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BuzzJack Music Forum _ UK Charts _ Do artists care about The Big Top 40?
Posted by: Tombo 16th May 2021, 05:00 PM
Do artists care about the big top 40 show or do they only care about the official chart?
I've noticed the big top 40 call themselves official now also which mucha make things hella confusing for a lot of people. As a kid, I didn't know which was official and me and my family found it odd how the different stations would have different number ones on the same day (this was back when the official top 40 was on a Sunday).
Little Mix were interviewed on the big top 40 a few weeks ago and sounded happy to be there and they were saying how they loved the awards they had received from them. Obviously, it is a media appearance and they're probably told to sound enthusiastic and stuff but it got me thinking about whether the artists actually care much about this chart.
Also, the charts are so different these days between Big Top 40 and the official chart that so many things get to number one on the Big Top 40 that don't on the official chart.
Maybe certain artists are just happy to still be getting a number one somewhere.
Posted by: Smint 16th May 2021, 05:15 PM
I thought only the Official Chart (one played on BBC and one we follow) was allowed to call itself “official”.
Posted by: WhoOdyssey 16th May 2021, 05:16 PM
That's because it's the "Official" Big Top 40, not the Official Chart!
Posted by: JosephStyles 16th May 2021, 05:19 PM
The artists will be well aware it's not the official chart and subsequently they won't care as much, but obviously it gets them some publicity if they're doing well on it and doing interviews keeps Capital sweet which is helpful for many artists in the chart.
Posted by: T Boy 16th May 2021, 05:21 PM
I expect he majority of artists don’t even care about the official charts.
Posted by: Smint 16th May 2021, 05:26 PM
Yes artists who appear on the show aren’t going to say it’s a load of bull bit it’s kind of fake news.
Posted by: Robbie 16th May 2021, 05:32 PM
Does the chart ever get mentioned on Capital and Heart outisde of the chart show itself? That would show if even Capital and Heart care about the Big Top 40. It has enough random number 1s (eg 'Rasputin' a few weeks ago) that I'm curious if the presenters ever mention that a particular track that has just been played is number 1 on the station's own chart.
Posted by: AcerBen 16th May 2021, 06:06 PM
I have heard the DJs mention "next up it's current Big Top 40 number 1"
I think a lot of artists do care about the Big Top 40 because they don't understand how it's compiled - i.e. that it's mostly based on download sales, and that download sales are now ridiculously low. They get excited about being #1 on iTunes still as well.
Though I did see Ella Henderson celebrating online when her current one finally made the official top 10, so that obviously meant something to her.
Posted by: JosephStyles 16th May 2021, 06:37 PM
A lot of artists, particularly British artists, celebrate when they reach a particular achievement in the UK chart. Tom Grennan was particularly excited for both of his top 10s to get there, and we know Lewis Capaldi was rigorously following his songs' progress when he was new to the charts 
Perhaps the established global acts like The Weeknd or Justin Bieber might not comment (perhaps unless they reach #1), because the Hot 100 is almost definitely the bigger focus for them, but I think plenty of artists care.
Posted by: slowdown73 16th May 2021, 06:57 PM
I think the charts have become somewhat less relevant than they used to be like in the 80s or 90s. It’s much harder for new acts to penetrate the charts with streaming dominating the charts and also you can be no1 on iTunes yet not even reach the T40.
Posted by: Bjork 16th May 2021, 06:59 PM
Of course artists care, just look at Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran
Posted by: fiesta 16th May 2021, 07:48 PM
Songs are not subject to acr on this chart I remember dance monkey spent forever in the top ten long after it had left the BBC chart.
Posted by: Bré 16th May 2021, 10:06 PM
There's no ACR, but every song is constantly subject to NA"CR"TIPJGPNOOTA (Nebulous Arbitrary "Chart Ratio" That Is Probably Just Global Pulling Numbers Out Of Their Arses). x
Posted by: Gambo 17th May 2021, 12:21 PM
Insofar as certain acts will care about their chart record, I would imagine they'll always take some note if they're doing well on the alternative 'Big Top 40' (especially if they get called to chat about - and thereby help promote - their current single release on the Sunday show), but ultimately most would be aware that the chart that history will record as being relevant (and the one used to source information about an act's chart history that will appear in chart reference, Wikipedia entries and so on) will be the OCC's official Top 40 in radio terms, 75 in Music Week terms and 100 in online archive terms. Whatever its rules and flaws, it clearly represents a far deeper measure of the national singles/tracks market than any competitors, and so provides a broader picture of the impact a song is having across a range of relevant measures, however awkwardly they are combined into a single tabulation and despite the artificialisation of the ranking as a by-product of its rules. Most artists will be cognisant of the basics and certainly their labels and promoters will be - for whom the actual chart profile and peak position possibly counts more than it does to the artist themselves, as to an extent it is a reflection of how successful their paid efforts are in boosting the commercial fortunes of the artists they represent. The Big Top 40 is a sideshow based mostly on Apple iTunes downloads, Music streams and presumably just Global radio airplay - hardly a complete set of sources to measure wider popularity of a track. Most artists will doubtless be gracious if doing well on it (particularly where they're not able to enjoy such a high rank on the official listings as it at least gives them a bit more of a platform - we repeatedly see that with tracks doing well on sales but whose streams are lacking) and I'm sure are good enough to never make any comment on the official chart or a direct comparison between the validity of that over its alternative.
For all the lack of credibility in the compilation process of the BT40 though, and aside from what acts appearing within it really think about it, I do wonder whether it now garners more interest, and is more relevant, to a lot of listeners who still bother tuning in to a chart-based broadcast with any regularity? For a kick-off there is the reality that a lot of them, especially kids, don't really care if the positions are fully-supportable and based on the broadest data available; it's more about the fun of the reveal and hoping to find their favourite songs higher-up (I should say that certainly was the case among young listeners in the '80s when the rival Network Chart sprang up on ILR stations to compete with Radio 1 - only the real chart enthusiasts such as myself cared to argue for the case that only the official chart really counted for anything!). Moreover, isn't it now probable that more people end up hearing the BT40 rundown than the official, simply because it still sits in that traditional Sunday afternoon slot, which for many is still a more conducive time to follow a live unveiling of a new chart than a Friday afternoon? Although I've personally always defaulted to the official one and when a regular listener I slavishly stuck with R1 to the complete exclusion of its ILR alternative, ironically, nowadays, if ever I happen to hear a chart show (usually by chance rather than a deliberate effort to tune in especially for it), it's almost always the Big rather than the official Top 40, for that reason. I can and sometimes do switch to R1's 'First Look' for an official 'midweek' live update, but that is so often just a boring reshuffle of the previous week's positions and I can't deny that the Global version feels more lively, playing more diverse stuff as it's more sales-driven than streaming. I pay no mind to the actual positions and movements, but however irrelevant these are, it does at least make for a more interesting and changeable listen. Due to the stagnation brought about by streaming and the skews of ACR etc I often wish the official combined Top 40 more closely resembled the makeup of the official sales one, and when I look at it objectively, the BT40 more-or-less does do that, albeit in a half-arsed, corny ILR style and being entirely unofficial, despite its obvious attempts through its titling to try and present itself as somehow having some sort of official status.
Posted by: Riser 24th May 2021, 01:43 AM
Posted by: Gambo 25th May 2021, 10:58 AM
I'm pleased to hear that, if only because it means more people are following the official numbers, for all the skew that's baked into them these days courtesy of OCC rules. Though might this figure include listens via catch-up on demand rather than just those for the original live broadcast?
Posted by: AcerBen 25th May 2021, 02:37 PM
The main reason Radio 1 have taken back the lead is that Big Top 40 now only goes out on Heart and Capital.
Though Radio 1 does better on a Friday than it was on a Sunday, just because it's a better slot. Think it's closer to 1.5 million than the 1 million it used to get.
Even though it's "made up", I also prefer the Big Top 40 for its pace and more mainstream pop feel.
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