I quite liked the suggestion from someone on here of subtracting the streaming figure of the lowest album track from every song, therefore removing the plays from people listening to the album in full and adding that to the album chart. It's not perfect and could be fine-tuned maybe but it's a better solution than nominating singles (messy, what if Ed's label didn't nominate Galway Girl?) imo.

I don't think the album tracks should be banned from the chart outright (as that would exclude 'Galway Girl' and 'Perfect' which are both clearly popular as songs) but for the chart company to differentiate between when a user streams an entire album and when a user listens to just a few songs.

 

(or what Joseph said)

 

Ed would still have a lot of songs in the top 40, there's no way around that, but we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation where the top 19 has only three songs not on 'Divide'.

Here's where the Ed Sheeran tracks would be charting (in yesterday's update) if you take away all the streams of 'Save Myself' and also take away that same amount from each of his other songs (this was what I was trying to do yesterday, hope it makes sense)

 

01 (01) 'Shape of You'

02 (02) 'Galway Girl'

04 (03) 'Castle on the Hill'

07 (04) 'Perfect'

12 (06) 'New Man'

16 (07) 'Dive'

17 (08) 'Happier'

21 (09) 'Supermarket Flowers'

22 (10) 'How Would You Feel'

28 (11) 'What Do I Know'

33 (13) 'Eraser'

35 (15) 'Barcelona'

38 (16) 'Nancy Mulligan'

41 (17) 'Hearts Don't Break Around Here'

53 (18) 'Bibia Be Ye Ye'

90 (19) 'Save Myself'

 

11 (23) 'Ciao Adios'

13 (24) 'Slide'

14 (25) 'Green Light'

15 (26) 'Solo Dance'

31 (37) 'No More Sad Songs'

37 (41) 'That's What I Like'

^ that feels much more reflective to me! Only three less songs in the top 40 (and two of the best on the album would miss out but that's not the point :kink:). Would be great if the OCC could somehow implement a rule like this.

I don't think the album tracks should be banned from the chart outright (as that would exclude 'Galway Girl' and 'Perfect' which are both clearly popular as songs) but for the chart company to differentiate between when a user streams an entire album and when a user listens to just a few songs.

 

(or what Joseph said)

 

Ed would still have a lot of songs in the top 40, there's no way around that, but we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation where the top 19 has only three songs not on 'Divide'.

 

BUT.... they are NOT singles yet.... this is supposed to be a SINGLES chart. They are album tracks... The OCC needs to identify: what is a SINGLE...

BUT.... they are NOT singles yet.... this is supposed to be a SINGLES chart. They are album tracks... The OCC needs to identify: what is a SINGLE...

 

This lost its meaning when downloads got introduced, it's nothing new, album tracks have been charting for years. What if an album track is genuinely popular on both sales and streams (like Galway Girl obviously is, for example), but it can't chart because it's not a single? Excluding songs makes more of a mockery of the chart imo.

There really is no clear option what the OCC can do.

 

The Chart has been a mess for a while now and this week just makes the problems a whole lot clearer to everyone.

 

The addition of streaming points was always going to fail, they should never had included streaming into the official chart.

There really is no clear option what the OCC can do.

 

The Chart has been a mess for a while now and this week just makes the problems a whole lot clearer to everyone.

 

The addition of streaming points was always going to fail, they should never had included streaming into the official chart.

Whilst I agree the chart is a mess, streaming should be included in the chart imo.

Are you for real? Streaming is becoming more and more popular by the day and less and less people are downloading music from iTunes. It's time to accept that streaming is becoming the main form of music consumption. Downloading is dying and it makes no sense to support it in the charts by trying to decrease the impact of streaming. That's why changing the streaming ratio from 100 to 150 didn't make any sense either.

 

In this day and age every album track can be also considered a single in a way. And if it's popular enough, it should chart.

 

Yes, the dominance of Ed Sheeran will cause some other artists to lose higher chart positions. But surely their label won't hold that against them?

Whilst I agree the chart is a mess, streaming should be included in the chart imo.

The problem is no one has a solution about how to add streaming into the charts. We had 100 streams = 1 download, then at Christmas it changed to 150 streams and now we have the Ed Sheeran issue.

 

This was always going to happen when you add streaming into a chart that has only ever been a chart that each track has been individually paid for.

 

I think it would have been best to have kept the downloads and streaming separate. Have two charts and give them equal billing.

Are you for real? Streaming is becoming more and more popular by the day and less and less people are downloading music from iTunes. It's time to accept that streaming is becoming the main form of music consumption. Downloading is dying and it makes no sense to support it in the charts by trying to decrease the impact of streaming. That's why changing the streaming ratio from 100 to 150 didn't make any sense either.

 

In this day and age every album track can be also considered a single in a way. And if it's popular enough, it should chart.

 

Yes, the dominance of Ed Sheeran will cause some other artists to lose higher chart positions. But surely their label won't hold that against them?

I have accepted it, I'm just saying trying to put the two forms of consumption together isn't working.

 

And album tracks arent singles, they are album tracks. If the new norm is now the this week's chart then they need to rebrand and change the name of the chart.

Apart from everything else, Stormzy doesn't have an "album deal". He released the album himself.

 

It's not relevant if it's an album deal with a major label or self-financed. The fact remains his album tracks were eligible for the chart. Last week he had 15 tracks in the chart! I guess that was a record stat for most new entries by an artist (?), but it's going to be surpassed by Ed Sheeran on Friday.

 

In the old days you had to wait a few months before album tracks were given single status. The singles were 'staggered releases'. I believe the OCC should implement a one single per artist/group rule. An artist/group has to wait eight weeks before a follow-up single is eligible for the chart. This will prevent the likes of Sheeran, Stormzy, Bieber etc clogging up the chart with many so-called 'singles'. After eight weeks the song is classified as 'chart compliant' and any stream sales can be added to the chart. I don't see any big deal with this suggestion. Eight weeks (two months) per single release doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

Another rule OCC should implement is a 20 week time limit. No song needs to be streamed for more than 20 weeks. Sure, you can stream a song for longer, do what you like, but after 20 weeks the OCC remove it from the top 100. No more stream sales are counted. The track cannot be allowed to re-enter the top 100. At the present moment in time we have the lame situation with songs leaving and re-entering the top 100. That situation should end.

 

The last two weeks have seen the dramatic decline of the chart. Stormzy with 15 songs in the chart and this week it looks as if Ed Sheeran will have 18 songs in the chart. The chart has gone from gradual decline to dramatic terminal decline. If other acts become as popular as Sheeran and Stormzy - and there will be some new acts with mega-popularity, that's the nature of pop, some artists do get mega-big - the chart will be full of album tracks. This is a major warning sign to the OCC. They need to act now and change the chart rules. Act this month, not in six months time.

Edited March 8, 20179 yr by soundman

The solution is both obvious and easy : simply subtract the TOTAL sales and streams of the lowest performing track from all tracks on the singles chart and add it to the album chart - problem solved

In the old days you had to wait a few months before album tracks were given single status. The singles were 'staggered releases'. I believe the OCC should implement a one single per artist/group rule. An artist/group has to wait eight weeks before a follow-up single is eligible for the chart. This will prevent the likes of Sheeran, Stormzy, Bieber etc clogging up the chart with many so-called 'singles'. After eight weeks the song is classified as 'chart compliant' and any stream sales can be added to the chart. I don't see any big deal with this suggestion. Eight weeks (two months) per single release doesn't seem unreasonable.

But what about songs like Love Yourself and Galway Girl that take off on their own, without being singles? They shouldn't be excluded from the chart because of a "one song per artist" rule. This gets songs unfairly excluded from the chart despite being genuinely popular. I'd rather have the entire Ed album clogging up the chart than exclude almost all of them just for the sake of neatness, it's way more representative.

 

Guys I think we need to accept that the "singles chart" just isn't specifically for singles, although honestly I thought we'd all accepted this years ago when album tracks first started to chart. Songs sometimes take off without being singles, look at Emeli Sandé's Read All About It Pt III back in 2012! It had the Olympics performance and took off, despite never being a single.

The problem is no one has a solution about how to add streaming into the charts. We had 100 streams = 1 download, then at Christmas it changed to 150 streams and now we have the Ed Sheeran issue.

 

This was always going to happen when you add streaming into a chart that has only ever been a chart that each track has been individually paid for.

 

I think it would have been best to have kept the downloads and streaming separate. Have two charts and give them equal billing.

To be reflective in a capitalist society of music consumption the ratio should be based on the average relative spend between the formats : if downloads average 99p each and paid for streaming services average 1p per steam then 99:1 is the appropriate ratio (which should change over time to reflect trends) : obviously free to listen to services excluded

The solution is both obvious and easy : simply subtract the TOTAL sales and streams of the lowest performing track from all tracks on the singles chart and add it to the album chart - problem solved

This would mean that one could intentionally stream/buy the least popular song repeatedly to have an unprecedented negating of the album's tracks' popularity.

This would mean that one could intentionally stream/buy the least popular song repeatedly to have an unprecedented negating of the album's tracks' popularity.

 

Would people really do this though? I mean, there's only so much they can contribute with regards to streaming anyway due to the 10 plays per listener per day cap, and if people want to waste their money buying the least popular song to cause this effect, then more fool them really.

 

(besides, I think if that rule were to be implemented, it should only count for streams, ie. people listening to the album in full)

This lost its meaning when downloads got introduced, it's nothing new, album tracks have been charting for years. What if an album track is genuinely popular on both sales and streams (like Galway Girl obviously is, for example), but it can't chart because it's not a single? Excluding songs makes more of a mockery of the chart imo.

 

 

If an album track is genuinely popular (like in the old days when fans or radio picked it up) then the record company can release it, until then it's sales/streams should ONLY count towards album sales because it's not an official single. Including album tracks in a singles chart makes more of a mockery of the chart imo.

 

The singles chart was only fast moving and diverse in the past because it was heavily manipulated to be that way. There was nothing accurate about songs being held back for 2 months and going 5-16-37-out, and not being able to chart any longer due to deletion. I'd argue the chart was just as difficult to take seriously in those days.

Would people really do this though? I mean, there's only so much they can contribute with regards to streaming anyway due to the 10 plays per listener per day cap, and if people want to waste their money buying the least popular song to cause this effect, then more fool them really.

 

(besides, I think if that rule were to be implemented, it should only count for streams, ie. people listening to the album in full)

You never know! Obviously buying would be silly, but just 1 copy of Save Yourself bought is cancelling out over 2,000 of Sheeran's streams. I've no doubt there are plenty of people who like the track especially and have done so, thus theoretically reducing the perceived popularity of the other tracks on their own merit. But it would be a silly system anyway for just punishing the artist for making an album that people will happily listen all the way through. It's basically encouraging Ed to record a 10 minute Merzbow collaboration and chucking it at the end of the album hoping no one listens to it :D