Editing Cosmic Thing (section)

==Promotion and commercial performance==
"Channel Z" was selected as the album's first single and was released in March 1989. While the single was not commercially successful in the mainstream at first, it generated substantial amounts of airplay on American college radio, helping re-establish the group's youth popularity. The single eventually peaked at number one on the [[Alternative Airplay|''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks]] chart,<ref name="Billboard">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-b-52s-2/ |title=The B-52s - Chart History |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> and reached number 61 on the UK singles chart.

Following the release of promotional single "Cosmic Thing", June 1989 saw the release of the band's largest global hit, "Love Shack". Pierson recalled that radio programmers initially "weren't really enthusiastic" about the song and that Schneider was instrumental in promoting it to indie radio stations, which eventually led to its embrace by college radio.<ref name="OralHistory"/> The track helped propel the success of the album globally, while reaching number 3 on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]],<ref name="Billboard"/> and number one on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'''s Modern Rock Tracks chart.<ref name="Billboard"/> The song also reached number 2 in the UK, and spent 8 weeks at number one in Australia in 1990. Following this, the album reached the top 10 in the US<ref name="Billboard"/> and UK album charts, and number one in Australia and New Zealand. The song's music video won the award for [[MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video|Best Group Video]] at the [[1990 MTV Video Music Awards]].<ref name="UPI">{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/09/07/Sinead-OConnor-dominates-MTV-video-music-awards/7379652680000/ |last=Kuklenski |first=Valerie |title=Sinead O'Connor dominates MTV video music awards |website=[[United Press International]] |date=September 7, 1990 |access-date=January 30, 2023}}</ref>

Aided by the further success of singles such as the transatlantic top 20 hit "[[Roam]]" and the US top 30 hit "Deadbeat Club",<ref name="Billboard"/> the album continued to sell strongly, particularly in the US, where it spent 22 weeks inside the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] top 10 in 1990,<ref name="Billboard"/> becoming the country's 9th best-selling album of the year.

By 2000, ''Cosmic Thing'' had achieved platinum status in the UK,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/|title=BRIT Certified|website=Bpi.co.uk}}</ref> and 4× platinum status in the US,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/ |title=Gold & Platinum |website=RIAA |language=en-US |access-date=July 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Rhino">{{cite web |url=https://www.rhino.com/aod/cosmic-thing-the-b-52s-0 |title=Album of the Day: Cosmic Thing - The B-52's |website=[[Rhino Entertainment]] |date=27 June 2022 |access-date=January 27, 2023}}</ref> denoting sales of over four million copies there. As of 2019, the album had sold over five million copies worldwide.