i think the new rules have made the charts better becuase songs come and go from everywhre - they rise through cherry picking once albums are out, eg the 4th calvin harris single, biffy ,rihanna etc but i think the chart is now dominated by what is 'popular' at the moment so certain acts are guaranteed a top 20 hit even if the quality is terrible. i also have said this many times before but video airplay has too great an effect - just look at the new rihanna rising like mad now the videos out!!

 

also iagree with the points made above about us artists dominating is true - people go onto the us itunes chart and see whats top there and they buy it - then radio 1 does the same and playlists it sometimes ahead of local acts!!

i think the new rules have made the charts better becuase songs come and go from everywhre - they rise through cherry picking once albums are out, eg the 4th calvin harris single, biffy ,rihanna etc but i think the chart is now dominated by what is 'popular' at the moment so certain acts are guaranteed a top 20 hit even if the quality is terrible. i also have said this many times before but video airplay has too great an effect - just look at the new rihanna rising like mad now the videos out!!

 

also iagree with the points made above about us artists dominating is true - people go onto the us itunes chart and see whats top there and they buy it - then radio 1 does the same and playlists it sometimes ahead of local acts!!

 

This I agree with

 

a classic example- Cheryl Cole, it didnt matter if the song was bad, it would have sold well anyway because its her, the same goes for her second single and now her third!

 

JLS also are in this- their songs werent amazing, but their fans love them so they were always going to sell well

Edited February 12, 201015 yr by chart wizard

Bring back The Chart Show. :w00t:

 

I know we have Chart Show TV but back in the 90s - right up until the show finished in 1998 - it was a brilliant resource for new music and I even bought singles off the back of seeing the video on The Chart Show.

 

Now with downloads, they could easily have The Chart Show on a Saturday morning sometime around 10-11am for an hour with a repeat during the week (00:30am; for all insomniacs!!! :lol: ). No need for hopeless presenters - it'd be all about the music and could even be home to genuine video exclusives. They could even have those quick snapshot adverts during the commercial breaks. "This Saturday... ** quick five second clip ** ...the world exclusive play of etc...". Would certainly make some impact, preferably shown during Emmerdale/Corrie ad breaks. :lol:

 

Then the Chart Show top 10 could even be the midweek top 10 up until that very morning giving enough time for the producers to edit together the video countdown. They would also have the genre charts; dance, indie and rock. That would give more airtime to artists who might not otherwise appear in the singles top 10.

Agree about TOTP. Such a program is in much need now, but I think it should be more like a video chart countdown. Not a live act show.

 

A video chart countdown would just mirror whatever the singles chart is, so it would lead to more people buying the same songs and the chart would stay the same. There needs to be artists in there that don't get played as much on radio, so the charts are aimed at ALL ages.

 

For me, the biggest problem with the charts is the lack of age representation. Now more than ever it seems like the singles chart is decided by 12-year olds - which has always been the case to some extent, but to my eyes it seems to be getting worse. Somehow the older music buying public needs to be represented. I'm unsure of how this could be achieved... perhaps album sales could somehow be encorporated into the singles chart as that seems to attract a more mature buying audience. Just throwing out random ideas here. To be honest though it seems that while (for me) this is the biggest problem, it's also the problem that has the least chance of getting solved. :heehee:

 

It would be great if there was a show that could represent all ages and musical genres, but make it a condition that an artist is only allowed to be featured if they have a new single out or they have risen up the charts. That way it would combat against songs such as IGF and BR, which despite going DOWN the charts are played MORE on radio. Stations will no doubt continue to play what they are playing at present and the charts won't change that much, but it at least gives artists that do release new singles a chance to get noticed over those who are overplayed on radio.

Edited February 13, 201015 yr by Alcohol_Prone

the arguement is tho that if the older songs are good enough they will still be hits - eg kid rock getting to no1 in 2008,robbie still getting to no2 etc

A video chart countdown would just mirror whatever the singles chart is, so it would lead to more people buying the same songs and the chart would stay the same.

I don't mean play them all, but be selective, like play the new tracks, the highest climbers the #1 - and favour the british artists. The same selection as the TOTP used to do in the 1980's time, except not have the cost/logistics/hassle of doing it live, but the convience of playing the video.

The title of the topic say it all. It is. I mean any Cowell drivel goes to the top in frecking singles chart. But on a lighter note, I like to express how downloads have become a postive effect on the singles chart. The singles chart seems to be very diverse nowadays.

I like how the chart currently is compiled. It can be a bit annoying to see the likes of Chasing Cars sitting pretty in the Top 200 all year long, but if there's always a new 2,000 or so people who've not bought it yet then it is fair for that to be reflected.

 

A rule I used to hate was how a single would be removed from the Top 200 if it fell by a certain percentage, something like that? I remember some singles would fall out of the Top 200 from #70-ish, and then re-enter the Top 200 the following week? Was weird.

I like how the chart currently is compiled. It can be a bit annoying to see the likes of Chasing Cars sitting pretty in the Top 200 all year long, but if there's always a new 2,000 or so people who've not bought it yet then it is fair for that to be reflected.

 

A rule I used to hate was how a single would be removed from the Top 200 if it fell by a certain percentage, something like that? I remember some singles would fall out of the Top 200 from #70-ish, and then re-enter the Top 200 the following week? Was weird.

Yes, that was one of the rules that went went when downloads were incorporated into the singles chart. The rule used to be (taken from the OCC Chart Rules edition 9 from 2005):

 

Singles Chart: Positions 76-200

 

A single which, in the normal course of events, would appear between positions 76 and 200 of the combined Singles Chart is excluded if its sales have fallen for two or more consecutive weeks AND have fallen by more than 20% in the past week. Once excluded in this way, a record will only re-appear in the chart if its sales increase. Records excluded by this rule are shown on the printed chart report with their sales index and asterisks (***) in place of a chart position.

 

 

The above chart rule was first introduced in January 1983 when Gallup took over compiling the UK Singles chart. Another rule in that Chart Rules edition 9 is a rule that was introduced in 2003 to deal with singles hanging around the lower end of the top 75, and sometimes re-entering the top 40, because they were usually being sold off cheaply in bargain bins:

 

Sell Off Singles

 

If a single has previously achieved a top 40 position (and has spent at least one week outside the top 40) then subsequently achieves a week on week sales change of > 5% stronger than that of the total singles market it will be assumed to be a 'sell off' title and 'starred out' - not achieving a chart position. Once ‘starred out’ by this rule, the product will not receive a chart position for the following 6 weeks. At it's absolute discretion, OCC may choose to override this rule.

 

 

 

yeah.. i miss TOTP too, was great for mainstream and indy creds to get their due time to shine.

I actually agree on this... it seems quite hard for british acts to do well in the chart unless you are linked to X Factor...

TBH i have no problem with the charts, in fact this is the way it should of been since downloads were first done. Downloads represent the majority of sales into the chart, so if people love a song to death then its inevitable that its gonna spend a long time in there (aka sex on fire & chasing cars). What i have a problem with is the attention people pay only towards the top 40. As if their is just 40 songs to be aware of each week. we should have radio stations and tv programs paying attention to songs that fall between 41-100 in the chart also, as most of those artists need just as much spotlight.

 

The issue with advert songs entering the charts is funny. Im glad if a song gets played on tv and enters the chart (anthony newley - pure imagination, feist - 1234, room 5 - make luv) . It shows that people are paying attention to more media outlets to search for music.

 

X Factor bothers me terribly, it isnt an institution to promote new UK artists to the forefront with music that means something, its a machine to catapult people to hit number 1 as many times as they can, once they can no longer keep their sales or chart position (leon jackson) they are dropped. It takes away the idea that UK artists can have a small hit and then as they mature with experience and music style, become popular. Even though we have UK artists like leona and alexandra burke, they are signed to US records labels, in turn, the money not being put back in to the UK.

 

Please bring back TOTP, CD:UK (needs to change name as cd dont really sell much now) or a suitable program which is update with music listeners taste.

 

The chart will never be the way i want it, but it needs to be fair and support the UK artists just as much as other countries do to their own.

 

 

I remember years ago I was complaining to everyone who would listen that there were too many singles entering the top 40. Now that hardly anything enters the top 40, perhaps it is karma punishing me for my transgressions.

 

The problem with the chart at the moment for me is that there is very little rock and indie music entering to get me excited. In recent years I've been looking back at some of the artists who entered the bottom half of the charts and discovering exciting artists I had never really appreciated at the time. (Would I have become such a fan of Teenage Fanclub had I not noticed 'What You Do to Me' in a chart rundown I stumbled across? Some things we'll never know) Of course one of the reasons why some of these artists were able to do this was because of multi-formatting and the brilliant standard of b-sides meant that fans would buy singles from a band past the lead track from an album (case in point: Rocket From th Crypt's only top 40 single came courtesy of the multitude of b-sides spread over 3 different CD releases). This is one of the reasons why I believe that Biffy Clyro are one of the few bands that can almost guarantee a top 40 single with each of their releases; they're about the only group that release exciting, original b-sides with each release. Most other bands either give up after the first single and relegate further singles to the dreaded 'download only release.'

 

If you're a fan of pop, the charts are in the best state they've ever been, but as a rock/indie fan, it's becoming increasingly hard to stumble across surpising new music in the Sunday chart rundown (the last time that happened was when The Sunshine Underground hit #39 three years ago).