Editing Definitely Maybe (section)

== Release and promotion ==
Oasis signed to [[independent record label]] [[Creation Records]] in 1993. The limited-edition 12" single "Columbia" was released later that year as a teaser for journalists and radio shows, and was unexpectedly picked up by [[BBC Radio 1]], who played it 19 times in the two weeks after its release.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=132}} The band's first commercial single "[[Supersonic (Oasis song)|Supersonic]]" was released on 11 April 1994. The following week, it debuted at No. 31 on the British singles chart.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=149}} The song was followed by "[[Shakermaker]]" in June 1994, which debuted at No. 11 and earned the group an appearance on ''[[Top of the Pops]]''.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=167}}

The release of ''Definitely Maybe'' was preceded by a third single, "[[Live Forever (Oasis song)|Live Forever]]", which was released on 8 August 1994 and became the group's first top ten single. The continuing success of Oasis partially allowed Creation to ride out a period of tough financial straits; the label was still £2&nbsp;million in debt, so Tim Abbot was given only £60,000 to promote the upcoming album. Abbot tried to determine how to best use his small budget: "I'd go back to [[English Midlands|the Midlands]] every couple of weeks and people I knew would say, 'Oasis are great. This is what we listen to.' And I'd be thinking, 'Well, you lot don't buy singles. You don't read the ''[[NME]]''. You don't read ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''. How do we get the people to like you?{{'"}}{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=177}} Abbot decided to place ads in publications that had never been approached by Creation before, such as football magazines, match programmes, and UK [[dance music]] periodicals. His suspicions that Oasis would appeal to these non-traditional audiences were confirmed when the dance music magazine ''[[Mixmag]]'', which usually ignored guitar-based music, gave ''Definitely Maybe'' a five-star review.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=178}}

''Definitely Maybe'' was released on 29 August 1994.<ref name="oasisinet definitely-maybe">{{cite web |url=http://www.oasisinet.com/#!/music/album/definitely-maybe |title=Definitely Maybe |publisher=oasisinet.com |access-date=29 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825180037/http://www.oasisinet.com/#!/music/album/definitely-maybe |archive-date=25 August 2015  }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Big Gig for Oasis|newspaper=[[Irish Daily Star|The Star]]|date=30 August 1994|page=14|url=https://newspapers.com/article/the-star-big-gig-for-oasis/148370593/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|quote=...{{nbsp}}[Oasis'] album [''Definitely Maybe''] was released yesterday{{nbsp}}...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Simon |title=Oasis Definitely Maybe artwork 'will live forever' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39kljz3y01o# |website=BBC |access-date=24 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825012304/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39kljz3y01o |archive-date=25 August 2024 |date=28 August 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> The album sold 100,000 copies in its first four days.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=178}} On 4 September, the album debuted at No. 1 on the British charts. It outsold the second-highest album (''[[The Three Tenors in Concert 1994]]'', which had been favoured to be the chart-topper that week), by a factor of 50%. The first-week sales earned ''Definitely Maybe'' the record of the fastest-selling debut album in British history.{{sfn|Harris|2004|p=178}} "Cigarettes & Alcohol" was released as the fourth single from the album in October, peaking at No. 7 in the UK, which was then a career high for the band. Noel said "[[Slide Away (Oasis song)|Slide Away]]" was considered as a fifth single but he ultimately refused, arguing, "You can't have five [singles] off a debut album."<ref>{{cite AV media |chapter=Lock the Box |title=Stop the Clocks |title-link=Stop the Clocks |others=[[Oasis (band)|Oasis]] |type=bonus DVD |publisher=[[Columbia Records]] |year=2006}}</ref>