It's been seven years since Rihanna's massive ten week run at #1 with 'Umbrella' and Leona's seven week run with 'Bleeding Love', since when no song has spent seven weeks or more at the top - 'We Found Love' did six as part of a Sandé Sandwich, but that's the closest we've got and even that was three years ago.

 

Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the weekly turnover at #1 reached a ridiculous peak with most songs lasting one week and only the occasional one lasting 2. At the time I pretty much convinced myself the days of long #1s were over, but then as CD sales slowed we had tracks like Where Is The Love, Amarillo, Crazy and the two mentioned earlier all sticking at #1 for ages through the mid noughties. So will that happen again? Even huge songs like Get Lucky, Blurred Lines etc haven't managed it.

Yes, especially when streaming becomes bigger & more impactful.

This might be an unpopular opinion but I'd like to see a ten-week number one, as it hasn't happened in the time I've been following the charts.

 

I'm sure it will happen sooner or later, but with emphasis on 'later' for now.

Streaming will only continue to grow in popularity and become more noticeable at the top of the charts, so I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time (read: maybe a few years idk, hard to predict) before we get another really long running number 1. You can never say never, the biggest hits often come out of nowhere.

Yes, especially when streaming becomes bigger & more impactful.

 

 

I agree with this. Probably by early 2015, tbh.

Yes. We'll have songs that soend 7+ weels at #1 in the next 5 years. I 100% guarantee it.

Can only echo what has already been said. Clean Bandit's "Rather Be" spending 4 weeks at the summit was still pretty impressive at the time, and it spent 10 weeks at the top of the streaming chart IIRC; so I'm sure it would've spent some more time at the top officially if streaming had counted more.

Probably but hopefully not. It's so tedious when it happens. 4 weeks is about the max I can handle.

More chart stability at the top will return at some point. Like other people have said, there was a period in the 90s of songs spending only 1 or 2 weeks at no1 followed by some of the longest ever number ones by Bryan Adams and Wet Wet Wet. While I think that kind of longevity is unlikely again given the increasing number of on air/on sale releases I'm sure we could still see the occasional 6 to 8 week run at the top.

Edited September 22, 201410 yr by slowdown73

I guess at 4 straight weeks at #1, "Rather Be" qualifies as the last long-running single.

OK, first of all how on earth has it been SEVEN years since "Bleeding Love" and "Umbrella" had their epic runs at no1! Where is the time going to at all! It's scary!

 

Forgot that "Blurred Lines" had five (non-consecutive) weeks on top last year, would have been six if John Newman's "Love Me Again" (excellent song!) hadn't made no1.

 

I totally agree that streaming will enable the return of long-runners at no1, it may take a couple of years, but I'm fairly sure it will happen.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "I Kissed A Girl" was the last song to spend more than 4 consecutive weeks at no1?

OK, first of all how on earth has it been SEVEN years since "Bleeding Love" and "Umbrella" had their epic runs at no1! Where is the time going to at all! It's scary!

 

Forgot that "Blurred Lines" had five (non-consecutive) weeks on top last year, would have been six if John Newman's "Love Me Again" (excellent song!) hadn't made no1.

 

I totally agree that streaming will enable the return of long-runners at no1, it may take a couple of years, but I'm fairly sure it will happen.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "I Kissed A Girl" was the last song to spend more than 4 consecutive weeks at no1?

 

Actually that's incorrect about Blurred Lines, as it was Icona Pop's I Love It which knocked it off. Edit: Ignore that I thought you meant consecutive :P

 

I believe you are correct about I Kissed A Girl. Someone Like You, Somebody That I Used To Know & Blurred Lines all did 5 weeks non-consecutively.

Edited September 22, 201410 yr by Dobbo

Actually that's incorrect about Blurred Lines, as it was Icona Pop's I Love It which knocked it off. Edit: Ignore that I thought you meant consecutive :P

 

I believe you are correct about I Kissed A Girl. Someone Like You, Somebody That I Used To Know & Blurred Lines all did 5 weeks non-consecutively.

 

Oops! You're absolutely right, it was indeed Icona Pop who knocked "Blurred Lines" off no1 initially, and then John Newman came along, before Blurred Lines returned to the top! Think I'm getting a bit rusty in my recollections of last year's no1s! Can't believe I forgot about Icona Pop getting to no1, considering that was one of my favourite songs last year.

 

I remember that when IKAG made no1, it was in an era where a lot of songs like "Mercy", "Now You're Gone" were having +4 week consecutive runs at the top and it seemed like the norm again and that it was going to happen a lot in the future. So it's pretty surprising that 6 years on no song has managed to match IKAG's 5-week consecutive stint at no1 (those that have spent 5 or 6 weeks at no1 have been non-consecutive).

 

Somebody That I Used To Know and Someone Like You are great songs!

Edited September 22, 201410 yr by donnahjaneymack

Hopefully it will never happen again.

2 weeks is already a long time for a #1 song.

LOL marcin are you serious???

 

Nobody wants songs being number 1 for 15 weeks though

Actually that's incorrect about Blurred Lines, as it was Icona Pop's I Love It which knocked it off. Edit: Ignore that I thought you meant consecutive :P

 

I believe you are correct about I Kissed A Girl. Someone Like You, Somebody That I Used To Know & Blurred Lines all did 5 weeks non-consecutively.

 

We Found Love as well, I think.

Hopefully it will never happen again.

2 weeks is already a long time for a #1 song.

 

I agree! I much prefer there being lots of lots of #1s.

I think every song deserves to be no.1 and one week is way too long running. We need a new no.1 every day or it will just get tedious.

 

Yes I'm taking the mick out of people who think one weekers are amazing.

We Found Love as well, I think.

that actually spent 6 n/c weeks at #1.

 

I would like the #1s to truly reflect popularity which would mean longer runners.

 

It feels weird that 'Happy' only spent 4 weeks at the top when it's the most downloaded song ever and fast approaching 2 million sales. If that were out in 2006-8 it probably would've spent 7-10 weeks at #1 like Bleeding Love/Umbrella/Crazy

It's been seven years since Rihanna's massive ten week run at #1 with 'Umbrella' and Leona's seven week run with 'Bleeding Love', since when no song has spent seven weeks or more at the top - 'We Found Love' did six as part of a Sandé Sandwich, but that's the closest we've got and even that was three years ago.

 

Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, the weekly turnover at #1 reached a ridiculous peak with most songs lasting one week and only the occasional one lasting 2. At the time I pretty much convinced myself the days of long #1s were over, but then as CD sales slowed we had tracks like Where Is The Love, Amarillo, Crazy and the two mentioned earlier all sticking at #1 for ages through the mid noughties. So will that happen again? Even huge songs like Get Lucky, Blurred Lines etc haven't managed it.

 

Be careful what you wish for :)

I can remember Bryan Adam's 16 week run at the top in 1991 and while it was interesting from a chart watching point of view it was getting completely riduculous and I was quite relieved when it was finally knocked off the top.

 

6 or 7 weeks at no.1 is enough to demonstrate what a really massive hit looks like in chart terms. 10+ weeks and that's too long really.

 

Interestingly long runners seem to be associated with low sales periods. The mid 2000s as already mentioned but also the early 1990s were a low sales period too. As well as Bryan Adams we had long runners from Shakespears Sister (8 weeks), Whitney Houston (10 weeks) and Wet Wet Wet (14 weeks).

Edited September 22, 201410 yr by Col1967