Brister, you could have come up with something a bit more original, every year the same old question and the same old answers can be read ...

I did the poll to take the discussion out of the iTunes thread, which had descended into ppl whining about Olly being #1 and the X-Factor connection.

 

 

 

Yes it does.

 

I don't mind Olly Murs and I don't mind KP NOT going to #1, and I don't even mind that we'll have another one-weeker at #1 as I wanted Taio to stay there for the second week.

 

But I don't agree with gooddelta in some parts. Of course, Leon Jackson didn't get to #1 but the song was a complete borefest. But the thing is that that song wouldn't even get into the top-20, nevermind #3 if it wasn't to X-Factor. And this is all about: the X-Factor effect raises the peaks of the songs which definitely wouldn't get that high if it wasn't due to it.

 

And they're incredibly frontloaded which means they don't have strong songs which appeal to the wider audience other than fan-base which was genuinely generated by X-Factor. This year's examples:

JLS 'The Club is Alive', #1, spent 7 weeks in the top-40.

Diana Vickers 'Once', #1, spent 6 weeks in the top-40.

Jedward 'Under Pressure', #2, spent 4 weeks in the top-40.

 

Let's see how many weeks Olly will get...

 

And what about charity singles? They release another boring cover backing with 'it's all about charity' thing and get it to #1 which obviously slumps the weeks after.

 

I even don't mention the annoying Christmas #1 trend!

 

Of course, XF-related artists released some brilliant songs and sang it perfectly ('Bleeding Love', for example), but the longer X-Factor goes - the lower the music quality and their overall image falls.

Edited August 29, 201014 yr by Arrs

I'm not sure, I know that Black Eyed Peas were on the same show as Leona but did anyone really think that they would beat her to the #1 spot a week before?

 

Very good point. I'm pretty sure everyone thought 'Happy' had the #1 spot bagged. However, on the night Black Eyed Peas, imho, gave the better performance. Fergie completely outsang Leona Lewis.

 

15.11.09 Black Eyed Peas Meet Me Halfway 100,237

 

The biggest shock was seeing 'Meet Me Halfway' manage to sell over 100k that week - it had already been climbing up the charts for a few weeks by this point. It became Black Eyed Peas' best weekly sales figure for a #1 single beating the 94,308 copies 'Where Is The Love' sold in its first week of release in 2003.

The thing is, Meet Me Halfway would have had a MUCH better chart run if X Factor hadn't existed. It would've been number-one for more than one week. So whilst X Factor boosted Meet Me Halfway's sales, it hindered its chart run a lot.

 

And lets be honest, it's not only Meet Me Halfway, but other songs like Bad Romance, Russian Roulette, and others, which owe many of their sales to the X Factor.

 

Also, I hate hearing, time and time again, on this forum, how people apparently think songs that are front-loaded are bad. It's really frustrating. Using that logic, Numb/Encore is one of the best songs ever made. Don't get me wrong, I think it's amazing, but there are many better songs that had front-loaded sales.

Edited August 29, 201014 yr by Eric_Blob

Yes it does.

 

I don't mind Olly Murs and I don't mind KP NOT going to #1, and I don't even mind that we'll have another one-weeker at #1 as I wanted Taio to stay there for the second week.

 

But I don't agree with gooddelta in some parts. Of course, Leon Jackson didn't get to #1 but the song was a complete borefest. But the thing is that that song wouldn't even get into the top-20, nevermind #3 if it wasn't to X-Factor. And this is all about: the X-Factor effect raises the peaks of the songs which definitely wouldn't get that high if it wasn't due to it.

 

And they're incredibly frontloaded which means they don't have strong songs which appeal to the wider audience other than fan-base which was genuinely generated by X-Factor. This year's examples:

JLS 'The Club is Alive', #1, spent 7 weeks in the top-40.

Diana Vickers 'Once', #1, spent 6 weeks in the top-40.

Jedward 'Under Pressure', #2, spent 4 weeks in the top-40.

 

Let's see how many weeks Olly will get...

 

And what about charity singles? They release another boring cover backing with 'it's all about charity' thing and get it to #1 which obviously slumps the weeks after.

 

I even don't mention the annoying Christmas #1 trend!

 

Of course, XF-related artists released some brilliant songs and sang it perfectly ('Bleeding Love', for example), but the longer X-Factor goes - the lower the music quality and their overall image falls.

 

But doesn't that also apply to Mcfly, The Saturdays, Kylie etc who also tend to be quite front-loaded (Kylie is hard to say because she went tactical with All the Lovers) and they as yet have nothing to do with X Factor. What you're talking about is fanbases in general - which if they start doing the "Release the song as soon as it hits radio" might sort alot of this out.

 

Manipulation of a chart is nothing new. How else do you explain all of Westlife's #1s or even Spice Girls. Was Top of the Pops manipulating because it was only able to show a certain amount of artists each week.

 

There's talk of next years X Factor being moved so the winners single would be released in March 2012 and X Factor would start around October/November time - this is to coincide with X Factor starting out in America. But, if this happens, I'm very worried about how that would effect particularly album sales during christmas. Could they completely slump all together? Because its not just the artists that appear on X Factor that it does wonders for - but also for those who have their albums advertised during the ad breaks. Surely they are going to want 14+ million viewers knowing that their album is released on Monday, rather than 4 million.

 

Like it or not X Factor and Britian's Got Talent are the biggest shows on TV to pick up advertisers. In a time when the UK is bracing itself to go into a double-dip recession, advertisers will be looking at X Factor and ITV to advertise their products to ensure they are sold and that business keeps going (whatever it is) - because who knows whats going to happen

The thing is, Meet Me Halfway would have had a MUCH better chart run if X Factor hadn't existed. It would've been number-one for more than one week. So whilst X Factor boosted Meet Me Halfway's sales, it hindered its chart run a lot.

 

And lets be honest, it's not only Meet Me Halfway, but other songs like Bad Romance, Russian Roulette, and others, which owe many of their sales to the X Factor.

 

Also, I hate hearing, time and time again, on this forum, how people apparently think songs that are front-loaded are bad. It's really frustrating. Using that logic, Numb/Encore is one of the best songs ever made. Don't get me wrong, I think it's amazing, but there are many better songs that had front-loaded sales.

 

Considering Meet Me Halfway only went to #1 after its X Factor performance, how do we know it would have gone to #1 at all if X Factor didn't exist? It was the 3rd single from a very successful album, usually that doesn't tend to mean another #1 - certainly in the 4th Quarter, when there is so much competition around (even if you take out X Factor)

Yes it does.

 

I don't mind Olly Murs and I don't mind KP NOT going to #1, and I don't even mind that we'll have another one-weeker at #1 as I wanted Taio to stay there for the second week.

 

But I don't agree with gooddelta in some parts. Of course, Leon Jackson didn't get to #1 but the song was a complete borefest. But the thing is that that song wouldn't even get into the top-20, nevermind #3 if it wasn't to X-Factor. And this is all about: the X-Factor effect raises the peaks of the songs which definitely wouldn't get that high if it wasn't due to it.

 

And they're incredibly frontloaded which means they don't have strong songs which appeal to the wider audience other than fan-base which was genuinely generated by X-Factor. This year's examples:

JLS 'The Club is Alive', #1, spent 7 weeks in the top-40.

Diana Vickers 'Once', #1, spent 6 weeks in the top-40.

Jedward 'Under Pressure', #2, spent 4 weeks in the top-40.

 

Let's see how many weeks Olly will get...

 

And what about charity singles? They release another boring cover backing with 'it's all about charity' thing and get it to #1 which obviously slumps the weeks after.

 

I even don't mention the annoying Christmas #1 trend!

 

Of course, XF-related artists released some brilliant songs and sang it perfectly ('Bleeding Love', for example), but the longer X-Factor goes - the lower the music quality and their overall image falls.

 

There was certainly enough demand over it for it to have gone top 10 at least without X Factor I reckon. I do think that X Factor has the power to turn an obvious flop into a semi hit (Mariah - I Want To Know What Love Is), but nothing more than that. The majority of those that have gone top 5/10 off the back of the programme are well timed promotional opportunities with songs that would have done almost as well without it I'd say. Obviously some, like Meet Me Halfway, got a big boost thanks to it, but it would have been at least #2 without the show, so the song definitely already had huge support around it. What I'm saying is that I don't believe the show has ever made a hit out of a song that has no interest in it whatsoever. I'm using that Janet Jackson single from last year as an example, didn't even manage to shift 3,000 copies after being watched by 15 million people! Also the 'X Factor effect' only lasts for a few days before falling off again - if they then maintain their success for a prelonged period, it's because people are genuinely interested in the song i.e. Don't Stop Believin, Bleeding Love, Meet Me Halfway etc...

 

Those 3 quick falling X Factor singles are a small cross section of a huge load of singles that have had similar chart patterns this year, it's just the way the charts are this year I think. Alexandra and Leona's singles never fall out so quickly and they are both X Factor acts - just appealing to different types of music buyers.

It does annoy me sometimes when the xfactor dominates the charts in the way it does but to be honest, if they are promoting a song by your favourite artist, its usually a very good thing. I mean i wasn't complaning when Meet me halfway went to no1 after the BEP's amazing performance.

 

As for the contestants, yes it ruins the christmas number one but really, i think when they go onto releasing new music, they are in the same boat as everyone else. The point of the x-factor is that it finds the talent that the public are looking for - we can't exactly complain if the public then go onto buying the music they release aswell.

Edited August 29, 201014 yr by andyboiuk

XF-related songs always get a boost but the XF usually ruins 3-5 weeks + any charity or XMAS singles per year. It is not that huge. The club is alive was a terrible no1 and Jedward a terrible no2 but for me there are a lot of terrible songs ruining the charts that have nothing to do with XF.

I believe Olly's song is better than the singles released by Joe Alex or JLS so far. Leona was standing out from everyone (it was admittedly the peak of the XF mania) so I don't put her in the comparison. Also I believe Olly's song is a little better than Teenage Dream so I don't care who gets the no1 spot (it is going to be close anyway) But then again Taio's Dynamite (or YBC Americano) is worse than both songs and is already a no1 (although nobody seems to complain somehow and he is male too ;) ) thats why I say it is not always the XF that ruins the charts. The charity and christmas releases are more annoying because they have xtremely strong sales!

The most annoying chart story actually came from SuBo also reality TV related but not XF. I will vote for yes anyway...

For anyone to call "When You Believe" a borefest is embarrassing. Okay, I will go out on a limb and suggest that Scottish plonker's version was terrible, but the song itself is so beautiful and truly uplifting.

 

The X Factor argument is boring, is it ruining the charts? Yes. But most of the music released in the Charts is awful anyway. For the artists' point of view, The X Factor is a God send. One performance on the show means no needed promo during the next week, as it's likely to score a big hit (or big album, for Take That!).

 

The only thing that irritates me about The X Factor is the Xmas #1 scenario. It'd be okay if they selected a Christmas song.

The X-Factor is an amazing platform for artists to launch their singles/albums, but what irks me is that it's SyCo deciding who gets to appear, when their agenda is clearly unhealthy for musicians in general.

Well the Christmas single release by X Factor is ridiculous and spoils the Christmas Charts entirely. I hope this year there is another campaign to stop it.

The answer in one word:- No.

Simple as.

No. A #1 single is a #1 single...

 

Leon didn't get to #1 with his winners single, despite an X Factor performance. If it's an awful song, even X Factor can't help it that much. The song's that usually get a boost are those that would have been big anyway (BEP's/Take That/Westlife etc...). Janet Jackson and Mariah hardly benefited much from their performance slots. Olly's song is accessible daytime radio pop of the current Train/Mraz ilk so was always going to do big things coupled with his status.

 

The only thing it 'ruins' is the xmas #1 race - if they released the winners single in the first week of Jan or Feb, a la Pop Idol, I wouldn't have any problem whatsoever with it. But as Rage proved, if there is enough demand to stop the juggernaut, it can clearly happen. It's just a very very powerful promotional tool - I think it helps to dictate the charts, but it doesn't 'ruin' them.

 

I know it's a cliche, but...THIS.

 

 

Last year, yes, plenty of acts benefitted from X Factor exposure. But plenty DIDN'T at all. Mariah came out with a TURD of a song, and all the X Factor viewers in the world couldn't stop it from failing to even go top 15. Similarly, Shakira, Janet Jackson - they may aswell not have bothered, They were all proof that no matter how much exposure you get, if you don't have decent material behind you, you're stuffed anyway.

For me it's really funny (or rather hilarious) when X Factor plays certain songs on the show (not the ones that performed) and they're back in the charts again. It just shows us how daft the nation is.

The X-Factor is an amazing platform for artists to launch their singles/albums, but what irks me is that it's SyCo deciding who gets to appear, when their agenda is clearly unhealthy for musicians in general.

 

Exactly and the same acts appear on the show.

 

Last year on the final they had Alexandra and JLS twice! Pathetic.

No... They have just as much right to release music as anyone else, and most of them are just as talented as other chart acts.

I actually think its the artists that don't originally come from the show that get a greater boost from appearing.. I'm pretty sure that if Katy Perry and Olly Murs appeared in the same week, Katy would get to number 1.. but some people simply may not have heard the song yet/do not know it is being released

 

Last year Alex and JLS were already number 1 on Itunes before their performances and their leads then extended after their performances, so its not as if without X Factor they wouldn't have reached number 1 anyway

Without the performances Black Eyed Peas would not have been number 1 and Leona would have easily managed it.. extending the X Factor reign on the chart

 

Acts like Alex, JLS, Leona, Diana etc.. have had great exposure from the show, but they have all released singles away from the show (without a performance) and they have all been successful.. Whereas, acts like Eoghan Quigg have not done so.. Showing that not every X Factor act does well and if its a decent song people will like it and buy it

Exactly and the same acts appear on the show.

 

Last year on the final they had Alexandra and JLS twice! Pathetic.

JLS are not on Syco :P

 

I do though agree.. it was a bit boring having Robbie, Alexandra, JLS, Leona etc on twice

Although, I loved the Alex/JLS performance, so I didn't mind too much

 

& I guess it was to show how much of a success story the previous year was

I can't think of any other reason why they performed as both had already reached number 1 with their songs

There was certainly enough demand over it for it to have gone top 10 at least without X Factor I reckon. I do think that X Factor has the power to turn an obvious flop into a semi hit (Mariah - I Want To Know What Love Is), but nothing more than that. The majority of those that have gone top 5/10 off the back of the programme are well timed promotional opportunities with songs that would have done almost as well without it I'd say. Obviously some, like Meet Me Halfway, got a big boost thanks to it, but it would have been at least #2 without the show, so the song definitely already had huge support around it. What I'm saying is that I don't believe the show has ever made a hit out of a song that has no interest in it whatsoever. I'm using that Janet Jackson single from last year as an example, didn't even manage to shift 3,000 copies after being watched by 15 million people! Also the 'X Factor effect' only lasts for a few days before falling off again - if they then maintain their success for a prelonged period, it's because people are genuinely interested in the song i.e. Don't Stop Believin, Bleeding Love, Meet Me Halfway etc...

 

Those 3 quick falling X Factor singles are a small cross section of a huge load of singles that have had similar chart patterns this year, it's just the way the charts are this year I think. Alexandra and Leona's singles never fall out so quickly and they are both X Factor acts - just appealing to different types of music buyers.

Maybe I underestimated non-XF performance of Leon a bit, yes. but how he fell from the charts (3-10-20? etc.) proves how front-loaded he was and how much it was about the personality from XF and not the music quality. The likes of 'Meet Me Halfway' and 'Bad Romance' are certainly #1 material judging by their chart-runs but most probably BR and certainly MMH still couldn't get to #1 without X-Factor because of what? Because of the X-Factor. 'Happy' on its second week fell to freaking number 8 and it could be a 1-8 chart-run if it wasn't for BEPs performing the same day, while BEPs still would get an excellent chart-run with MMH but couldn't get their third #1 off E.N.D.

 

Those 3 quick falling singles, firstly, are the most shouting examples of this year (with only Dizzee - Dirtee Disco and two charity singles with whom again? Simon Cowell! - in team with them), and secondly, it's about the percentages. Were there other first singles from XF-related artists this year? If there weren't then the percentage of HIGHLY front-loadedness is 100%. Between the other artists it is MUCH lower. Maybe some of them are falling on their second week but stabilise later (The Wanted, Ne-Yo, Roll Deep) while looking at those three exampled chart-runs we see that they're falling like a satellites somehow caught by the Sun's gravitation power.

Why do people even watch X Factor? I dont get the appeal? Its just 12 second rate singers singing really bad cover versions. And its on Saturday nights when Im usually not in