Thought this might be an interesting question.

85-89 for me, when Kylie and Jason started to dominate.

 

I remember as a young lad winning the top 40 singles in a competition in The Sun, it was that that really kicked the obsession off for me.

85-89 for me, when Kylie and Jason started to dominate.

 

I remember as a young lad winning the top 40 singles in a competition in The Sun, it was that that really kicked the obsession off for me.

 

Which week's singles was it you won?

1995-1999, or circa October 1998 to be precise.

 

I loved Cher's Believe but didn't have a CD/cassette player until xmas '98 so could only hear it on the radio - and rather than sitting glued all day long to the radio on the offchance of hearing it I figured that it would definitely be in the chart and I could hear it there! Through listening to the chart I realised that I pretty much loved or at least liked almost every song in the top 40 each week (because late 1998 was amazing!) and it helped me to discover new music. Of course I don't discover new music in the charts anymore, but I've retained my interest in them. Even if I don't listen to the chart show I'll still view the top 100 singles/albums each week and look at the sales/various chart commentaries.

2008-2009. I basically found myself bored a lot on Sundays, so I started listening to the chart show. :lol:

I don't think there was any specific date really. I remember watching Top of the Pops and Live & Kicking with my parents/sisters as early as 1997, and also listened to random albums that my parents bought us (again, me and my sisters) like The Smurfs(!) and Spice Girls back in 1996 too, as well as some albums that my mum and dad owned themselves. But I was very young and my interest in music was pretty limited in that respect, so I guess I wasn't really a music fan as such back then.

 

My parents bought us some random chart compilations - Fresh Hits '98 and Now 40 - in mid-1998 and I listened to those a lot (until the tape for Now 40 ended up unwinding itself to become useless anyway!) which opened up my music taste quite a bit. I guess you could call that the point where I became a proper music fan as after that I started asking my parents to buy all the Now albums for me so I also got Now 41, Now 42 etc etc. In mid-1999 (I think it might have been May, but I can't be sure) we got Sky Digital television and I started to watch a lot of the music channels not long after that too.

 

As for the chart question, I first listened to a small bit of the chart in mid-1998 when I was randomly sitting about in my bedroom and for some reason decided to go flicking through the radio stations and managed to catch the end of the chart show. I think Dario G was a new entry that week or at least somewhere in the top 5. But it clearly didn't hook my attention that much as I pretty much forgot about it and never listened again for a few months. Around October/November 1998 I managed to catch the chart show again when I was sitting in the car waiting for my parents who had gone to do something or other and was a lot more interested this time. From early 1999 onwards I started listening every week and bought a pad to write down the charts. The two years after that was pretty much the peak of my obsession, and then from post-2001 as I grew a bit older I started to get a lot less obsessed although I still obviously retained it as an interest.

 

So yes, the short answer rather than a load of waffle: 1995-1999.

Edited July 23, 201113 yr by superbossanova

2008-2009. I basically found myself bored a lot on Sundays, so I started listening to the chart show. :lol:

This. But earlier. Late 2005, more likely early 2006 iirc. (basically when sales were at an all time low, I was clearly the kick the chart needed. :P)

 

Orson, Gnarls Barkley, Shakira, Lily Allen... What great #1's. :wub: Also, I swear this topic crops up all the time... :lol:

1992 was THE year for me and listening to Shakespears Sister knocking Wet Wet Wet (YUCK!) off the top! And saying there for 8 weeks! This was a better time when there was still an element of unpredictability about the charts. My interest started to dwindle around 2002/03 when dance music was on its way out (commercially) and was replaced by annoying R&B etc.

 

Nowadays, I couldn't even tell you who was number one and I think the charts are predominantly full of crap! The only time I hear chart music is at the gym and that is more than enough! I hear the odd track I like, but for every Chase & Status... there is a LMFAO, Cheryl Cole etc etc. When you're in your early teens, the charts are the benchmark for your music tastes but believe me, you'll one day listen to the charts and think it's all rubbish (if you don't, good for you, I'm just a grumpy old git that's now part of the 'back in the day' ilk!)

Edited July 23, 201113 yr by ScottyEm

I first started to follow the charts in 2009. In early 2009, I occasionally watched the chart on ChartShowTV, and then I found out that the OCC updated the chart on there website in the Summer, so I looked at this page every Monday. Then I remember hearing the chart on BBC Radio 1 the week before Christmas,, and since then I've listened to the chart every Sunday! :D

 

But I've always been a fan of pop music (Kylie, Madonna, Britney, Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, Take That, Robbie - because my mum is a massive fan and played him ALL the time!) :P

it was around early 2010 when I was checking out how Ellie was doing with Starry Eyed and so I would check the charts to see how she was getting on and then i just got more into it. I think what really kicked it off was looking at forum predictions on how Diana Vickers 'Once' would chart!

September 79, Police were #1 with Message In A Bottle, when I bought the single on 7inch vinyl for 50p I got a copy of the top 40 chart inside free, and my interest in the charts began.

 

Peter Powell used to rundown the chart on a Tues evening after 6pm, listening to the chart with a bit of a paper writing down the chart as the chart was revealed. I could go on, but I start waffling.

 

I feel I'm stuck on repeat, could have swore I created this topic 6 months ago or more. :unsure:

I occasionally listened to bits of the chart show from as early as 2005 but I only started following it closely from early 2009 (and I've only missed one chart show since then - the one which clashed with Reading Festival 2010)

First listened to music around 97/98 due to watching TOTP and listening to music in the car :P I think I begun really following charts around 99 though by listening to HIT40UK. Then the radio 1 message boards led me into reading about the charts :lol:

Edited July 23, 201113 yr by Christian

First listened to music around 97/98 due to watching TOTP and listening to music in the car :P I think I begun really following charts around 99 though by listening to HIT40UK. Then the radio 1 message boards led me into reading about the charts :lol:

You mean the Pepsi Chart - Hit40UK didn't exist in 1999 :kink:

 

Shocked we have as many as 10 pre-1990ers already!

Um, 2010. That's when I started following the charts, although I started paying real attention to music a bit before that.

2000-2001 when i always wanted to know who was in the top 10 and who was #1

I used to listen to the chart as early as 2003, but I really started following it, and popular music, in early 2006. The first single I ever bought though was Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem :lol:

obviously I watched top of the pops as a young child in the early 00s and sometimes found out what was number 1 (although I was only cheering on novelty hits and 00s cheese like Bob The Builder and S Club :lol:) I properly found out about the charts in 2006 and checked every week, I didn't actually listen yet, I listened to the 'A list' on Heart 106.2 (that was my local station) for about three months (which was terrible btw, in the end they were just twisting it to suit Heart :puke: ) so I switched to the chart when I found radio 1 on my personal radio and since then I've been addicted to charts ever since, and then I found this site around 2008 and joined a year later :P the first chart I listened to was when Westlife's The Rose was at number 1

My interest in the charts had been bubbling away from around 1986 but by 1988 that was when I really got into the charts.

1995 When Eternal were big. My fav group ever.

 

My first single purchace was Deuce- I need you. lol