Owl City spent three weeks at the top, and is by a mile the best number 1 this year- and will probably still be remembered in ten years time

 

California Gurls is not a great track at all, not original in the slightest but it just sounds so summery- you couldnt imagine it wouldnt sell well and that makes it quite likeable, however, once summer is done and the British autumn season comes- CGs sales will tail off very quickly and ultimately, wont still be remembered in ten years time

 

Hmm..Fireflies is not that original either and will probably be one of those one hit wonders. If 'being remembered' means it will be mentioned in every list of one-hit wonders then I think you're right.

 

The difference is that Katy has already her jumpstart hits with 'I Kissed a Girl' and 'Hot N Cold'. If people forget CG, it's because it's not her career-defining song.

Edited July 2, 201015 yr by SKOB

Hmm..Fireflies is not that original either and will probably be one of those one hit wonders. If 'being remembered' means it will be mentioned in every list of one-hit wonders then I think you're right.

 

The difference is that Katy has already her jumpstart hits with 'I Kissed a Girl' and 'Hot N Cold'. If people forget CG, it's because it's not her career-defining song.

 

I agree with your second part

 

it is my opinion but Fireflies has also been very critically acclaimed, even on this forum, very little people criticise it and its the 2nd best selling single of the year so far behind a charity song- it also had a very good chart run, sales dont always reflect quality, but in this case it does, and I dont think theres been another song at number 1 that has quite matched its acclaim and quality

 

on originality- I dont think any of the number 1s this year have been remotely original, I think FF would be the most original

 

 

It's probably a reflection of both to be honest, the quality of all the number 1s this year has been very low compared with say 2007 or 2008 - but digital releases are again being held back to maximise first week sales.

 

What you end up with is a load of non-number 1s that only get there because of massive first week sales, and number 2s that sell more than enough to be number 1 missing out (some might say unfairly).

 

The best number 1s this year CLIMBED to the top and spent more than just 1 week there. All the crap debuted at number 1 and then fell like a brick.

This year isn't bad at all. It suffers a lot, from following 2009, which was probably the best year for music in my life, but this year is getting much better. The worst bit was February-April, where the music was quite appalling, but the past couple of months have been great. If we can keep this up for the rest of the year, I think we can have another awesome year for music.

 

I think the reason that we have shorter number-ones is because the music is so good, that songs move quickly down the charts, as the following week, there's yet again, dozens of new tracks people want to buy.

 

Only joking. :lol: The shorter number-one runs have nothing to do with the quality of music (although I know lots of people would love to claim it's because the music is worse). It's all to do with the market at the moment. Many advertising campaigns are now leading to more and more people buying a song on its first week of release, rather than gradually buying it over the few months after release. Therefore, songs that don't sell so well, can have higher peaks, if they get 50% of their sales in their first week.

Go back to 1997 - 2000 - a period littered with 1 weekers but still had some amazing music at number 1 that we wont see the like of again.

 

It's not always an indication of quality.

 

 

Tori Amos "Professional Widow" (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix) 12 January 1997 1

White Town "Your Woman" 19 January 1997 1

Blur "Beetlebum" 26 January 1997 1

U2 "Discotheque" 9 February 1997 1

No Doubt "Don't Speak" 16 February 1997

The Chemical Brothers "Block Rockin' Beats" 30 March 1997 1

The Verve "The Drugs Don't Work" 7 September 1997 1

Various artists "Perfect Day" 23 November 1997 2

 

All Saints "Never Ever" 11 January 1998 1

Usher "You Make Me Wanna" 25 January 1998 1

Cornershop "Brimful of Asha (The Norman Cook Remix)" 22 February 1998 1

Madonna "Frozen" 1 March 1998 1

Aqua "Turn Back Time" 10 May 1998 1

Spice Girls "Viva Forever" 26 July 1998 2

Manic Street Preachers "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" 30 August 1998 1

 

 

Fatboy Slim "Praise You" 10 January 1999 1

The Offspring "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" 24 January 1999 1

Armand Van Helden "U Don't Know Me" 31 January 1999 1

Blondie "Maria" 7 February 1999 1

Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away" 14 February 1999 1

Britney Spears "Baby One More Time" 21 February 1999 2

Eiffel 65 "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" 19 September 1999 3

Christina Aguilera "Genie in a Bottle" 10 October 1999 2

Robbie Williams "She's the One" / "It's Only Us" 14 November 1999 1

Wamdue Project "King of My Castle" 21 November 1999 1

 

 

It's obviously nothing to do with good or bad quality.

It's just the way the market is at the moment, and I prefer it this way.

I agree with those saying it is more the changing market rather than quality of song. For one thing a lot of these 1 week #1's are dropping like bombs out of the charts after getting high sales in 1 week, not to mention the majority of #1's this year have been average/awful.

 

I personally don't like this trend at all, I much preferred it when we were getting lots of 4+ week runs at the top (2008 as 1 example was a great year for #1's IMO). With all these 1 week #1's it feels like the achievement of getting a #1 is lessened; maybe that is just me.

Do rap & hip-hop now count as different genres, then? :P

 

You sound like a broken record! You only need to look at this year's #1s to see your argument is bollocks, for the sake of argument I've taken the following genres off Wikipedia:

 

Bad Romance - Dance-Pop

Replay - R&B

Fireflies - Synthpop

Everybody Hurts - Pop

In My Head - Electro-Rock (wtf?)

Pass Out - Grime

Telephone - Electropop

This Ain't a Love Song - Indie-Pop

OMG - Synthpop (maybe not)

Once - Pop-Rock

Good Times - Electro-Hop

Nothin' On You - Alternative Hip-Hop

Dirtee Disco - Disco House

Gettin' Over You - Funky House :lol:

Shout - Electropop (not sure that's entirely accurate)

California Gurls - Dance-Pop

 

The only trends there are that pop has been largly dominant in one form or another (no surprise there) and dance, followed by R&B, Hip-Hop and lastly Rock have been the only other genres with much of a foothold and the last one is only tenuous given the odd categorisation of Jason DeRulo.

 

I think that tells us that we shouldn't go to Wikipedia for genre information.

Imo:

 

Bad Romance - Pop

Replay - R&B

Fireflies - Pop

Everybody Hurts - Pop

In My Head - Pop/R&B

Pass Out - Urban

Telephone - Pop

This Ain't a Love Song - Indie/Pop

OMG - R&B

Once - Pop

Good Times - Urban/Dance

Nothin' On You - Urban/R&B

Dirtee Disco - Urban/Dance

Gettin' Over You - Dance

Shout - whatever

California Gurls - Pop

 

Pop far and away the biggest, although the urban genres, including R&B, are just as popular.

Bad Romance: Electro-pop

Replay: Island pop (it's not R&B, as Iyaz has stated himself, and he hates it being called R&B, so ya know :P)

Fireflies: Synthpop

Everybody Hurts: MOR pop

In My Head: Electro-pop with R&B elements + VERY minor rock influence

Pass Out: British hip-hop with bits of drum & bass (the end to be precise)

Telephone: Electro-pop

This Ain't A Love Song: Pop with indie elements

OMG: R&B

Once: Pop + VERY minor rock influence

Good Times: British hip-hop/electro

Nothin' On You: Hip-pop (is that a word? very pop sounding hip-hop)

Dirtee Disco: British hip-hop/disco

Gettin' Over You: Pop/house

Shout: Football chant/pop/British hip-hop (it doesn't really have a genre, as it's not really a song as such)

California Gurls: Pop

 

That's what I would classify them as. Pop and the various types of dance are indeed the main genres running through the list.

Edited July 2, 201015 yr by Bray

Full marks Dré. Gold star for you.

Imo:

 

Bad Romance - Pop

Replay - R&B

Fireflies - Pop

Everybody Hurts - Pop

In My Head - Pop/R&B

Pass Out - Urban

Telephone - Pop

This Ain't a Love Song - Indie/Pop

OMG - R&B

Once - Pop

Good Times - Urban/Dance

Nothin' On You - Urban/R&B

Dirtee Disco - Urban/Dance

Gettin' Over You - Dance

Shout - whatever

California Gurls - Pop

 

That's far beter as a generalisation, I think Wikipedia tries too hard. Wtf is funky house anyway? :lol:

 

There's no way that Fireflies is synth pop.

Thank you.

That's far beter as a generalisation, I think Wikipedia tries too hard. Wtf is funky house anyway? :lol:

 

Yeah they complicate too much, there's hundreds of genres, if we were gonna be too specific we'd have no concensus for any song categorization.

There's no way that Fireflies is synth pop.

 

It's pop with synths as its main instrument. Those're the exact qualifications for synthpop, no?

Edited July 2, 201015 yr by Bray

I maintain we need a geuine rock #1 and a more solidly dance #1 before we can say that genre list is anywhere near balanced. Most of the dance stuff has been pretty much pop where as with Tinie Tempah you've got a genuine hip-hop #1 (grime if you're being specific) that wasn't particularly pop-orientated.

No - I'm afraid not. Synth-pop is close to electro pop. Think La Roux, Ladytron, Erasue, PSB - a definite 80s influence. Fireflies is more like electronic pop. There's subtle differences. I would term it just pop.

 

 

I maintain we need a geuine rock #1 and a more solidly dance #1 before we can say that genre list is anywhere near balanced. Most of the dance stuff has been pretty much pop where as with Tinie Tempah you've got a genuine hip-hop #1 (grime if you're being specific) that wasn't particularly pop-orientated.

 

Pray for Linkin Park or a comeback by KoL/Coldplay I guess? :lol: I doubt we'll get a rock #1 this year.

 

I'd call WNSA quite a solid dance song, and that has a *fair* shot at #1 (probably not if it is, as rumoured, released in direct competition with JLS next week)