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Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 02:58 PM

Freshness of the UK Chart

I’ve decided to create a formula to calculate the freshness of the UK Top 40 every week. To give it some context, I’ve also used the same formula to calculate the freshness of the Top 40 from 2016, 2015 and 2007.

Here’s how I’ve calculated it:

First of all, I’ve gone through every song in the UK Top 40 and added 15 minus (number of weeks in Top 40) to the score. Obviously for some songs this will be a negative value.

I have then added extra points for the following:

• 30 points for a new song at #1
• 20 points for a new song in the Top 5
• 15 points for a new song in the Top 10
• 10 points for a new song in the Top 20
• 5 points for a new song in the Top 40

Note: In all cases, ‘new song’ means a song which is spending its first week within the specified range (for example, Symphony would count as a ‘new song at #1’ this week despite it being in the Top 10 for a number of weeks.) Also, a song can only gain points from one of these categories (for example, a song that enters at #1 cannot get points for being in the Top 5.)

2017:
06/01: 118 points Least fresh week of the year
13/01: 366 points
20/01: 255 points
27/01: 251 points
03/02: 228 points
10/02: 244 points
17/02: 231 points
24/02: 379 points
03/03: 377 points
10/03: 597 points Freshest week of the year
17/03: 408 points
24/03: 587 points
31/03: 428 points
07/04: 390 points
14/04: 352 points
21/04: 367 points
28/04: 414 points (2nd)
05/05: 347 points (2nd)
12/05: 354 points (2nd)
19/05: 311 points (2nd)
26/05: 367 points (2nd)
02/06: 296 points (2nd)

2016:
28/04: 335 points (3rd)
05/05: 302 points (4th)
12/05: 280 points (3rd)
19/05: 279 points (3rd)
26/05: 227 points (4th)
02/06: 209 points (4th)

2015:
28/04: 232 points (4th)
05/05: 333 points (3rd)
12/05: 235 points (4th)
19/05: 227 points (4th)
26/05: 318 points (3rd)
02/06: 229 points (3rd)

2007:
28/04: 451 points (1st)
05/05: 450 points (1st)
12/05: 501 points (1st)
17/05: 500 points (1st)
26/05: 383 points (1st)
02/06: 431 points (1st)

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 02:58 PM

28/4/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070429/750140 (351 + 100)
No big surprise to see the chart from 10 years ago coming first. No change at the top as Beyoncé keeps the #1 with ‘Beautiful Liar’, although 8 new entries, the highest being Sunblock at #16, keep the points up. Mika’s ‘Grace Kelly’ is the only song to don negative points, although only 1.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170428/750140 (294 + 120)
So this week’s chart manages second, and actually not that far off #1! This was clearly helped by six new entries, and (finally) a new #1. Touch, You Don’t Know Me and the two oldest Sheeran tracks penalised the score although none more than 5 points.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160429/750140 (245 + 90)
Last year’s chart manages 3rd comfortably, despite no songs entering the Top 10 for the first time (although there was movement in the Top 10 as Purple Rain re-entered). This chart was no doubt helped along by the mass of Beyoncé entries (and Disturbed’s The Sound Of Silence, which was unceremoniously ignored by the Chart Show as they proceeded to play EVERY Beyoncé track ) The two main point-losers came from the two surviving Bieber tracks (‘Sorry’ and ‘Love Yourself’), however Major Lazer and Shawn Mendes had both tallied up a large number of weeks themselves.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150426/750140 (172 + 60)
And coming dead last by over 100 points is the 2015 chart. There were three new entries, the highest being Clean Bandit’s ‘Stronger’ at #4, however ‘Take Me To Church’, ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Chandelier’ all heavily penalised this week’s score, all having over 30 weeks on the chart.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 03:01 PM

I'll try and catch up with the first 4 months at some point!

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 03:18 PM

(feel free to comment btw)

Posted by: mdh May 1 2017, 03:21 PM

Oh yeah last weeks chart was very fresh! Probably the freshest we've had all year so far / will see for the next few months.

Posted by: Вuzzjack May 1 2017, 03:45 PM

Great idea, can you do one more further back than 2007, say do 15 years ago so 2002 or 20 years for 1997?

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 03:51 PM

I was thinking of doing more but I didn't want to put in too much work for something that I didn't know the reception of. I think having lots of different years would make people less inclined to read it.

(Also, there were like 10 new entries every week in the mentioned years so it would always be at #1)

Posted by: Tippin Virginia May 1 2017, 03:51 PM

But the chart in general rn is no fresher than an old prostitute's coot!!

Posted by: cqmerqn May 1 2017, 04:32 PM

Oh nice idea!

Posted by: Вuzzjack May 1 2017, 04:37 PM

Well then you could do 1977 just for comparison (there were four new entries to the top 40 this week in 1977 according to the chart archive)

Posted by: Robbie May 1 2017, 08:06 PM

Over at polyhex, Colin (the site owner) has compiled a number of graphs showing how many records each year have entered at number 1, entered the top 40, top 75 etc.

The graph shwoing the number of new entries to the top 75 shows what we all know, that the chart has slowed to a crawl in recent years http://www.polyhex.me.uk/uksingles/new-entries-in-chart-uks.cfm

Last year there were less new entries than at any point since 1974.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 1 2017, 08:58 PM

Although new entries don't always equate to freshness - in 2015 there were tons of new entries but they all dropped out the next week, not really improving the charts.

Posted by: Robbie May 1 2017, 09:04 PM

I agree. It's the amount that go on to reach the top 40 that matters and most just didn't do that. At least this year we have seen a number of tracks climbing in to the top 40.

This is why I prefer the charts of the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s. Most top 40 records entered the chart outside of the top 40, climbed into the top 40, took a few weeks to climb to their peak and then most then made a swift fall down and off the charts. Most weeks there were usually only about half a dozen or so new entries to the top 40 but the chart always had a fresh feel to it, though there were some long runners in the charts at times.

Posted by: ankietarrr May 1 2017, 09:19 PM

Trying to understand what an author means but no success

The fact he even broke his complicated 'assumptions ' by rewarding CB as for number one debut despite it was barely top 5 does not help either

Posted by: mdh May 1 2017, 09:27 PM

I expect we'll see somewhat of an increase in NE's this year - the streaming turnover has started to speed up and the charts have gotten fresher over the last few months, not too sure why.

Posted by: Dobbo May 1 2017, 09:28 PM

The Charts are lot more fresh now than the last 3 years. The longest runner atm is Human I believe? Which is heading out anyway. Even when streaming had just been introduced to the Chart in 2014 we had some stupidly long runs from the likes of Rather Be, Happy, All Of Me, Budapest, Chandelier etc. where they would drop one week then rebound the next for weeks on end.

The last mega long-runner was One Dance but after its 15 weeks at #1 it was clearly only ever heading out & not bouncing around forever like those 5 mentioned above. I believe the same will happen with Shape Of You, once its out the top 10 it'll drop fairly steadily.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 2 2017, 07:18 PM

Updated for the whole of 2017 - no surprise that the Ed week is the freshest of the year so far. I'll get on with the other years soon!

Posted by: Вuzzjack May 2 2017, 07:24 PM

Would love to see one more year (1977 or 1987) there just out of interest...to see how the real retro era chart compares in freshness to today and the other years.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 2 2017, 08:39 PM

I'll see whether I feel up to it once I've completed all of the years I'm already doing...

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 5 2017, 04:50 PM

5/5/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070506/750140 (345 + 105)
So 2007 remains the freshest chart out of the 4, with five new entries (the highest being HELLOGOODBYE’s ‘Here (In Your Arms)’ at #10) and loads of high climbers, including Manic Street Preachers up 24 places to #2! Beautiful Liar holds the #1 spot firm for yet another week though.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170505/750140 (272 + 75)
This week’s chart manages second, but only scraping it this week as there is a clear lack of progression in the charts! Despite there being a new #1 and ‘Despacito’ climbing all the way to #4, there was only one other song from outside the Top 20 progressing anywhere between #6-#20 (‘Unforgettable’), and although 4 new entries isn’t bad, it’s by no means the best we’ve had this year.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150503/750140 (198 + 135)
So 2015 goes up a place, completely thanks to the movement of the Top 40 as the tedious trio of ‘Chandelier’, ’Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Take Me to Church’ were all still there. Although ‘Cheerleader’ making #1 and ‘I Really Like You’ entering at #3 really excited up this week’s chart (as well as 4 other new entries)

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160506/750140 (247 + 55)
Which leaves 2016 to drop down to dead last. Despite the songs having less weeks in total in the Top 40 than last week, we are left with a ton of Beyoncé non-movers, the only real event being Calvin Harris’ ‘This Is What You Came For’ entering at #2, leaving ‘One Dance’ at #1, although back then we still didn’t know what was to come…

Posted by: mdh May 5 2017, 04:53 PM

I'm really enjoying these commentaries Pete! Nice to get a throwback of exactly what was going on in the chart back then.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 5 2017, 05:06 PM

Thanks! Glad people are enjoying it!

(edit: this week's is on the last page if anyone hasn't seen it)

Posted by: vidcapper May 6 2017, 09:38 AM

Interesting topic - though I think the number of *new* artists should be factored in somehow, as to me, having a load of new songs by *one* artist doesn't seem very fresh to me.

IMO freshness implies variety of music, not just rate of chart turnover.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 13 2017, 12:33 PM

12/5/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070513/750140 (351 + 150)
No surprise to see 2007 at #1 for the third week in a row as it breaks the 500 barrier. McFly's 'Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania' entered straight in at #1, a song best know for being (up until 2015) the biggest drop from #1. Akon's 'Don't Matter' and Scooch's iconic Eurovision entry 'Flying the Flag (For You)' both enter the Top 5, and a total of 5 new entries along with lots of high climbers seals the #1 spot for 2007.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170512/750140 (264 + 90)
Up 7 points this week, a new #1 plus Shawn entering the Top 5 keeps this chart fresh, as well as exactly 1 newie to the Top 10 ('Unforgettable') and 1 to the Top 20 ('Attention') keep this chart at a clear 2nd place. 3 new entries to te Top 40 to account for as well, and with 'Human' and 'You Don't Know Me edging ever closer to dropping out, expecct this score to increase.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160513/750140 (220 + 60)
2016 ascends to 3rd, despite losing 22 points this week. This was the week where all the Beyoncés (bar 'Hold Up') dropped out, leaving space for 6 new entries, including 'Can't Stop the Feeling' at #3, and two horrific Drake songs, 'Too Good' and 'Controlla'. (as well as a nice surprise with Benny Benassi's 'Paradise' at #40) Two Biebers, a Shawn Mendes and a Major Lazer all inflicted point deductions this week.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150510/750140 (180 + 55)
And 2015 drops back down to 4th, losing almost 100 points. Blonde's 'All Cried Out' was the highest of 4 new entries at #4, the others of which were Tove Lo's last grasp at relevance with 'Talking Body', Ariana Grande's 'One Last Time', and Fetty Wap's 'Trap Queen', which was cleary here for the long run. 'Chandelier' bounced back up to #35, and with Hozier and Ed Sheeran showing no signs of leaving, the negative points are tallying up.

Posted by: cqmerqn May 13 2017, 12:36 PM

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 13 2017, 03:28 PM

Posted by: cqmerqn May 13 2017, 03:30 PM

omq

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 13 2017, 03:32 PM

Tbh I probably should have done one for mdh given what I've said about the Drake songs

(All comments still welcome!)

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 20 2017, 08:32 AM

19/5/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070520/750140 (350 + 150)
Losing just 1 point from last week, 2007 are yet again #1. Despite last week's #1, McFly's 'Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania' dropping all the way to 20, there were 4 songs in the Top 5 that hadn't been there previously, including a new entry at #1 from Rihanna's 'Umbrella'. 5 new entries as well, the highest being Mutya Buena's 'Real Girl' ( Sugababes fans) and also included Men's Needs by The Cribs.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170519/750140 (271 + 40)
This year keeps its second place, however with considerably less points than last week. No new songs in the Top 5 and only 1 in the Top 10 ('Did You See') , however Miley Cyrus and Disciples landing themselves Top 20 positions stopped this week's chart from slipping any further. 'You Don't Know Me' dropping out also saved the chart a few negative points.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160520/750140 (214 + 65)
Another non-mover at #3 for 2016, losing points for the third week in a row though. ‘One Dance’ stays at #1 (BIG surprise there ), and the Top 5 remained static barring Timberlake overtaking Calvin. Drake’s ‘Too Good’ and Desiigner’s ‘Panda’ entered the Top 10, whilst there were four new entries from The Stone Roses , Reggie N Bollie, The Invictus Choir & gnash, although continued presence by two of the Biebers and by Shawn Mendes inflicted big penalties.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150517/750140 (167 + 60)
And 2015 remains at 4th, yet again losing a massive chunk of points. ‘Cheerleader’ remained at #1, and despite Galantis’ ‘Runaway (U & I)’ and Lunchmoney Lewis’ ‘Bills’ entering directly into the Top 5, continued presence by the dreary Hozier/Ed/Sia trio drags the whole chart down.

Posted by: mdh May 20 2017, 08:40 AM

Oh, this time last year we had quite the variety of newies! Not often you get a classic rock band make a comeback, a charity choir record, an acoustic indiepop song and a novelty dancehall afrobeat track enter in the same week

Posted by: Dexton May 20 2017, 09:24 AM

Hahahaha I love how accurate this is.


'One Dance' will no doubt drag 2016 down in the coming weeks/months, and then 'Closer' not long after. Oh how naive we were back then...

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds May 26 2017, 07:40 PM

26/5/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070527/750140 (318 + 65)
2017 remains at #1, but with significantly less points compared to last week as there are no new songs in the Top 5 and the only change in the Top 10 is Mutya Buena's 'Real Girl' climbing from 11 to 9. 'Umbrella' continues its mammoth run at the top, whilst the highest of 6 new entries is the Pigeon Detectives' 'I'm Not Sorry' at #12. The lowest entries came from The Twang ('Either Way') and Reverend & the Makers ('Heavyweight Champion of the World'), both of which would crack the Top 10 in the future.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170526/750140 (282 + 85)
2017 gains a lot of points this week (thanks to the exit of Rag'n'Bone Man's 'Human'), and whilst 'Despacito' remains at #1, Liam Payne's new song 'Strip That Down' enters straight in at #3. Charlie Puth's 'Attention' enters the Top 10, and there are 4 climbers into the Top 20, including Ariana Grande's 'One Last Time', thanks to a campaign in light of recent events. This means that the two Ed's are currently the only songs inflicting negative points (& no songs over 20 weeks )

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150524/750140 (223 + 95)
2015 climbs a place, largely due to the fact that 'Chandelier' ended its 40+ week run in the chart, although it would continue to re-enter until we were sick to death of it. From browsing old threads, it looked like Radio 1 decided to only play the Top 4 of this chart, the highest new entry being Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' at #4, whilst 'Cheerleader' stayed at #1 for its fourth and final week. Ella Eyre entered at #12 with 'Together', whilst there were 4 more new entries from Andie Case's cover of 'Want to Want Me', Ne-Yo's 'She Knows', Sheppard's 'Geronimo' and Jessie J's 'Flashlight'. Coincidentially, 'One Last Time' was also in this chart at #34.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160527/750140 (192 + 35)
And last year drops back down to rock bottom with a practically stationary Top 10, barring Galantis climbing 1 place to #5. Sigma's flop 'Cry' enters at #21, whilst other new entries come from Kungs, which would go on to disappoint us all by not dethroning Drake from #1 for even a single week, and Craig David's 'One Last Time'. A number of songs on 15+ weeks though, including the final Bieber, 'Sorry', and Shawn Mendes' 'Stitches'; once the chart saviour, now just another chart clogger-upper.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds Jun 2 2017, 05:49 PM

2/6/2017

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20070603/750140 (331 + 100)
After losing a ton of points last week, 2007 picks itself up to remain at #1 by over 100 points. Mutya Buena's 'Real Girl' shoots up to #2, and two new tracks in the Top 10 in the form of The Twang's 'Either Way' and Calvin Harris' 'The Girls', the first of nine new entries. There are, however, six songs with now with more than 15 weeks on the chart and therefore donning negative points.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20170602/750140 (246 + 50)
2017 stays at #2, but taking a massive tumble in points down to a score which only a few weeks ago would have put it in dead last. Three new entries, the highest being protest song Liar Liar, although none of this week's dropouts were in the chart 2 weeks earlier. No change in the Top 3, and the Eds, despite making downwards progress, are still costing points.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20150607/750140 (149 + 80)
Another non-mover at #3, but yet another drop in points as 'Chandelier' re-enters, albeit for the last time in a while. Jason Derulo's 'Want to Want Me' enters straight in at #1, with a second new entry in the Top 10 coming from Martin Garrix with 'Don't Look Down'. Just missing out at #11 was Mans Zelmerlow's 'Heroes', the last Eurovision song EVER to reach the Top 40 and a final new entry comes from Charles Hamilton & Rita Ora at #30 with 'New York Raining'.

http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/uk-top-40-singles-chart/20160603/750140 (164 + 45)
And everyone's favourite Drake-dominated chart year remains last. The top 5 remain the same, Clean Bandit's 'Tears' enters at #6 and Kungs' 'This Girl' climbs 19 places up to 10. Coldplay's 'Hymn For the Weekend', just as we hoped it would finally drop out, climbed from #40 to #32 as a live performance and a SeeB remix gave it a new lease of life, and three future hits enter the Top 40 in the shape of The Chainsmokers' 'Don't Let Me Down', Adele's 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover)' and OneRepublic's 'Wherever I Go' (okay, only two future hits then ) Two Biebers, a Major Lazer and a Shawn Mendes are the main reason the chart loses points.