It seems now that only the really huge hits [and big fanbase buys like Pillowtalk] make it to #1, and they all seem to be OA|OS.

 

Songs with a delayed download release can still do well though, just look at 'In2', 'Sweet Lovin', 'Say You Do' and 'Lush Life', but it's only a matter of time before these release strategies are a complete thing of the past.

 

Are we done with held back #1s for good then? :o Your thoughts;;

I'd say with the continuing decline of the download (down 15% last year), coincident with the rapid growth of streaming (up 82% last year) we will see ever decreasing impact made from held back releases and #1s seem pretty unlikely. KDA likely to be the last with that strategy potentially!

 

Ministry of Sound will probably carry on with it though - next stop pre-ordering a stream! :D

yeah, with streaming becoming ever more dominant at the expense of downloads, which have nosedived back down to mid-00’s levels, it’s going to become increasingly difficult for that particular outdated hyping technique to succeed to any degree...

 

not sure we’ve seen the last held-back #1, there’s always an outside chance without a clear leader on spotify something could potentially sneak through, but they’re definitely an endangered species~

Great to see I would say!

What was the Craic with Lush Life? It rise like an OAOS release and was playlisted in that way but was it already premiered before the 15/1?

Lush Life was planned to be released in late February but brought forward with a 'soft release' coincident with its to-air release date on UK radio - hence it had a normal chart run.