Been pondering this!

Total sales, though this can somehow be relative to the total weeks in the chart

First week sales and chart peak.

First week sales and chart peak.

Chart peak? :unsure: :unsure:

The criteria for the chart positions changes every week though... for example last week Robbie sold almost 300k albums but only reached #2, he'd have been #1 any other week of the year for example the week when Bruce Sprinsteen sold 26k to get #1 earlier this year.

Edited November 18, 200915 yr by Simplyobsessed

Slowness in chart position decline...longevity usually says something about the single

I voted for combination. More factors we take into account - more accurate result we receive in the end. Total sales and chart peak IMO are the most powerful.

total sales usually is a good indicator

 

 

I would say total sales.

 

I would also say the radio airplay chart aswell.

Sales are never an indicator of quality.

I would also say the radio airplay chart aswell.

 

Absoluely not.

Of course the sales might not be an indicator of quality, but what is? Quality of music is one of the most subjective issues in society: for you the song may be above everything in the world while for me the same song might be only average sound.

 

I think in this topic we talk about the quality of the song as the quality of its success given by the buying public in the considered region.

Edited November 18, 200915 yr by Arrs

Everything except peak sales (this is very rarely a different figure to first week sales anyway) and slowness in chart position decline (a single that went 1-12 is more successful than one that went 11-12 for example imo)

First-week sales & total sales. If a song is amazing on first listen, and is like the best song ever, people will want to buy it as soon as it's released. Sometimes, a song is a grower, but once it's grown on you, it's then the best song after, so people might not buy it straight away, so total sales also need to come into account.

 

So even if you don't agree, "Poker Face" is the best song of 2009 in the UK, as it's sold the most. But "Poker Face" I'd say is a grower, I didn't like it straight away, and it didn't debut at #1. You could say that "Fight For This Love" is the most instant song as it has the highest first-week sales.

So even if you don't agree, "Poker Face" is the best song of 2009 in the UK, as it's sold the most. But "Poker Face" I'd say is a grower, I didn't like it straight away, and it didn't debut at #1. You could say that "Fight For This Love" is the most instant song as it has the highest first-week sales.

 

The only flaw in your argument is that while PF debuted at #30, that was at a time where it had NO airplay at all. That means the casual listener had not heard it, and it was selling based purely on people knowing it was the second single worldwide.

I'm not sure, it's gotta be a mix between total sales and longevity.

 

Sales are good, but have to be taken into context. For example, I believe Mariah's biggest hit (sales wise) this decade is "Against All Odds" with Westlife, but I'd argue that her actual biggest hit here was "We Belong Together" this decade, it's just that 2005 was an ridiculously low sales period, while 2000 was quite high.

 

As for longevity, it's basically common sense that a #1 that spends 25 weeks in the top 75 was a bigger hit than one that spends 6 weeks there.

Total sales I would say are the most important.

Then the peak and longevity would go hand in hand.

I disagree about first week sales (and to a lesser against) total sales as they can be influenced by artificial spikes from media events or TV shows such as The X-Factor.

 

A truer reflection of how great a song is surely the number of weeks it spends on the chart.

 

Take the 1990s surely the likes of

 

Oasis - Wonderwall{2}-3-4-5-8-11-10-7-6-5-6-9-18-22-25-32-30-43-59-67-60R(22)-74-71-75-72-36R(8)-52-60-

61-63-68-61-50-62->34

 

&

 

Robbie Williams - Angels 7-5-7-6-7-6-9-7-6-7-{4}-9-12-15-21-23-32-43-58-71-57R(36)-57-62-73-75R(5)-75R(3)-

71R(41)->27

 

are more representatitive to the decade than the far far bigger selling:

 

Robson Green And Jerome Flynn - Unchained Melody/White Cliffs Of Dover {1}-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-4-7-11-21-26-32-46-69-63R(9)->17

 

&

 

Elton John - Candle In The Wind/Something About The Way You Look {1}-1-1-1-1-3-3-4-5-7-11-10-11-10-11-10-13-21-32-39-53-64-60-67->24

 

 

Moving on to this decade I would say:

 

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars 25-15-13-10-12-7-7-{6}-8-8-17-16-14-20-23-27-26-9R(8)-21-28-32-24-23-12-21-27-31-29-

28-35-47-48-48-47-45-51-48-51-54-54-51-59-65-60-44-54-56-56-54-56-52-61-56-66-67-75-

65-68-71-68-66-60-49-55-68-50R(4)-58-68-61-58-53-53-59-67-75-71-65-75-69R(14)-71-71-

75-75-74R(2)-75-49R(7)-59-64-72-65R(4)-69-63R(50)->92

 

and

 

Take That - Rule The World

46-{2}-2-2-2-3-4-5-7-7-5-5-9-14-17-19-26-30-24-20-27-32-33-39-46-50-59-68-69-66-70R(8)-

61-65-65-67-71-65-61-66-55-58-34-66-41-57-68-71R(2)-67-55-46-27-40-45-48-49-45-59-63-

69-71-69-71-72-73-62R(2)-68-73R(12)-67->68

 

are surely more representative of greatness and quality than the far bigger selling:

 

Will Young - Anything Is Possible/Evergreen {1}-1-1-2-4-8-12-19-20-21-32-42-40-49-54-61->16

 

and

 

Shayne Ward - That's My Goal{1}-1-1-1-5-6-7-10-12-22-33-42-57-44-62-67-36-34-49-62-75->21

 

Chart runs from Polyhex

I think most tracks from reality TV artists can be discounted (e.g. the winner's song), and would say that total sales (minus the first week) is probably the best indication. Next would be how many copies the track is selling five years on, and whether or not it still gets occasional airplay in the decade after release.

Well for someone to say chart peak and first week sales i find really wierd because those are the two which would be at the bottom of my list.

 

I'd say total sales because even if a song peaked at #5 it could have peaked at #1 in a different month, so that doesnt count, whereas total sales will be the same.

 

Good question :)

Total Sales, Chert Run and peak