I agree that I think the last 3-4 weeks it was no1 One Dance was only there by default but its streaming has remained constantly high. The other thing with One Dance its been more of a streaming hit than a song that people would download like Lean On and What Do You Mean, it cleared 5 million stream for 8 weeks which no song has managed yet not even Adele or Bieber. So its first 10 maybe 11 weeks I'd argue it was no1 outright.

 

I think the song probably didn't deserve its 15 weeks at no1 but it's likely that Love Is All Around and Everything I Do stayed at no1 by default for several weeks also. Whilst I think the streaming figures are slightly inflated and they should have a cap, they do represent what is popular and One Dance was the most popular song of those 15 weeks due to lack of big releases towards the end. I can see Cold water managing 4 weeks at least maybe 5 given that August is usually quiet.

 

 

 

it cleared 5 million stream for 8 weeks which no song has managed yet not even Adele or Bieber. So its first 10 maybe 11 weeks I'd argue it was no1 outright.

And it will likely become the most streamed song ever on Spotify by around November, and possibly hit 1 billion streams in December.

But in terms of audience reach, how many of those streams are related to Number Of Fans? By which I mean, how many were the same core group of 400,000 fans (say) repeat playing a track they love over a long period, plus people chart streaming passively. Number of billion streams is a meaningless figure unless it relates to numbers of different people choosing to listen to it. Tha is my main problem with streaming. As I said, having a core enthusiastic (if not hyperbolic) large group of fans doesn't prove acoss the board popularity.

 

Bieber is currentyl guaranteed an instant number one because he has a large core group of enthusiastic fans, but that doesn't mean he has overall popularity with the public at large. best way to check that is album sales or single download sales relative to the market overall. Streaming, beacuse it is so focused on target groups/pushed by major labels (at the expense of independants), is good mostly for comparing fanbases for the target groups.

 

If a million people over 60, who don't stream, love an album enough to buy it (say Adele) then that shows she is FAR more widely popular than Drake, purely because their plays and radio plays don't count towards the singles chart. Streaming is not an accurate reflection of overall popularity, it's a good guide to comparitive popularity amongst 15-30-year-old's, for the most part.

So you're also saying that number one hits by Take That for example in 90s were less respectable than some others? They were also fanbase products. Who else bought 3 copies of Pray than the fans that wanted to marry Gary Barlow?

 

Also One Direction, A1, The Wanted... basically all songs not hammered by adult contemporary stations.

 

That's a BIT biased to be honest.

 

The thing is that most acts already have some fanbase and it's only natural that the fanbase is excited about the new song.

 

Drake has huge following, Major Lazer have huge following, Justin Timberlake has huge following.

Edited August 2, 20168 yr by SKOB

Can we compare the data to Happy which was top 3 for 13 weeks?

the singles chart has always been mostly what young people are buying and consuming anyway as they're more likely to enjoy the mainstream hits (and today more likely to use spotify a lot)

the singles chart has always been mostly what young people are buying and consuming anyway as they're more likely to enjoy the mainstream hits (and today more likely to use spotify a lot)

Also exemplified in the current market since Spotify favours having lots of free time while not necessarily having lots of money, which is more often the case for younger people.

Edited August 2, 20168 yr by Dircadirca

But also those people will listen to more songs than just the ten that they were able to buy every month

Edited August 2, 20168 yr by SKOB

I don't know how Bryan Adams or Wet Wet Wet did on airplay, but despite 15 weeks at #1, Drake never rose above #4 on the airplay chart...