Has there been any previous occasion where the singles chart has been so dominated by one genre, as urban currently does?

 

Currently 12 of the top 20...

Has there been any previous occasion where the singles chart has been so dominated by one genre, as urban currently does?

 

Currently 12 of the top 20...

 

Does Simon Cowell count as a genre? Only half-joking actually.

 

Norma

Probably not, but we're slowly turning more and more into the US as every chart's counted down. And seeing as the dominant genre there is urban, Amercianisation has led the same thing to happen here. And it's hardly unheard of now for the UK top 20 to be made up entirely of British and American artists, which is a real shame - taking this exact week 10 years ago to compare the genre/nationality breakdown;

 

1. Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby - Australia - Dance

2. Britney Spears - Oops!... I Did It Again - US - Pop

3. Tom Jones And Mousse T - Sex Bomb - UK/Germany - Dance

4. Armand Van Helden - Koochy - US - Dance

5. Oxide And Neutrino - Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) - UK - Garage

6. Watergate - Heart Of Asia - German/Turkish? - Dance

7. Paul Van Dyk Featuring Saint Etienne - Tell Me Why (The Riddle) - Germany/UK - Dance

8. Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch - US - Rock

9. Iron Maiden - The Wicker Man - UK - Rock

10. Fragma - Toca's Miracle - Germany - Dance

11. Sisqo - Thong Song - US - Urban

12. Shaft - Mambo Italiano - UK - Dance

13. Craig David - Fill Me In - UK - Pop/urban

14. Toni Braxton - He Wasn't Man Enough - US - Urban

15. Toploader - Achilles Heel - UK - Indie

16. Heather Small - Proud - UK - Pop

17. Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers - UK - Garage

18. The Bluetones - Autophilia - UK - Indie

19. Donell Jones - Shorty (Got Her Eyes On Me) - US - Urban

20. MJ Cole - Crazy Love - UK - Dance

 

Can't remember Watergate's nationality - was one of those two :lol: Either way, the top ten always featured artists from a range of different countries, that all had equal opportunities to do well thanks to radio playlisting - which now tends to stick to US and UK acts. And at least 5 or 6 different genres featured in the top 20 every week too! Mind you, if anything, the dominant genre is dance with 8 entries, and if you count Sweet Female Attitude and Oxide & Neutrino as dance then that's 10/20 - pretty much the same level of dominance that urban has now. Maybe in 10 years from now some other genre will be the in thing - just look back 5 years and the chart was absolutely filled with flash in the pan 'landfill indie' songs that spent 1 week in the chart before disappearing down 40 places the following week.

I wouldn't say we're turning into the USA at all, it's just the 'UK-defining genre' has shifted. It'll shift again in a few years.

 

And UK urban and US urban are different genres anyway, UK urban is more influenced by garage / dance / pop than US urban.

 

Since I'm off school sick again today, I think I'll do a full nationality and genre breakdown of the top 40. What else am I gonna do with my spare time? ;o

Edited May 19, 201015 yr by Bray

I'm not exactly the best person at defining genres but I've given it a shot :P

'Urban' describes both contemp. R&B and hip-hop/rap because they're quite similar.

 

1. Roll Deep feat. Jodie Connor - Good Times - UK - urban/dance

2. Jason Derülo - Ridin' Solo - US - urban

3. Usher feat. will.i.am - OMG - US - urban

4. Edward Maya feat. Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love - Romania/Russia - dance

5. Aggro Santos feat. Kimberly Wyatt - Candy - Brazil/US - urban/pop

6. Plan B - She Said - UK - soul/pop

7. Fyfe Dangerfield - She's Always A Woman - UK - MOR pop?

8. Alexandra Burke feat. Pitbull - All Night Long - UK/US - pop/urban

9. Glee Cast feat. Jonathan Groff - Total Eclipse Of The Heart - US - pop

10. Kelis - Acapella - US - dance

11. Taio Cruz feat. Ke$ha - Dirty Picture - UK/US - urban/dance

12. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight - US - electro-pop

13. Pendulum - Watercolour - Australia - drum & bass

14. Professor Green feat. Ed Drewett - I Need You Tonight - UK - urban

15. Chipmunk feat. Esmée Denters - Until You Were Gone - UK/Netherlands - urban/pop

16. Lady GaGa feat. Beyoncé - Telephone - US - electro-pop

17. Scouting For Girls - This Ain't A Love Song - UK - indie/pop

18. Diana Vickers - Once - UK - pop

19. Rihanna - Te Amo - Barbados - Latin

20. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart - US - urban

21. Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake - Carry Out - US - urban

22. Train - Hey, Soul Sister - US - pop

23. David Guetta feat. Kid Cudi - Memories - France/US - dance

24. Tinie Tempah - Pass Out - UK - urban/drum & bass

25. Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris - Baby - Canada/US - pop/urban/utter $h!te

26. Fugative - Crush - UK - urban/pop

27. Glee Cast feat. Jonathan Groff - Run Joey Run - US - pop

28. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now - US - country/pop

29. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally - US - pop

30. Rihanna - Rude Boy - Barbados - pop

31. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed - UK - pop

32. Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down - US - urban

33. Young Money feat. Lloyd - BedRock - US - urban

34. Biffy Clyro - Bubbles - UK - rock

35. Jason Derülo - In My Head - US - urban

36. Inna - Hot - Romania - dance

37. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment - US - pop

38. Owl City - Fireflies - US - pop

39. Lady GaGa - Bad Romance - US - electro-pop

40. Keane feat. K'naan - Stop For A Minute - UK/Somalia - rock/pop/urban?

 

Fyfe and Keane are difficult to give a genre to

 

NATIONALITY BREAKDOWN:

45% US only

22.5% UK only

15% other only

7.5% US & other

5% UK & US

5% UK & other

 

GENRE BREAKDOWN:

57.5% other only

22.5% urban/other

20% urban only

Edited May 19, 201015 yr by Bray

I wouldn't say we're turning into the USA at all, it's just the 'UK-defining genre' has shifted. It'll shift again in a few years.

 

And UK urban and US urban are different genres anyway, UK urban is more influenced by garage / dance / pop than US urban.

 

Since I'm off school sick again today, I think I'll do a full nationality and genre breakdown of the top 40. What else am I gonna do with my spare time? ;o

 

Admittedly not as much as New Zealand thankfully. Have you seen their charts recently - it's not unheard of to have 19/20 US songs in the top 20 there :lol: I'd have to leave the country if that happened here - I love American music but that's insane, I do like to see homegrown talent doing well. They should at least support some Australian music if not their own.

Admittedly not as much as New Zealand thankfully. Have you seen their charts recently - it's not unheard of to have 19/20 US songs in the top 20 there :lol: I'd have to leave the country if that happened here - I love American music but that's insane, I do like to see homegrown talent doing well. They should at least support some Australian music if not their own.

 

At present there's only 7 US only songs in the UK top 20 which I think is better than most 2010 weeks.

 

I don't think the 'US invasion' is that bad at the moment, it would be disastrous if we got down to NZ's state though :(

 

The one thing I'm slightly annoyed about is how rock/indie never does well any more. There's only one song in the top 40 that comes close to being a proper rock song (Bubbles) and while there's also Scouting For Girls (more pop than indie) and Keane (has urban elements and also more poppy than previous output) and a few rock-influenced pop/urban songs (In My Head and Once for example) there just isn't enough rock in the top 40 any more.

 

We should get a decent sized rock hit for the first time in quite a while this week thanks to Muse. :D

At present there's only 7 US only songs in the UK top 20 which I think is better than most 2010 weeks.

 

I don't think the 'US invasion' is that bad at the moment, it would be disastrous if we got down to NZ's state though :(

 

The one thing I'm slightly annoyed about is how rock/indie never does well any more. There's only one song in the top 40 that comes close to being a proper rock song (Bubbles) and while there's also Scouting For Girls (more pop than indie) and Keane (has urban elements and also more poppy than previous output) and a few rock-influenced pop/urban songs (In My Head and Once for example) there just isn't enough rock in the top 40 any more.

 

We should get a decent sized rock hit for the first time in quite a while this week thanks to Muse. :D

 

I echo that, we have to wait for a really big band to make a comeback to expect a big rock hit these days. Even then, it's not always guaranteed. Green Day fell by the wayside, Kasabian did well, even Muse only scraped the top 10 last year.

 

What can we expect this year? Coldplay, The Killers and Kings of Leon are as nailed on for a top 10 as you can get these days but they might not even release this year, the only confirmed comeback is Linkin Park who only spent one week in the top 10 with their best song :unsure:

I echo that, we have to wait for a really big band to make a comeback to expect a big rock hit these days. Even then, it's not always guaranteed. Green Day fell by the wayside, Kasabian did well, even Muse only scraped the top 10 last year.

 

What can we expect this year? Coldplay, The Killers and Kings of Leon are as nailed on for a top 10 as you can get these days but they might not even release this year, the only confirmed comeback is Linkin Park who only spent one week in the top 10 with their best song :unsure:

 

I think the new Linkin Park single could do fairly well, but then again 'New Divide' only made #19 so perhaps their popularity has decreased a bit...

 

The next singles from the three band you mentioned are pretty much guaranteed to go at least top 5 (I hope The Killers can finally score a #1, criminal that they haven't yet) but as you say they aren't confirmed to be coming back this year.

19. Rihanna - Te Amo - Barbados - Latin

 

Latin?? Surely this should be classified as Urban, it's hardly Latin lol

 

The one thing I'm slightly annoyed about is how rock/indie never does well any more. There's only one song in the top 40 that comes close to being a proper rock song (Bubbles) and while there's also Scouting For Girls (more pop than indie) and Keane (has urban elements and also more poppy than previous output) and a few rock-influenced pop/urban songs (In My Head and Once for example) there just isn't enough rock in the top 40 any more.

 

Yeah it sucks that there's no rock/indie in the charts these days. But I genuinely think that there aren't enough guitar bands making music as good as a few years ago so it's partly down to that.

If we look at the number-ones this year, so far, we've got:

 

Bad Romance - Pop

Replay - Ska/R&B

Fireflies - Pop

Everybody Hurts - Rock

In My Head - Rock/R&B

Pass Out - Hip Hop & Rap/Electronic

Telephone - Pop

This Ain't a Love Song - Rock

OMG - Pop/R&B

Once - Pop/Rock

Good Times - Hip Hop & Rap/Pop

Nothin' On You - Hip Hop & Rap/R&B

 

So yes, most of them are urban music, but the whole point of urban music is to be mainstream, so we'll probably find that as the tastes of the public change, urban music will also change.

Latin?? Surely this should be classified as Urban, it's hardly Latin lol

Yeah it sucks that there's no rock/indie in the charts these days. But I genuinely think that there aren't enough guitar bands making music as good as a few years ago so it's partly down to that.

 

I'm pretty sure that Te Amo is a Latin song.

 

But there's not reason why it can't be Latin and Urban. The thing with popular music, is that it's got to appeal to a wide variety of people, hence why most chart songs are in more than one genre. Like In My Head and Once. They've thrown in a bit of rock into the songs, to appeal to a slightly larger audience.

If we look at the number-ones this year, so far, we've got:

 

Bad Romance - Pop

Replay - Ska/R&B

Fireflies - Pop

Everybody Hurts - Rock

In My Head - Rock/R&B

Pass Out - Hip Hop & Rap/Electronic

Telephone - Pop

This Ain't a Love Song - Rock

OMG - Pop/R&B

Once - Pop/Rock

Good Times - Hip Hop & Rap/Pop

Nothin' On You - Hip Hop & Rap/R&B

 

So yes, most of them are urban music, but the whole point of urban music is to be mainstream, so we'll probably find that as the tastes of the public change, urban music will also change.

 

I think those two you've called 'rock' are using the genre rock very lightly.

 

EH is a sort of MOR-pop cover of a rock song (similar to Fyfe's SAaW)

TAALS is indie-pop

Edited May 19, 201015 yr by Bray

I think those two you've called 'rock' are using the genre rock very lightly.

 

EH is a sort of MOR-pop cover of a rock song (similar to Fyfe's SAaW)

TAALS is indie-pop

SFG are pop, pure and simple. Theres nothing INDIE about them, other than the fact their kid fans may think they're indie! :lol:

SFG are pop, pure and simple. Theres nothing INDIE about them, other than the fact their kid fans may think they're indie! :lol:

 

Even if you do think they're just pop, you have to admit their style is a lot more similar to indie than most other pop artists.

Even if you do think they're just pop, you have to admit their style is a lot more similar to indie than most other pop artists.

 

Only in that they play their own instruments, it's difficult to be pure pop when one of your members is a drummer.

Only in that they play their own instruments, it's difficult to be pure pop when one of your members is a drummer.

Well I disagree, it's thanks to the likes of Stock, Aitken and Watermen, that people think pop music can only be some idiots dancing about, miming to a backing track! The term is far too focused on that image nowadays!

I echo that, we have to wait for a really big band to make a comeback to expect a big rock hit these days. Even then, it's not always guaranteed. Green Day fell by the wayside, Kasabian did well, even Muse only scraped the top 10 last year.

 

What can we expect this year? Coldplay, The Killers and Kings of Leon are as nailed on for a top 10 as you can get these days but they might not even release this year, the only confirmed comeback is Linkin Park who only spent one week in the top 10 with their best song :unsure:

 

I think linkin park could get top 10- they are popular, New Divide was just off the Transformers soundtrack so it didnt really count as a proper comeback plus it didnt have a physical release

I think This Ain't a Love Song would be a "pop-rock" song. This link explains it well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_music#Pop_rock

Yeah it sucks that there's no rock/indie in the charts these days. But I genuinely think that there aren't enough guitar bands making music as good as a few years ago so it's partly down to that.

 

There are plenty of great guitar bands out there at the moment, it's just that those that are getting the mainstream attention just aren't in the right place, nor good enough to cross over. Just look at The Drums. All that mainstream attention, including an appearance on Johnathan Ross and they can't even get a single in the top 75. It's acts like those guys and The Pains of Being... that 10 years ago would've got places in the bottom of the UK top 40 and built up a fanbase through casual listeners to the chart show that aren't because of the slow turnover of tracks. For all the talk of Pavement being indie darlings, people do forget that they did grab a brace of top 40 hits.