (exiting at the start of September), twenty-one weeks on the Modern Rock charts (leaving a week earlier) and thirteen weeks on the Dance charts (at the start of October).