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Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 05:26 PM

Obviously this is subjective, but I would say that this year has had a focus on global urban pop and global dance pop in the top 40 charts, and few tracks which are not poppy. That's not to say I didn't like some of the tracks but the variety was very little I think, the vast majority of tracks were dance pop of the future bass or tropical house type or urban pop of the Drake, Weeknd, Beiber or Fifth Harmony type (and most of the latter who got hits are big international acts). There were a couple of guitar based songs from 21 Pilots, Bastille and the 1975 but even those err on the poppy side of indie rock.

In terms of amount of new music it has been a terrible year I think for the charts, only 3 new entries per week (if that) on average.

So I do think it has been the worst year for the top 40 ever....I hope it improves next year in terms of speed and variety of music.

What do you think....

Posted by: twentyonemdh 7th November 2016, 05:33 PM

The standard of music has been very high this year - even if the variety isn't there. It's no way the worst year for the charts, 2010 was shite in terms of music.

Posted by: vidcapper 7th November 2016, 05:35 PM

Dreadfully slow turnover.

Posted by: pippa 7th November 2016, 05:37 PM

In large, i feel its been a dreadful year for music with so many people releasing the same sounding music, very little from this year will ever be making the radio in years to come.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 05:40 PM

I agree, 2010 was probably the worst year for chart music that I can remember. Curiously surrounded by 2009 and 2011, which were both fantastic. I think, if anything, 2016 has suffered from a lack of diversity but in terms of the actual music that has made it's way into the Top 40, I have to say, I haven't minded this year. What's telling to me is that in previous years there was always one Top 40 hit that stood out, to me, as being the best of the year (Rolling In The Deep, Somebody That I Used To Know, Pompeii, Budapest, King) whereas this year, I genuinely couldn't call it. I feel like there's been less "hits" but the one's that have been genuine hits have on the whole been very good and the only reason I've gone off some of the bigger ones is due to over saturation and overplay. One Dance, Cheap Thrills, I Took a Pill in Ibiza, This Is What You Came For, Love Yourself, This Girl, Lush Life exct. are all pretty solid songs in my view, but I need to not here any of them for a while before I can get back to fully appreciating them.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 05:45 PM

Well I suppose 2010 did have all those similar sounding EDM tracks but at last we had Stereo Love, Watercolour, Why Don't You, Hot, Let You Go and Seek Bromance for dance music which were distinct in style (and probably more I don't remember). Outside the dominant tropical house and future bass we have had much less this year.

For urban the early Tinie records in that year were different too to the usual urban pop in the chart.

In 2010 Make Me Wanna Die by Pretty Reckless also made the top 20, a pretty heavy rock song.

Probably more examples in 2010 of different genres making the charts.

Posted by: Hadji 7th November 2016, 05:47 PM

Yes it is the worst year for music so far. But next year will probably be worse

Posted by: Rob S~ 7th November 2016, 05:52 PM

I'm not going to disagree with you that it could be worse but that's really pessimistic to insinuate that before we've even got into the new year..

this year has been mixed for me, lots of usual stale movement in the first half of year however it's starting to pick up now with newer tracks beginning to push the deadwood down to some degree so it's not all bad. The majority of 2014 was really the pits when streaming first affecting the chart etc!

Posted by: Dobbo 7th November 2016, 05:52 PM

Not even close, this has been probably the best year since 2013, we haven't had to endure all that Ed Sheeran/Sam Smith/George Ezra crap for starters.

Posted by: andeeeeyhart 7th November 2016, 05:56 PM

I don't it's been bad musically, plus a lot of songs I've liked have debuted in the Top 10. It's just the painfully slow turnover that's let it down.

Posted by: UltraBasicWitch 7th November 2016, 05:58 PM

2010 and 2013 were worse for me!

This decade for chart music:
1. 2011
2. 2012
3. 2014
4. 2015
5. 2016
6. 2013
7. 2010

Posted by: JosephStyles 7th November 2016, 05:59 PM

I enjoy the majority of chart hits these days, so 2016 is definitely not the worst year for music quality-wise, 2010 is a good shout for the worst year in fairly recent times I think. The chart itself is very slow and not quite as interesting as it once was but the reasons for that are probably best debated in the streaming thread

Posted by: Danvember 7th November 2016, 06:04 PM

for me too, 2010 is the year I revisit the least out of this decade, there's something about that year.

I think we've had quite a good year, even if turnover has been slow at least we're not getting songs like Boring Out Loud and Die Of Me spending a whole year in the top 40 anymore.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 06:11 PM

There were more dance music tracks I liked this year though, Trouble, Tears and Cry than any of the last few years though as I really didn't like the minimal house trend from 2013 to 2015.

Next year will almost certainly see the end of tropical house but probably not future bass as a chart force. Now even Jonas Blue, one of the main tropical house producers in the charts has moved on to future bass with his new track.

There are signs that a 00s style funky house revival could come, especially with the success of Trouble (very 2006 in style) and also the popularity of the John Gibbons Would I Lie To You track, and also influential producers such as Oliver Heldens are producing this style of music at the minute. Alternatively there seems to a lot of nostalgia towards trance music in dance, it is possible it could come back at the end of next year in a European revival.

I can't see rock coming back into the charts yet though sadly

Next year will be better as tropical house will die off during the second half of the year replaced by something else, we shall see what it is.

Posted by: Hadji 7th November 2016, 06:22 PM

2016 is close to beating 1992's record for the least number ones. Although 1992 had only 12 number ones, at least there were more new entries back then

Posted by: Chez Wombat 7th November 2016, 06:26 PM

It's been the least diverse I can remember definitely, so on that call yes. Quality wise, I don't think it's that different to how it's been the last few years really, certain sounds have continued to dominate, it's just had a painfully slow turnover.

Posted by: slowdown73 7th November 2016, 06:35 PM

I haven't liked much music in the charts this year. The standard hasn't been as good and less new stuff about. Also, I think the Q4 release schedule is poor and not many new releases excite me. Perhaps it's a sign of getting older but I feel out of touch with current music now.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 06:37 PM

Just in order of my personal taste, years for chart music this decade:

1) 2012
2) 2011
3) 2013
4) 2015
5) 2016
6) 2014
7) 2010

Posted by: ML Hammer95 7th November 2016, 07:21 PM

Variety wise, it hasn't been a stellar year. In terms of the actual songs, I feel like last year had much more memorable chart smashes from my perspective, especially from UK artists with songs like In2, Freak Of The Week, Shut Up, Fester Skank, Shutdown etc.. all charting. This year, these moments have seemed fewer and most of the things I like stall outside the charts. If I were to rank all the years of the decade so far, it'd look something like:

1) 2013 (so much variety and when chart music became interesting again)
2) 2015 (so many favourites)
3) 2014 (bit dull at the top but the house music, the beginnings of the grime resurgence, DJ Mustard and Fuse ODG made up for it)
4) 2016 (some great moments but fairly average)
5) 2012 (similar to this year, was too much dance-pop but variety was slowly returning with Oliver Twist, Latch and Locked Out of Heaven a few examples)
6) 2011 (not much has aged well)
7) 2010 (Pass Out and Hold Yuh, after that I'm struggling. Guetta pop domination wasn't my thing)

Posted by: Ethan 7th November 2016, 07:24 PM

2016 has been a truly amazing year for music and the charts~

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 07:36 PM

2007 was a dreadful year too. That whole Fedde Le Grand style electro trend was dreadful. Fergie, Paolo Nutini or the two Mutya songs were not my thing either and that Gym Class Heroes version of Breakfast In America was dreadful imo too.

I suppsoe the Kate Nash and The Fray tracks were the standout ones from that year.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 07:43 PM

I was 14 in 2007, so I kind of find it hard to look at objectively, all those Cascada/T2/Freddie Le Grande tracks brings back so many nice and lovely memories for me. Nearly a decade on (man that's scary to say), I can see why a lot of 2007 probably does suck but for me, nostalgia kind of ends up trumping objective views of songs.

There were a few big standout hits for me in '07 though - Umbrella, Foundations, The Way I Are, Call the Shots, About You Now, Rule The World, Gimme More, Give It To Me, Say It Right and probably 10 to 15 others.

Posted by: Mart!n 7th November 2016, 07:44 PM

It really depends what type of music genre you really like, for me I'm into Indie/ Alternative music genre with the odd dance tracks, I think Indie/ Rock really struggle to get into the charts now, its just becoming boring for me. The #1 turnover has been rather slow this year, but we have Drake to blame for that, and lack of new music.

Posted by: mr_pmt 7th November 2016, 07:46 PM

The charts have been painful to follow for the most part, but they seem to sort of be getting a bit more fluid now. I'm hoping for next year they start to actually move more, if only by a little bit.

Musically overall it hasn't been brilliant, but there have been enough gems to keep me satisfied.

I don't really see anything ever topping 2008 as the worst year since I started following it all, but this is the closest we've been.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 07:54 PM

Of course from a dance perspective my favourites were 04 to 06 for dance (the disco house phase sparked by Lola's Theme was great). Looking back at 2002 it was brilliant for the big vocal trance anthems too, although I wasn't a dance fan at the time, I was a fan of early 00s pop, and the early 00s were the golden age for pop music, everything from Sugababes Right Round to Holly Valance's Kiss Kiss to Rachel Stevens' Sweet Dreams My LA Ex and Kelly Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone I remember fondly.

The dubstep and drum and bass phase in 2011 and 2012 was good too.

The whole progressive house pop phase (as exemplified by tracks like Beautiful People) of the early 10s I actually much prefer to the rather annoying sound effects future bass and overused tropical house of now.

Posted by: popchartfreak 7th November 2016, 08:04 PM

everyone has fave years for music, they tend to be age 13 to age 17 or a bit on either side, and suffer from bias (I'm no exception to it ). I've also long-been (40 years and counting) a defender of the British music charts as people grow older and have less interest in current music and moan about it.

That said, despite 2016 being a fab year for new music generally (I've had to increase my personal chart to 100), as everyone knows I'm VERY critical of the new streaming-dominated chart. It has wiped out all other older music fans from the charts (for no good reason other than they don't stream, or don't have time to stream), and made it a tedious unchanging repetitive dull mess. I'm not saying there arent great chart hits (there are) but they never go away even though people have long-ceased to buy them, and they are joined by samey-sounding Tropical House dancepop from a declining pool of successful chart acts.

Least number of genres ever, least-inclusive year ever, least-interesting year ever. At least until 2017...

Posted by: Taylor Jago 7th November 2016, 08:22 PM

This year has really been quite bad for music, although 2010 wasn't any better.

My ranking for the decade would look like this:

1) 2015
2) 2012
3) 2014
4) 2011
5) 2013
6) 2010
6) 2016

Posted by: BillyH 7th November 2016, 08:36 PM

I haven't enjoyed much from this year, but I'm 28 and music doesn't soundtrack my life as much as it did in my late teens-early twenties, 2007-2012 being pretty heavenly throughout for me.

Everyone will always have a positive attachment to the songs that soundtracked the best eras of their life, no matter their musical merit. I'd be a fool to say that every number 1 single in the late noughties/early tens was awesome, but when you're out with mates/drunk in a club/happily with your partner then everything is going to sound brilliant no matter what! If you're going through tough teenage times, or in the middle of a mid-late twenties quarter life crisis, then perhaps not so much is going to stand out. It would be wrong for me to sneer at Drake or James Arthur or whoever everyone's listening to these days as it's not my generation and I'm not in the right state of youthful mind to enjoy them.

For those attempting to find specific 'reasons' as to why they don't personally like current chart music - it's streaming's fault, it's Drake's fault etc - people have been doing this since the dawn of the charts, pinpointing some kind of current musical or purchasing trend as stopping 'real' or 'good' music from getting the positions they deserve. Had Buzzjack existed in the 1960s you'd get some members idolising The Beatles' every move and others who'd absolutely despise them for their overplayed ubiquity, dragging down the charts becoming a succession of identikit 'beat groups' all cashing in on the same sound and making everything the same. See also glam rock in the 70s, synthpop in the 80s, Eurodance in the 90s and 'indie landfill' a decade ago, things being so much better in the days before streaming/downloads/CDs/home taping/etc spoiled all the fun. Not saying anyone's wrong as all sounds and trends get exhausted eventually, but for every 20-30 something falling out of love for the charts, there's a kid or early teenager joining the boat. There are no 'good' or 'bad' songs - good music is everything you enjoy, bad something you don't.

Buzzjack in twenty years...

Posted by: AcerBen 7th November 2016, 08:40 PM

A difficult one, because I feel the quality of the music has improved dramatically over the last few months. I think the overall quality this year has been better than most of the 2010s. But I'm still desperate for more variety, more songs actually making the top 40 and more new artists breaking through.

Posted by: Danvember 7th November 2016, 08:45 PM

LOL at the thought of Shawn Mendes and Dua Lipa being cited as musical legends in the future

I imagine Mendes will in hindsight look great compared to whatever teen stars we get given in the future, now that is a truly scary thought.

Posted by: Dobbo 7th November 2016, 09:34 PM

2010 getting a lot of hate! Probably my fave year of the decade actually... SO many songs I adore from that year: Stereo Love, Watercolour, Take Over Control, I Need Air, One (Your Name), Pass Out, Frisky, Beautiful Stranger, Let The Sun Shine, Gold Dust, OMG, She Said, Billionaire, Hold Yuh, What's My Name, Wavin' Flag I really could go on

Very interested to see where music will go next year, and how quickly (if at all) the big dance acts from this year fade into relative irrelevance.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 7th November 2016, 09:40 PM

Ah yeah forgot about Gold Dust and What's My Name! I loved all the British rappers making pop songs too even if I don't return to them anymore. Plan B's album was great too, a real highlight of 2010.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 09:45 PM

No year is without their triumphs. 2010 had some great tracks in the Top 40 - Dancing On My Own is in my Top 10 songs of the whole decade - but a lot of the Top 40 was cluttered with repetitive, samey dance tunes that just wouldn't go away (or didn't seem too, in hindsight I know the charts of 2010 moved a lot faster)

I guess you could say the same for 2016 but for me the difference is that the repetitive, samey dance tunes in general sound a lot better. Jonas Blue, Cheat Codes, The Chainsmokers, DJ Snake, Major Lazer exct may all be slightly different flavours of the same thing but their music just sounds a lot better to my ears than the stuff we were getting in 2010.

The year also gave us 'The Time' by The Black Eyed Peas which is an easy contender for my least favourite song of all-time.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 09:48 PM

Stereo Love, now there was a tune

Posted by: N-S 7th November 2016, 09:49 PM

Normally the leap years have good reputation in being above-average in charts and music in general (for example, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2008), that makes 2016 even more disappointing in terms of chart music, although like it's been said 2010 is still the weakest year of the decade in music so far.

Personally, it looks a bit like 2004, which was good for music in general but rather terrible in chart terms, especially in terms of Number 1s and Number 2s.

Posted by: Iz~ 7th November 2016, 09:50 PM

I'm always a defender of 2010, there was a lot of quirky pop, all that dance Dobbo mentions and British acts that I actually LIKED around back then but that didn't really get replicated anywhere near as much in future years (particularly 2011, which was very dull on the whole), and while some of the 2010 chart hits are a bit crap, there is a charm about the more crap ones and none of them hung around for long enough to become insufferable.

2012 through to 2014 were great, I got really bored with 2015 overall despite a few good tracks and 2016... yeah, 2016 is where I've really stopped caring, there's the odd enjoyable track but very little that keeps me interested and far more that's uninteresting, bland RnB-lite/like music which is a sort of music I really have no time for. I've really found myself searching out away from popular music more than ever this year. I know this is partly due to me getting older but it really feels so much more drab than anything that came before right now, it's a combination of age and people making a genre popular that I just don't like.

Posted by: Dobbo 7th November 2016, 09:50 PM

Yeah, loved Stay Too Long too as well as all his stuff with Chase & Status from around that time!



Whilst I'm not denying that's far from a great song, it did keep Willow's Whip My Hair off #1 for which I am eternally grateful.

Posted by: Danvember 7th November 2016, 10:02 PM

I was probably the only person who enjoyed Whip My Hair and The Time then.

Although admittedly Whip got annoying after a few weeks and I don't revisit it now. It was a so laughably bad it's good kinda moment.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:02 PM

I forgot about One (Your Name): miss this sort of euphoric progressive house.

Yes 2005 and 2006 was when I was 13 and 14 so that probably explains why I like disco house so much

Everyone always says 2005 was terrible for dance music in the chart but the variety imo that did make the top 40 was much more than now. Everything from funky house and 80s remixes to eurotrance to progressive house, deep house, drum and bass, grime and tech house (Shot You Down).



2008 wasn't a great year for dance in the charts, comparitively few dance tracks made the top 40 that year (although those that did did do well).

2008 was excellent too for other forms of music Sex On Fire, Shock Of The Lightning and Sweet About Me are all fantastic.

2007 I feel is the worst year of the 00s for the top 40.

Posted by: JosephStyles 7th November 2016, 10:05 PM

See a lot of people give 2013 high praise for chart music it seems but when I think of the big hits, I realise chart-wise it really wasn't all that great for me. I hate Blurred Lines and Get Lucky, and Wake Me Up, La La La and Let Her Go got old quite quickly. A lot of my favourites in 2013 came from outside the chart or weren't particularly big (like J-Lo's Live It Up). 2014 was probably my favourite year for chart music in recent times!

Oh and I am definitely not here for 2007 hate, an amazing year for music! Foundations is my second favourite song of all-time, and its parent album Made of Bricks is my #1 album of all-time, so that alone puts it high up my list. Then we get hits from Avril Lavigne, Beyonce & Shakira, Girls Aloud, Mutya Buena, Rihanna (my favourite time to be a Rihanna fan in fact) and Sugababes among others...

Posted by: Danvember 7th November 2016, 10:05 PM

One (Your Name) is certainly a 2010 standout. Probably because it sounds more suited to the 2011-12 era which I liked so much and of course that song probably was a huge influence on the progressive house banger trend then.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 7th November 2016, 10:06 PM

I'd say there was a lot more R&B in the charts 2013-15 than this year... tropical house and dancehall have been the major influences this year.

Posted by: Danvember 7th November 2016, 10:07 PM

Well, Wake Me Up and Get Lucky are two of my favourite ever songs so for that alone I have to hold 2013 in high regard.

Posted by: mr_pmt 7th November 2016, 10:11 PM

2013 was a truly fantastic year I think. There was real variety, and the chart was interesting to follow in that it moved at just the right pace, enough was happening and the genuinely big hits really stood out as being so.

I'd give anything for a climate like that year again.

Posted by: Iz~ 7th November 2016, 10:12 PM

I noticed it in 2015 certainly. And to an extent that's continued over to 2016 with teen singers being influenced by the genre and of course Drake (hence I think the dancehall you describe is counting for a lot of what I think of as RnB). Tropical house dominating is a problem that feeds into the amorphous bland mess that is there when I think of 2016 chart music, I loved the genre in 2015 but it becoming so popular has diluted the talent pool for it immensely. A lot of dance, which is an area of popular music in the 2010s where I normally have a good foothold with tracks I love, has felt so tired, uninspired and one-note this year.

Posted by: JosephStyles 7th November 2016, 10:15 PM

That's a fair point, the climate was much better then. A good balance of long-runners but a quick enough turnover at the top.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:20 PM

I supppse tropical house is following the same pattern as dubstep, soon everyone wanted to include it in their tracks from Ellie Goulding (Figure 8) to LMFAO's Sorry For Party Rocking (a decent track ruined by trying to follow the dubstep craze at the end of the song)

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 10:20 PM

How do we all feel about 2009? Because it's genuinely one of my favourite years ever for chart music. Looking through the Top 40's of the year there's literally one or two songs that I adored entering every week. It was good for the Billboard charts as well if I recall. Just an all around solid year.

Posted by: gooddelta 7th November 2016, 10:28 PM

All of these years are way better than what only the charts suggest.

I think only three songs max in my end of year top 20 will have charted at all in the UK. On that front it has got a LOT better recently with Shout Out To My Ex, The Greatest and Rockabye.

There have been the odd few great songs smattered elsewhere throughout the year...Alan Walker's Faded, Sia's Cheap Thrills, Jonas Blue's Perfect Strangers, Zara Larsson's Lush Life and Craig David's hits spring to mind...but otherwise most chart stuff has just been 'quite good' for me. There's very little that's horrendous but there's also been very little that stands out particularly for me.

2010 and much of 2011 for the (UK) charts was the 'club banger' era and it was pretty crap overall but there was way more that I loved...Take That's The Flood, Lena's Satellite, Shakira's Waka Waka, Kylie's All The Lovers, Roll Deep's Green Light, Rihanna's What's My Name, Stromae's Alors On Danse...my favourites that year were either huge hits or European smashes that flopped here.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 7th November 2016, 10:30 PM

Yeah, songs like One Dance, Work, Controlla etc are heavily dancehall-influenced R&B records. Tropical house though needs to die down now, it's almost as bad as the Guetta/Calvin Harris/will.i.am period of dance-pop where it was everywhere and made everything sound so similar. That's why I put 2013 first as, particularly the first half of the year, there was so much variety and it seemed a breath of fresh air. The signs were there at the end of 2012, so I don't think we'll see something similar next year.

I want a return to the dance music that was influenced by house, drum & bass and garage, but I don't think that's likely now in the Spotify era as these types of releases were really aided by being held-back for months.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:30 PM

But then progressive house was being poppified too by 2011 by stuff like Chris Brown's Don't Wake Me Up and Ne Yo's Let Me Love You in 2012 and lots of other examples.

But yes I really miss euphoric progressive house like the early SHM hits.

Jamie 2009 I didnt really like, too much watered down grime pop from the likes of Chipmunk and R&B ballads in the chart like T Shirt (one of the worst songs ever imo) and Breathe Slow. The whole chart was urban pop dominated to the point of saturation and indie and dance suffered as a result.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:41 PM

Stuff like Galantis - Love On Me are going in the right direction, they are blending tropical house with more upbeat 00s style funky house, same with John Gibbons Would I Lie To You which has done reasonably well on itunes and spotify for a long time now.

Also Heldens' new song is very 00s funky house, so I am hoping the upbeat house music of the 00s can come back and speaking about the 00s hopefully some trance imfluenced tracks too.

Posted by: 🎄cqmerqn🎄 7th November 2016, 10:48 PM

This year was pretty bad..

Although I got new music from OneRepublic, Tove Lo and Ellie so all is good

Posted by: Chez Wombat 7th November 2016, 10:48 PM

2005/2006 is still the best year of the 00s by far! I'd kill for a number 1s list as diverse as those these days. Of the 10s, Majority of 2010/2011 (a few standouts aside, normally those in a different genre) has dated really badly, even if I do have uni memories attached to some songs! 2013 I found really great overall, if just cos the hits all still sound like modern classics and it was the last year I can remember where there was often genuinely unexpected surprises in the top 40 (like CHVRCHES & Haim, I doubt they'd get anywhere near these days). It's got gradually more watered down since (though I did love the deep house phase of 2014 <3) and has reached saturation point this year.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:53 PM

One of the first tropical house tunes of the modern form (Love Generation was probably the first). Of course Dario G's Sunchyme started it but that is very progressive house by todays tropical house standards

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 7th November 2016, 10:57 PM

It's interesting looking at the Sales only chart these days, because the older acts are still getting their on sales, it's just streaming letting them down.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 7th November 2016, 10:57 PM

I like 2005 and 2006 mostly for the dance music, the R&B had got a bit dull by then compared tp the dancier R&B in the early 00s. 2005 was great for the Gorillaz tracks too.

Posted by: UltraBasicWitch 7th November 2016, 11:08 PM

2009 is one of my favourites as well! Literally everything was incredible and especially the start of 2009 with the female domination of Gaga/Lily/Kelly/Taylor/Saturdays slayed *.*

Posted by: Andrew. 7th November 2016, 11:12 PM

It's quite hard tbh, some of the biggest songs of the year have been great but the whole tropical house thing is just getting tired and I've been getting a bit disillusioned with the chart as a whole recently with how slow it's been, although that isn't as bad now as it's been as some other's have said. So yeah, and no lmao.

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 11th November 2016, 07:23 PM

It would be interesting to know if there were technically more 'dance' songs in the charts in 2010, 2011 or 2000.

I am guessing 2000, the 2000 top 40 between the trance, hard and funky house and garage and the fast turnover probably had the most dance tracks of any year in the top 40.

Posted by: popchartfreak 11th November 2016, 08:00 PM

too right, Robbie top 20 this week (granted it's dull as dishwater and his first 2 tracks off the album were way better) and the 4th biggest selling album of the year on week 1 sales. Still big-ish, but excluded from the charts. That also applies to new acts who appeal to record buyers but not streamers. What are the chances that a record from buzzjack song contest would spend 4 or 5 months between 57 and 75? Yeah, pretty much. That's not due to it maintaining a level of popularity week after week, that's just SO unlikely, it's due to the passive chart listeners.

As I say, though, I never say any year is the worst year ever for MUSIC, it just may mean it's not charting. This year has had some fantastic new records, most of them flops or hitting on sales or albums.

As for the idea of Shawn Mendes being remembered, yes lol. Pleasant teen pop stars tend to end up being adored by middle-aged women and a few middle-aged gay men on the oldies circuit decades down the line, but not much beyond that. If they've got 3 or 4 years of hits behind them that is. One big hit and a couple of follow-up's is the end of the bill on a Noughties Nostalgia Package night out for 50-somethings

Posted by: DalekTurret32 11th November 2016, 11:08 PM

2016 was mixed for me.

Pros:

Some of the pop I liked
Most of the EDM I really liked (Clean Bandit, Martin Garrix, etc.)
It was great to see Christine And The Queens and Bastille reach the Top 40
1975 and TOP also reached the Top 40, and... they're OK tbh!
Good tributes to Bowie and Prince. Hope Leonard Cohen gets some charting hits next week!
Radiohead, Kings Of Leon, Jack Garratt, Catfish And The Bottlemen. Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Green Day and Red Hot Chilli Peppers were lucky to stay at least one week in the Top 100


Cons:

Not a really diverse year (Mostly pop and EDM [though I'm quite fond of the latter])
One Dance's long stay due to streaming stopped other tracks from reaching the top (Perfect Strangers, This Girl)
Some other cons which I can't put into words :/

Posted by: Snake In The Sno 11th November 2016, 11:41 PM

Certainly the Clean Bandit Tears track was the standout one of the year for me, a real mid 00s style disco influenced dance tune.

Offaiah's Trouble was excellent - nice Beatfreakz style eurodance vibes to it.

In pop Aint My Fault and Blow My Mind (Mwaw) are my faves.

In alternative/ rock yes the Bastille track was good to see going top 40 and Heathens by 21P was excellent too.

In urban it was sad not to see Kanye's retro sounding Fade top 40, especially given that the inferior imo Famous made top 40. Also in grime Lady Leshurr and Wiley's Where Are You Now is one of my favourite ever songs of the genre, sad not to see it top 40.

Posted by: SKOB 12th November 2016, 01:49 PM

I'm genuinely thankful that Black Eyed Peas ruled the world in 2009 but nobody was interested in their remake of Where Is the Love this year. There's progress.

(Also I don't think anyone can just say one calendar year is better than others because musical climate doesn't change with calendar. It's about your subjective experiences around the music)

Posted by: Davidson 12th November 2016, 02:06 PM

2016 a poor year for chart music? Yes

2016 a poor year for music in general? No way

Think 2016 is possibly my favourite year ever that I can remember for music. Unfortunately most of the great releases are coming in album form and the UK singles chart has been stuff filled with absolutely rubbish tropical house light-dance rubbish.

Posted by: Mountain Emperor 18th November 2016, 01:02 AM

Yes what is going on with tropical house is a bit like trance from later 2002 to early 2004 (with some exceptions), the genre is becoming tired, more poppy and more covers of old songs are appearing like the Nevada track and the recent Cheat Codes covers.

But it is also a bit like what happened with dubstep, a lot of pop artists started to infuse it into their music towards the end.

It might take a while to die off yet though, remember in 2010 to 2012, progressive house style EDM was everywhere with acts like Ne Yo, Chris Brown etc using it in their songs.

Posted by: shadow2009 18th November 2016, 01:53 AM

Surprised at the amount of anti-2010 posts.

Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Ke$ha, Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah, Plan B, Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds, Bruno Mars, B.O.B, Eminem, Pink, Leona Lewis, JLS, The Saturdays, The Script, Olly Murs, Alexandra Burke, Black Eyed Peas....all huge names releasing some of their best ever material, X-Factor had a HUGE impact on the charts that year, so much competitive releases and was the peak of so many popular and well known artists.

No constant unknown random DJ's at #1, no boring and depressing ballads by male singers - just constant pop music.

Posted by: Houdini 18th November 2016, 02:29 AM

I find it hard to understand how anyone can be so enthusiastic about the Official charts now. I don't even pay much attention to it anymore, it was probably months ago when I last read the midweeks or the sales reports once the final chart is published.

Posted by: Supercell 18th November 2016, 09:48 AM

Yes I have to agree this year has been terrible for both music and the charts. There has been a recent uptick in music diversity in recent weeks I'd argue but streaming has smoothed that out pretty efficiently in the charts with some fantastic songs just not managing to make any impact at all.

I think the industry just needs time to adjust to the new changes and when it does it may liven up a little bit. But we are overdue a new genre craze/theme as its just been EDM/Dance orientated for the past 5 years and its becoming very tired, although the tropical influenced stuff is a little more bearable. I think the 2009-2013 period was the best we'd had in a long while and most interesting due to singles sales shooting up, plus there was a little bit more variety.

Posted by: ScottyEm 19th November 2016, 11:24 PM

Since streaming has contributed to the charts, I've stopped following. The charts are to reflect what's popular but I no longer feel it does its job sufficiently. The bulk of people using Spotify are just playing a ready made playlist, not cherry picking. Hence why the charts work on a snail pace. Makes me wonder how NOW! still manage to rustle up three compilations a year.

Quality wise, the tunes are still there, just not necessarily in the charts. This whole half-arsed tropical house/pop sound is nauseating.

But, we're still a long way off from the horror of 2008.

Posted by: ScottyEm 19th November 2016, 11:26 PM

Bang on!

Posted by: Mountain Emperor 19th November 2016, 11:53 PM

2008 was good in terms if dance though, we even had a trance song, Raindrops by Sash! and Stunt making top 10 near the end of the year.

When You Touch Me by Freemasons and Trippin On Ypu by Cahill were excellent too as were the Basshunter tracks.

In pop Gabriella Cilmi's Sweet About Me is a great pop tune imo, I really liked it at the time how it had so many parts to it (a bit like Biology by Girls Aloud a few years before).

2010 wasn't the best year, but there were some excellent dance tunes like Stereo Love, Hot, Dirty Talk and Seek Bromance.

2012 was probably my favourite year this decade, all those progressive house tunes (Language, Million Voices, Icarus, and the track that is both my favourite David Guetta and favourite Sia song ever, She Wolf).

We even had a rock song make the charts in 2012, The Swarm by You Me At Six, one.of my favourite songs to make the chart this decade.

Posted by: Mountain Emperor 19th November 2016, 11:59 PM

The age of unknown DJs at number 1 has ended now anyway sadly, even though I didn't like deep house in 2013 or 2014 (it was a bit dull) at least unknown artists tended to do well.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 20th November 2016, 11:06 AM

Going to throw this out there and it may be an unpopular opinion - but I think 1988 was absolutely terrible for the UK charts. It was dominated by SAW who I think it's fair to say had released their best hits in the years prior - even Kylie was crap this year with the exception of 'Je Ne Sais Pas Pourqoi' - and a lot of the pop music just seems to embody the cheesier, lamer aspects of 80's pop. There were more than a few good songs in the Top 40, don't get me wrong, and Michael Jackson was dominating with the singles from 'Bad' which is my favourite album of his. I just don't know if a year dominated by Glenn Medeiros, Bros, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Cliff Richard, Billy Ocean, Jason Donavon and Milli Vanilli is any better than what we're getting in 2016.

Posted by: SKOB 20th November 2016, 12:12 PM

I love Debbie Gibson... but otherwise agree.. Late 80s wasn't very good

Posted by: 360Jupiter 20th November 2016, 01:16 PM

This is a great comment. Bang on.

Posted by: BillyH 20th November 2016, 02:10 PM

The year I was born, so one I'll always have a positive attachment to But I think you're missing most of the dance music there, '88 being the huge birth of house being a major impact in the UK charts after a handful of era-beginning singles in '87. Plus it was the peak of acts like the Pet Shop Boys and Erasure who made some of the greatest pop singles of all time, let alone the decade.

I'm a massive fan of what one writer brilliantly called the "Neighties" in general, that era circa 1988-1992 that weren't quite the Eighties and weren't quite the Nineties but somewhere in between! Equally my parents were born in the late 1960s and absolutely adore the fashion, sounds and culture of their earliest years, even though they were in nappies when it all happened...

Posted by: Danvember 20th November 2016, 02:40 PM

what would we call the 1997-2003 period when trance and eurodance were really doing things in the chart then? As well as the boyband/teen-pop craze.

Ninoughties? Nighties?

Posted by: Taylor Jago 20th November 2016, 03:41 PM

Well, it certainly wasn't as great as the previous year. Sure, there were memorable songs from that year, such as "I Should Be So Lucky", "Left To My Own Devices" and "One Moment In Time", but it does pale in comparaison to 1987, a year in which we had "Stand By Me" and "Reet Petite" have a second wind of success, as well as great songs like "La Isla Bonita", "It's A Sin", "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Never Gonna Give You Up", "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", "China In Your Hand", "Always On My Mind", "Fairytale Of New York", "Bad", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Alone", "With Or Without You" and "Faith" just to name a few.

1987 was an unusually great year in music, but the two years that followed weren't on par.

Posted by: mr_pmt 20th November 2016, 03:45 PM

My birth year, I arrived just in time!

Posted by: The Emperor 20th November 2016, 03:52 PM

The last time there was eurodance in the charts was 2014, albeit in the form of Big Room House, the likes of Special D - Come With Me and Bad by David Guetta and Showtek are quite similar.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 20th November 2016, 04:08 PM

Funnily enough, my birth year (1993), is the only year of that decade I'm not overly enamored with. I don't think 1993 is a bad year at all but it lacks a number of really stand out tunes like every other year of the 90's. Just looking at the list of top 10's from '93, the only one's I can safely say I adore are I'd Do Anything For Love, Dreams, I Have Nothing, Mr. Vain and Dreamlover.

Still, overall, there's more good than bad but just not as much good as the other 90's years.

Posted by: Jamie Barkley 20th November 2016, 04:12 PM

Best years:
1980s - 1984
1990s - 1998
2000s - 2006
2010s - 2012

Worst year's
1980s - 1988
1990s - 1993
2000s - 2008
2010s - 2010

I don't know enough pre-1980 to make any proper judgement though I'm lead to believe, by my parents and one uncle, that 1976 to 1979 was one of the beat era's for music ever.

Posted by: ThePensmith 21st November 2016, 10:08 AM

Ninoughties sounds like something you'd buy in Ann Summers. Just saying

As far as 2016 goes, I think it's all relative. I agree with whoever said that certain people remembering music from a given time in their lives directly correlating with life experiences they've enjoyed or endured.

I turned 27 this year. I've not listened to a full chart show broadcast on Radio 1 in 3 years - I occasionally listen to Vodafone Big Top 40 when the mood takes me (largely because Marvin Humes presents it). But I think it's actually been an alright year this year. I get most of my new music from listening to Radio 2 or looking at the album chart, and I've bought the most new albums I've bought in a long while this year.

Obviously album sales aren't much to write home about but for me, the album chart has been so much more interesting to watch this year, there's been so much variety, and without it I wouldn't have discovered some of the music I did. Like the Rick Astley album "50" has been one of my favourites this year, I loved that album. All Saints' new record was brilliant as well, and of course Olly Murs and Craig David's new albums too, and I love DNCE's stuff they've had out as well. And I'm pretty excited about the new Busted album next week.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 21st November 2016, 11:34 AM

2016 has seen a disappointing lack of Chris Brown... here's hoping 2017 will see more of him just like 2015 was. Heard a snippet of a song called 'Just As I Am' and that sounds like a hit.