And another thing other artists will probably struggle to release new music, so we are left with Ed Sheeran tracks inside the top 40 for at least a few weeks, and I don't mean forever. Most likely will be seeing the highest new entry like No.48 for example, the week after.

I think streaming has been fantastic for both singles and album charts, I think it's finally properly reflecting what songs the public are actually listening to, Ed Sheeran is one of the biggest popstars on the planet atm and this domination on streaming is accurately showing that, in the 1960's the singles chart and album chart would have the Beatles occupy the entire top 5 but if that was what the public was listening to then so be it.

Also another thing streaming has been great for is ending the constant one week #1's in the singles chart which made the achievement far less credible, now we're seeing songs like "Rockabye" #1 for 9 weeks, "One Dance" for 15 weeks, and "Shape Of You" for 8 weeks so far, I think that's far, far greater to see and makes the #1 a lot less attainable.

I wish the public weren't such sheep and ventured out and listened to other new music, so boring.

 

I hate when people say stuff like this. The public don't have the time to go through random artists and songs they may or may not like to find something different. They go for what they are exposed to and choose what they deem the best of that, which is evidently Ed.

 

I could eat more experimental or exotic food but I don't have the time to experiment so stick to what I know and enjoy.

I feel like the ONLY person that doesn't mind the album tracks in the top 40. The only real problem is the name of 'singles chart', in the streaming era, it's much easier for people to just listen to what they like on a mass scale and the charts are reflecting that. There's no denying that these tracks ARE in the top 40 most popular tracks of that week and therefore have a rightful place in the top 40 in my opinion. It may make the charts more boring but they've been dreadfully dull for a few years now and at least they're being accurate (unlike Billboard getting rid of old tracks in the bottom half of their chart). What's the point of having a chart if the compiler is manipulating what can and cannot chart when they feel like it 🤷 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

You're not the only person, I agree 100%

 

'Singles' seems like such an old-fashioned metric of what they actually want to follow in today's market.

 

I wouldn't be against a separate 'singles' chart that just counted singles either.

 

Radio 1 wants to follow what's popular, so it should realise that it's listeners (the majority, that is) don't know or care what a single is and just promote their own 'top songs' chart.

I hate when people say stuff like this. The public don't have the time to go through random artists and songs they may or may not like to find something different. They go for what they are exposed to and choose what they deem the best of that, which is evidently Ed.

 

I could eat more experimental or exotic food but I don't have the time to experiment so stick to what I know and enjoy.

 

Yeah that's not dismissing the point that doing exactly that, not expanding your horizons, not testing out what you haven't experienced, is boring.

 

They don't care enough about music to find new music, that's up to them, it's not important to everyone, but from the music fan's point of view, they have a boring music taste.

Yeah that's not dismissing the point that doing exactly that, not expanding your horizons, not testing out what you haven't experienced, is boring.

 

They don't care enough about music to find new music, that's up to them, it's not important to everyone, but from the music fan's point of view, they have a boring music taste.

 

Boring is such a stupid term and you sound bitter. I cant and don't like opera and if I was someone lazy and trying to be superior I'd call it 'boring' like you but I'm not stuck up.

 

People like Ed because they identify with his music and lyrics, that is something that is tough to achieve and also comes in many different guises. Jagged Little Pill was an album with lyrics people identified with and was huge.

 

This 'I have superior music taste so don't like Ed' is beyond sad.

Not in this case, as the album tracks are actually selling really well on iTunes (all of them are in the top 50 combined). The only way to remove album tracks from the chart is to have nominated singles.

 

The OCC probably won't do anything though as Ed having his entire album chart in the top 40 is free publicity for the official chart.

It's not the only way, I'm actually against nomination because it's going to be extremely artificial. I'm for a way when a user listens to most of the album, those streams don't count in the singles chart. Most of these 500k+ streams won't count then. But the individual sales and streams will still count.

Boring is such a stupid term and you sound bitter. I cant and don't like opera and if I was someone lazy and trying to be superior I'd call it 'boring' like you but I'm not stuck up.

 

People like Ed because they identify with his music and lyrics, that is something that is tough to achieve and also comes in many different guises. Jagged Little Pill was an album with lyrics people identified with and was huge.

 

This 'I have superior music taste so don't like Ed' is beyond sad.

 

Good, because I only used the word in its definition of 'not interesting', because you do not have an interesting taste when you only listen to one artist or one subgenre, particularly if it's the most popular artist or subgenre. By definition, currently, people who only listen to Ed are the least interesting music listeners on the planet right now because they form part of the most common minority. (but not so common that they should block out everyone else)

 

I don't not like Ed, I'm ambivalent towards him but I don't really listen to him because I don't find what he's developed into interesting.

 

Also, thanks, I do have superior music taste, as do we all in our own minds.

Nominating singles won't work because you take control out of the public's hands - say “Galway Girl” becomes a Top 10 and sells very well consistently but Ed/the record company want to promote “Perfect” as the next single you'd have the ludicrous situation of a Top 10 hit being excluded from the chart.

Nominating singles won't work because you take control out of the public's hands - say “Galway Girl” becomes a Top 10 and sells very well consistently but Ed/the record company want to promote “Perfect” as the next single you'd have the ludicrous situation of a Top 10 hit being excluded from the chart.

 

Highest album track becomes eligible as something that's getting retention beyond people just listening to the whole album?

 

Still a bit arbitrary though, there's no perfect solution.

Boring is such a stupid term and you sound bitter. I cant and don't like opera and if I was someone lazy and trying to be superior I'd call it 'boring' like you but I'm not stuck up.

 

People like Ed because they identify with his music and lyrics, that is something that is tough to achieve and also comes in many different guises. Jagged Little Pill was an album with lyrics people identified with and was huge.

 

This 'I have superior music taste so don't like Ed' is beyond sad.

 

Perhaps people are bitter, but so what? You can't refer to someone as stuck up because they don't like Ed Sheeran, some of the people moaning about this situation do like him anyway. As far as I can see, only Ed fans are particularly happy with this development.

 

I'm more bitter about the fact that Ed is going to hailed as some sort of God by the media because of this. I have the same issue with Adele. Neither of them is producing groundbreaking music but they're held up as superior to any artist in history because, Ed in particular, they're breaking records that just weren't possible to set for 55 of the last 60 years. I don't feel that they're success is a true reflection of their quality as artists but that is how the media portray it and the media is what all these people mindlessly streaming Ed's album listen to.

 

So yeah maybe I'm bitter, maybe Iz and several others are too but we do have the right to express ourselves on the matter as people who have been into music and charts for 15 to 20 years and have all but tired of them now.

I hate when people say stuff like this. The public don't have the time to go through random artists and songs they may or may not like to find something different. They go for what they are exposed to and choose what they deem the best of that, which is evidently Ed.

 

I could eat more experimental or exotic food but I don't have the time to experiment so stick to what I know and enjoy.

 

LOL love how you actually gave him a point by explaining how people are indeed acting like sheep.

 

And in the age of Internet, the lack of time is such a lazy and stupid excuse, everything is free out there and ready for people to enjoy.

Perhaps people are bitter, but so what? You can't refer to someone as stuck up because they don't like Ed Sheeran, some of the people moaning about this situation do like him anyway. As far as I can see, only Ed fans are particularly happy with this development.

 

I'm more bitter about the fact that Ed is going to hailed as some sort of God by the media because of this. I have the same issue with Adele. Neither of them is producing groundbreaking music but they're held up as superior to any artist in history because, Ed in particular, they're breaking records that just weren't possible to set for 55 of the last 60 years. I don't feel that they're success is a true reflection of their quality as artists but that is how the media portray it and the media is what all these people mindlessly streaming Ed's album listen to.

 

So yeah maybe I'm bitter, maybe Iz and several others are too but we do have the right to express ourselves on the matter as people who have been into music and charts for 15 to 20 years and have all but tired of them now.

 

You just completely dismiss being able to produce music that people identify with though as if it is both not a talent and easy to do. Maybe that does make him and Adele a 'God' because let's be honest thousands of artist try to do the same but don't get anywhere near the success that they have.

 

Also there are records now that Ed and Adele cant break like they will never have the biggest selling albums ever because people just don't buy albums in the quantity that they did in the past.

 

 

You just completely dismiss being able to produce music that people identify with though as if it is both not a talent and easy to do. Maybe that does make him and Adele a 'God' because let's be honest thousands of artist try to do the same but don't get anywhere near the success that they have.

 

Also there are records now that Ed and Adele cant break like they will never have the biggest selling albums ever because people just don't buy albums in the quantity that they did in the past.

 

But that argument is only valid if people actually are identifying with their music. People obviously are but there's definitely an argument for the fact that a large portion of the public are streaming this because of the hype from the media and their general lack of interest in looking for music themselves. And it's also been noted that all of these Ed Sheeran tracks are being hammered on streaming by the small minority that control the charts these days. It's not a reflection of what people are listening to, just of what a certain demographic are listening to.

There is a sheep mentality I think, I notice in real life when I play a song ages before it's popular and then it takes off. For example there was Lush Life, everyone was like eh it's ok and then the SECOND it hit the charts and showed up on those spotify playlists (these really don't help tbh, they're kind of deciding what gets pushed in streaming terms) everyone was stanning it. It's like people can't enjoy something unless they have the approval that other people like it which is a bit silly.

 

That said people wouldn't listen to something they don't like just because other people do, I think it just gives the same few artists an advantage in being popular because everyone listens to them. It's worse with spotify I think partially because of the playlists thing as I said, people just follow those and labels can pay to have good slots on them, that or the same few popular artists can drop a song and smash the Spotify charts.

But that argument is only valid if people actually are identifying with their music. People obviously are but there's definitely an argument for the fact that a large portion of the public are streaming this because of the hype from the media and their general lack of interest in looking for music themselves. And it's also been noted that all of these Ed Sheeran tracks are being hammered on streaming by the small minority that control the charts these days. It's not a reflection of what people are listening to, just of what a certain demographic are listening to.

 

Isn't the streaming age the opposite, more people listen to music now and contribute towards the charts than ever before? Back in the day Westlife, Girls Aloud etc could get top 10 after top 10 singles because they had a dedicated fanbase who purchased every single they released. It wasn't what the general wider public were listening too and some of the chart runs were small, but the charts were made for fanbase acts to succeed.

 

People are only listening to his album because they are genuinely interested and connect with him in some way. My mum wont listen to it because she isn't one of those.

 

You cant say a large portion of the general public are listening out of hype, then say streaming is not a reflection of what people are listening to.

I wish the public weren't such sheep and ventured out and listened to other new music, so boring.

 

Agreed :(

 

My best music discovery of the year has been Dani Tome from bjsc!!

 

It seems as the moment any time an act gets popular people become like sheep and buy into it. This happened with the Spice Girls too in the past and Westlife.

In theory, is people passively listening to the rest of the album tracks really that different than the large majority of general streams coming from people passively listening through curated playlists?

 

That is a good point tbh.

Isn't the streaming age the opposite, more people listen to music now and contribute towards the charts than ever before? Back in the day Westlife, Girls Aloud etc could get top 10 after top 10 singles because they had a dedicated fanbase who purchased every single they released. It wasn't what the general wider public were listening too and some of the chart runs were small, but the charts were made for fanbase acts to succeed.

 

People are only listening to his album because they are genuinely interested and connect with him in some way. My mum wont listen to it because she isn't one of those.

 

You cant say a large portion of the general public are listening out of hype, then say streaming is not a reflection of what people are listening to.

 

The difference is that the charts are now almost fully controlled by teenagers. Yes, teenagers have always been the biggest contributors and yes, when I was younger the chart was more based around the tastes of me and my mates. But back then, artists with older or more alternative fanbases could still see their favourite songs enter the top 40, even if they never went on to become massive hits. Nowadays it's almost an entire reflection of what teenagers are listening to. They have more time on their hands to stream and music is more accessible at any given moment than it's ever been. But listening habits have changed too. People often put a playlist on to have background music rather than because they actually want to listen to that album.

 

And I can say that streaming isn't a reflection of what people are listening to. Not everyone streams. I have been listening to Rag 'n' Bone man's album all week but I bought it physically and listen on the iPod. I don't stream. Most people my age and older don't stream. We are still listening to music but our listens don't contribute to the chart. The chart could look very different if every single person streamed all the music they listened too. Ed Sheeran would probably still have the most songs in the chart followed by Stormzy because that is what the teens are listening to and the chart has always skewed in their favour. But say, Lana Del Rey, would still get a top 40 hit.

 

So you can't say that streaming is an accurate representation of what people are listening to until every single person in every single demographic streams absolutely everything they listen to.

There is a sheep mentality I think, I notice in real life when I play a song ages before it's popular and then it takes off. For example there was Lush Life, everyone was like eh it's ok and then the SECOND it hit the charts and showed up on those spotify playlists (these really don't help tbh, they're kind of deciding what gets pushed in streaming terms) everyone was stanning it. It's like people can't enjoy something unless they have the approval that other people like it which is a bit silly.

 

That said people wouldn't listen to something they don't like just because other people do, I think it just gives the same few artists an advantage in being popular because everyone listens to them. It's worse with spotify I think partially because of the playlists thing as I said, people just follow those and labels can pay to have good slots on them, that or the same few popular artists can drop a song and smash the Spotify charts.

 

Don't we all do that though? We give our fave artists a good few listens when they release a new song and quicken the 'song has grown on me' thing. Where as a song from an artist we don't know has to work more to win us over. Lush Life probably the more your friends heard it the more it grew on them.

 

The more often you deliver the more people check for your new songs and give them a chance as the artist has proven themselves in the past. It is only why Ed is so big, if he had released 2 shit albums and a bunch of singles people didn't connect with they wouldn't be there for him and wanting to stream his next release.