I've just been searching through the sales archives on Haven, and noticed that on the week commencing 12 June 2005, only ONE copy seperated Amerie's 1 Thing (#5) and James Blunt's Your Beautiful...edit: That was before I discovered how blind I am and got my numbers mixed up (the gap was actually 361 copies)

 

I don't think I've seen a gap that is only single figures before! So I was wondering what other examples of small gaps sepertating songs or albums there were. Obviously, there's the one we've all heard when Kate Nash's Foundations was only 16 copies behind the number one.

 

Also, what about the smallest gap between a number of songs or albums? For example, early this year in the albums, only 1,527 copies seperated #1 (Adele's 21) and #4 (Enter Shikari's A Flash Flood of Colour):

 

20978 Adele

20722 Ed Sheeran

19589 Coldplay

19451 Enter Shikari

Edited April 8, 201213 yr by liamk97

Oh crap! I should have gone to Specsavers - it's a gap of 361, not 1 copy! :blush:

It's 361 copies in the one you've quoted... (edit, but you've realised anyway!)

 

I do recall chart positions being tied before. I have a feeling 'One In Ten' by 808 State was tied with something one week at about #19 in the charts.

'Higher' (The Saturdays) and 'Check It Out' (Will.I.Am/Nicki) were seperated by less than 100 copies, i'm sure.

It's 361 copies in the one you've quoted... (edit, but you've realised anyway!)

 

I do recall chart positions being tied before. I have a feeling 'One In Ten' by 808 State was tied with something one week at about #19 in the charts.

Yes way back in Jan 93- that's some memory! :D

'Higher' (The Saturdays) and 'Check It Out' (Will.I.Am/Nicki) were seperated by less than 100 copies, i'm sure.

 

Just checked, and it was only 58 copies!

Yes way back in Jan 93- that's some memory! :D

That sums me up... rubbish at remembering birthdays and other important things but I can recall songs that tied in sales at #19 of all positions.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm almost certain that there was a week in 2005 where Mylo's Doctor Pressure and Daniel Powter's Bad Day sold the same amount of copies at #4 and #5.

 

The same week, by some fluke, the #1 and #2 compilations sold the same amount too, I can't remember how it was worked out which one got the #1.

I do recall chart positions being tied before. I have a feeling 'One In Ten' by 808 State was tied with something one week at about #19 in the charts.

 

That's the kind of obscure chart fact that even I wouldn't have been able to recall - Dandy* a bigger chart geek than Bré? :kink:

As far as albums go the nearest I know of is just 4 copies seperating the top 2. That happened W/E 18/4/98 when Celine Dion beat Robbie Williams and also on 18/04/09 when Lady Gaga beat The Doves to the top by the same margin.

That's the kind of obscure chart fact that even I wouldn't have been able to recall - Dandy* a bigger chart geek than Bré? :kink:

I used to listen every week back in the 90s - I was a HUGE chart geek (and kinda proud of it!)

I think when The Beatles' songs came out there were two of them in the top 120 that had the same number of sales. Of course tied sales happen all the time but it's got to be pretty rare for it to happen with 2 songs by the same artist that high up.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm almost certain that there was a week in 2005 where Mylo's Doctor Pressure and Daniel Powter's Bad Day sold the same amount of copies at #4 and #5.

 

The same week, by some fluke, the #1 and #2 compilations sold the same amount too, I can't remember how it was worked out which one got the #1.

 

Correct on both!

 

17257 Mylo (4)

17257 Daniel Powter (5)

 

20249 Dancy Party

20249 Massive R&B Volume 2

 

And this is what was put on the MusicWeek report:

 

It's very rare for two singles ranked so high in the chart to have identical sales. The tie-breaker used to be that the record making the biggest gain (or smallest fall) in sales week-on-week would be ranked higher, which, were it still in operation, would actually mean Powter being number four instead of Mylo. I have to admit I'm not sure what determines the ranking these days - probably fractional sales, which I'll explain next week if necessary - but it certainly worked against Powter.

Edited April 8, 201213 yr by liamk97

It's 361 copies in the one you've quoted... (edit, but you've realised anyway!)

 

I do recall chart positions being tied before. I have a feeling 'One In Ten' by 808 State was tied with something one week at about #19 in the charts.

That was the chart dated 09/01/93, both "One In Ten" by 808 State / UB40 and "The Devil You Know" by Jesus Jones were tied at number 19. Then unbelievably the following week (16/01/93) another two records tied at number 19 - "Out Of Space" by the Prodigy and "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" by Lisa Stansfield.

 

Mercy by Duffy beat Better in Time by Leona by 450 odd copies

 

Correct on both!

 

17257 Mylo (4)

17257 Daniel Powter (5)

 

20249 Dancy Party

20249 Massive R&B Volume 2

 

And this is what was put on the MusicWeek report:

 

It's very rare for two singles ranked so high in the chart to have identical sales. The tie-breaker used to be that the record making the biggest gain (or smallest fall) in sales week-on-week would be ranked higher, which, were it still in operation, would actually mean Powter being number four instead of Mylo. I have to admit I'm not sure what determines the ranking these days - probably fractional sales, which I'll explain next week if necessary - but it certainly worked against Powter.

 

A solid explanation from Music Week then :lol: Did they ever offer a proper explanation the following week?

Alan Jones did give an explanation the following week. The process he explains can only really work for physical product so I don't know how Millward Brown are able to separate singles that sell the same amount of downloads, as happened with The Beatles as M.I.E. mentions above.

 

Finally, further to last week's statistical freak - which saw the number one and two compilation albums both selling 20,249 copies, and the number four and five singles both sell 17,257 copies - clarification that it is 'fractional' sales that determine which record is awarded the higher chart placing by OCC.

 

The chart is compiled down to eight decimal points - or one hundred millionth of a sale. Obviously records only sell in whole numbers but the complex weighting matrix employed to take account of shops which are unable to report produces these fractions. For example, if an album sells 15 copies in seven shops in a weighting cell where there are nine shops, the projected sales for all nine would be 15 divided by seven, multiplied by nine, or 19.28571428. The fractions are not discarded until the end of the chart process, by which time, of course, they may add up to extra sales, and even if they don't they provide a way of breaking ties. It is possible that two records could have the same 'fractiona'l sales but very unikley, and it has yet to happen since OCC handed over the chart compilation process to Millward Brown in Februuary 1994.

 

This week's chart sees no ties in either the Top 75 artist album or Top 20 compilation album charts, and the highest placed singles to be separated by 'fractional' sales are the current BodyRockers and Akon singles, which both have sales of 1,723. BodyRockers must have the higher 'fractional' sales, as their single is ranked at number 50, and Akon's at number 51.

 

from Music Week Chart analysis, 25 September 2005

There was the famous case in 1990 when Steve Miller Band's The Joker was given number one even though it apparently sold the exact same number as Deee-Lite's Groove is in the Heart.

Mercy by Duffy beat Better in Time by Leona by 450 odd copies

 

And I think Leona would have been number one if the OCC stuck by the rules from a couple of years before and combined the download sales that Footprints in the Sand sold!

Kate Nash's 'Kiss That Grrrl' was only 2 copies away from the #200 spot that week - though I have no idea what was actually at #200 and prevented her from charting.