What do you like about them, what enjoyment you get out of them.

 

I practically like the big battles when 2 big acts release singles in the same week, it makes the chart more interesting.

The album chart does not interest me at all, apart from my favourite acts releasing albums in that particular week.

I find them interesting because I love music and they shape the music industry. If somebody's career is on the decline or on the up, you can see it through the charts. I follow about 10 charts worldwide, in all of the major markets as they are good indications of the music that I need to prioritise listening to.

 

As for the album charts, I find them pointless these days with sales so low but I do like the surprises that it throws up sometimes, like Scooter getting a #1 album in 2008 and Steps getting one in 2011! Also it's a good forum for Radio 2/MOR-friendly acts to have success, like Caro Emerald getting a #1 last year!

I've always been a bit of a list fanatic so charts were always gonna appeal to me - asides from that, I can't necessarily explain why I like them, I just really do. It's very intriguing to see which trends and genres are being reflected there and I particularly love (though some seem to disagree) random and unexpected chart entries and hits.

 

As said above, Love them or hate them, they are the only true barometer of the state of the music industry and I find that interesting though I may not like all the music in there. Can sometimes provoke some interesting analysis sometimes (and as a media student, I'm bound to love that aren't I?)

 

The album chart has never been of big interest, but they can offer a wider range of different genres at number 1 and I enjoy following them vaguely, even if they're a little bit depressing these days what with the sales.

 

They will always satisfy my inner geek and have been for eight years now ( :drama: )

I actually find the album chart more interesting than the singles chart. Obviously in terms of excitement the singles chart is almost never matched by the albums but I'm a huge fan of looking at album chart runs over long periods of time and of course the sales they build up too. Nothing like looking over a lengthy album chart run.

I guess it's like in sport, willing on your favourite Player, Team, Horse etc, to do well, likewise with music. Though I can't think of any horses galloping up the chart, lol.

There's more to music than the chart stuff though

Music is the backdrop to life, and charts (if you like chart music, and I do) give an everchanging fixed image of where you were and what was going in your life, quite apart from the sheer exuberance of new music. I'm not so fussed about the current long-running tracks revolving door pent-up demand at the top singles chart as I was when it was faster-moving and there was so much competition from loads of acts really on fire, but it's always had it's ups and downs and I still get a buzz out of seeing a great record I love eventually get to be a massive hit. Last year it was Happy and Animals, which took ages to get a proper release but I was happy to see both on top of the chart because I love seeing just desserts and people getting motivated to buy great new music.

 

Music is the backdrop to life, and charts (if you like chart music, and I do) give an everchanging fixed image of where you were and what was going in your life, quite apart from the sheer exuberance of new music. I'm not so fussed about the current long-running tracks revolving door pent-up demand at the top singles chart as I was when it was faster-moving and there was so much competition from loads of acts really on fire, but it's always had it's ups and downs and I still get a buzz out of seeing a great record I love eventually get to be a massive hit. Last year it was Happy and Animals, which took ages to get a proper release but I was happy to see both on top of the chart because I love seeing just desserts and people getting motivated to buy great new music.

 

I agree, there's little better than seeing a song you've been championing for ages making it big in the UK, sometimes completely unexpectedly if they're by randomers. The likes of Love Song by Sara Bareilles, Release Me by Agnes and Euphoria by Loreen spring to mind. Some of us used to joke about the latter reaching the top 3 here before she even won Melodifestivalen, it was a little surreal to see it actually happen!

 

So many more examples of this too, Pixie Lott's Boys & Girls was a big hit in my personal chart when she was a MySpace randomer with only a couple of thousand hits! To see it go to #1 in the UK over a year later was completely unexpected, especially considering her music style was and always has been so out of vogue.

Just today I asked myself what got me interested in the first place...I can't remember exactly :lol:

 

I enjoy the differences in every country's chart, some move faster than others etc. I love when a nation's chart has its own artists having success, as opposed to just 40 songs from the US and UK. Plus it's a great way to see what songs could smash globally! It was fun watching Gotye and Kimbra collect their #1s around the world throughout 2011-2012 and Lorde do the same last year. If you don't like where a song has charted in your country you can always see how it's doing elsewhere, and you feel a bit better as long as it's a hit in some part of the world.

I think Mark Goodier and Bruno Brookes have a lot to answer for, making the charts interesting to me - finding out if your favourites had climbed or got the highest new entry or gone straight in at number 1. "Do we have a brand new number one? Here's where we find out... pause (Ident: Number Two) it's last weeks number 1". :o I used to record the Top 40 most weeks back in the early-mid 90s, it really felt like a shared experience where most of the country were waiting to find out where, what, who and why were on 'the world's fastest chart', the definitive popularity barometer of the pop songs that soundtrack our lives. You can look back at a chart from a certain week and the memories come flooding back. The big battles between massive Christmas hits like in 2009 between X-Factor and Rage Against The Machine (Yay! :D )

 

It's less like that now of course because iTunes kinda gives everything away, but people still do care about getting that all important #1 - just look at 5SoS this week.

I agree with popchartfreak, DoctorBlind & GD the charts are a sound track to people's lives since the 2nd world war. I especially like the history of the Xmas chart and that was how I got into the charts because I realised that songs like Slade went to no 1 when they were first out & were massive sales wise just like the songs in the chart when I was growing up! I could just imagine my dad buying Slade records back in the day and wondered did they know how big a song it would become. My favourite chart book isn't the Virgin book of hit records but Stuart Maconies The Peoples Songs, got it for my birthday :)

Edited March 29, 201411 yr by steve201

When I was was a teenager it was probably 80% the music, 20% the statistics - nowdays it's pretty much the other way round. :)

Also for me as I was growing up there was no internet and you couldn't find any mid material, so when the chart was announced, it was far more interesting to know where the tracks peaked in the chart or what was #1 that week, what Gooddelta hit on. The charts were more interesting and I found 80s music sounds better than the present material, but that's my opinion and based on what I was growing up, hence the Human League track that appeared in the chart last week.

 

Now with access to the net and chart forums you can find out what could get to #1 mid week, and I think for me its sort of killed the interest in the charts, I know you got the option of not looking, but that defeats the subject when they are available elsewhere on the net, or from other sources.

Also for me as I was growing up there was no internet and you couldn't find any mid material, so when the chart was announced, it was far more interesting to know where the tracks peaked in the chart or what was #1 that week, what Gooddelta hit on. The charts were more interesting and I found 80s music sounds better than the present material, but that's my opinion and based on what I was growing up, hence the Human League track that appeared in the chart last week.

 

Now with access to the net and chart forums you can find out what could get to #1 mid week, and I think for me its sort of killed the interest in the charts, I know you got the option of not looking, but that defeats the subject when they are available elsewhere on the net, or from other sources.

 

It's pretty much impossible to avoid spoilers anyway...

The charts don't interest that much these days. I just like to follow certain artists who I like to see how they do but a lot of stuff I don't like seems to do well so I don't really follow the charts much now. Its great when a really good song reaches no1 or hangs around in top10 but not many of them about at the minute. The charts were more exciting in 80s and 90s when I liked a lot more of the releases!