September 19, 20177 yr So what we basically have is proof that a 'million' is a pretty meaningless thing now that requires very little celebration.
September 19, 20177 yr Reaching one million isn't quite the feat it used to be. A lot more songs seem to be achieving it now with the help of streaming data.
September 19, 20177 yr I imagine the next official million seller will be Shake It Off. She's on 962K pure sales so should do it in 2018.
September 19, 20177 yr I imagine the next official million seller will be Shake It Off. She's on 962K pure sales so should do it in 2018. Sexy & I Know It is just 920 copies away, that suggests they are just weeks away.. Also within 5K: Bruno Mars “Grenade” (997,862) Rick Astley “Never Gonna Give You Up” (997,005) Coldplay “Paradise” (995,808)
September 20, 20177 yr I suspect there won't be a separate listing published anymore though. Provided they give us similarly detailed breakdowns in future we can work it out, but they've changed the canon now, so it's not all good. To clarify, my concern was that, when the time came to incorporate SES into the best sellers listing, the OCC would simply redefine the term "million seller" to mean 1,000,000 combined sales. Since they specifically created a new term for this updated accolade, it should theoretically be as easy as stating "x became the 171st million seller" or "y became the 312th millionaire", with a brief description of the relevant achievement. Maintaining a separate listing wouldn't be 100% necessary, but maintaining it as a "legacy list" of some kind would be ever so lovely. That's the hope, at least <_<
September 20, 20177 yr is the SES numbers are from 2014 july(when they added stream to official single chart) to now? or just all time?
September 20, 20177 yr is the SES numbers are from 2014 july(when they added stream to official single chart) to now? or just all time? I believe the SES numbers are backdated to January 2014, but I don't recall for certain.
September 20, 20177 yr is the SES numbers are from 2014 july(when they added stream to official single chart) to now? or just all time? They are from 1 January 2014; you'll notice the big hits released in 2013 and before have relatively low SES as it doesn't include streams from when they were big but just the 'legacy streams'.
September 20, 20177 yr It's hard to give any credit to this list consediring how much things have changed, it isn't linked anymore to the songs' actual revelance.
September 20, 20177 yr Spice Girls are WAY overhyped - their biggest ever is no.81!!! I've never wanted to slap someone so much that I've never met. Every girlband ever deserves no hype at all then as non are ever touching the 3 million copies Spice the album sold. Just using your logic and ignoring album sales have declined like you are ignoring streaming sales are much higher than cd singles sales which make up the majority of Wannabe's total.
September 20, 20177 yr I wonder if they will change the certifications at any point. Going back to platinum being given to songs that shift a million units seems fairly reasonable given its happening fairly frequently and has been doing so since the start of the decade. I really don't see the need, since songs can be certified 2X, 3X, etc. Platinum. Also, no song has acheved 10X Platinum (Diamond) certification yet.
September 20, 20177 yr As others have said, this list isn't a great way of comparing the impact of these songs against each other. It's obviously so different now compared to the days of physical singles. I know that pretty much all of us know & appreciate what I'm about to write, but anyway... Spice Girls - Wannabe, conditions during the time of release (1996) = - physicals only - you had to spend £1.99 to £3.99 on the CD - you had to go out to the shops to get it - only available during shopping opening hours - you could only buy your absolute favourites because you most likely couldn't afford every song you like - finite stock, which would be depleted within weeks/months as other new releases took precedence on the shelves ^ Wannabe sold 1 million copies in a little over 2 months, and stayed in the Top 40 for just under 5 months. For the time, this was huge. Its popularity could only be measured by its sales, not by how many times it was listened to. Like with any release back then, it was inevitable it'd have to stop selling eventually... singles would achieve a certain sales total and then you'd essentially accept that as being its limit. This remained the case until legal downloads became a thing, a decade later. So, almost 10 years passed in which Wannabe couldn't sell anything. Over the past 10 years, it's gained a very respectable ~500k to its total via downloads & streaming. Compare it to... Ed Sheeran - Shape of You, conditions during the time of release (2017) = - chart is now largely made up of streaming data - streaming is easily accessible on a number of different devices - you can listen for free, or spend a relatively reasonable £9.99 per month... to access an unlimited number of songs you like/love, you don't have to be choosy - songs can never run out of stock - available to listen to for as long as people want to hear them - there's no longer time constrictions to accessing music (i.e. store opening hours), you can buy a download or stream any time you want to - sales can be built up continuously for years, there's now no limit - and modern songs are the ones that'll benefit the most from this system ^ 75% of Shape's "sales" comes from streams, i.e. listening to it. It's built up over 2 million of its total in this way. It's obviously such a different measure to a one-off purchase. Imo, his 2m sales from streams alone is hardly comparable to 1m sales built up from physicals, or even downloads. In this list, Shape of You looks massively popular (third of all-time is certainly a grand looking achievement) whereas Wannabe only appears to be "pretty great" in 81st. I'm obviously repeating myself, but the way they've amassed their sales is so different, they really can't be compared easily to each other. The list may show a wide gap in position & overall sales, but the impact both songs had, in their respective eras, is arguably very close together. Both were phenomenal successes. Its just that on-going streaming makes it easier for huge totals to be achieved now, than limited-time-on-sale physicals could manage. The list shows that Wannabe is the 3rd best seller from 1996, the 16th highest selling song released in the 90s, and the 7th most streamed 90s song in the list. It was a huge success, and 21 years on it's still one of the most successful songs of all-time. Even on the strength of this alone it makes the Spice Girls one of the most successful artists ever, before you consider the other singles / albums / merchandise etc! There's certainly a lot of 2010s hits on this list which look a bit jarring to have "million status", and I feel in certain eras they would only have been a silver/gold level of hit. Sadly there's a load of iconic 2000s songs not present in the list, purely because sales-levels were so awful back then. (If you read this far, thanks for taking the time!)
September 20, 20177 yr I'd echo the points above, it is interesting to look at the 'legacy streams' of the million sellers though, certainly “Wannabe” has a high number (160,276) compared to other songs from 1996: “Killing Me Softly” - 115,039 “Three Lions” - 22,865 “Spaceman” - 15,705 Comparing like-for-like is impossible because the way we consume music and the fact that they are different eras - “Wannabe” was a number 1 hit before widespread use of the internet, a bit like trying to compare highest grossing films when inflation has effectively skewed massively in favour of new films the money that they take and the audience numbers have waxed and waned so much over the past 100 years. Madonna not being on the list is also a bit of a misnomer, she was unfortunate enough to have her biggest hits during eras with historically low sales ... e.g. “Hung Up” - that performance on the chart in the 2012/13 sales regime would have given her a 1-1.5 million selling hit.
September 20, 20177 yr As others have said, this list isn't a great way of comparing the impact of these songs against each other. It's obviously so different now compared to the days of physical singles. I know that pretty much all of us know & appreciate what I'm about to write, but anyway... Spice Girls - Wannabe, conditions during the time of release (1996) = - physicals only - you had to spend £1.99 to £3.99 on the CD - you had to go out to the shops to get it - only available during shopping opening hours - you could only buy your absolute favourites because you most likely couldn't afford every song you like - finite stock, which would be depleted within weeks/months as other new releases took precedence on the shelves ^ Wannabe sold 1 million copies in a little over 2 months, and stayed in the Top 40 for just under 5 months. For the time, this was huge. Its popularity could only be measured by its sales, not by how many times it was listened to. Like with any release back then, it was inevitable it'd have to stop selling eventually... singles would achieve a certain sales total and then you'd essentially accept that as being its limit. This remained the case until legal downloads became a thing, a decade later. So, almost 10 years passed in which Wannabe couldn't sell anything. Over the past 10 years, it's gained a very respectable ~500k to its total via downloads & streaming. Compare it to... Ed Sheeran - Shape of You, conditions during the time of release (2017) = - chart is now largely made up of streaming data - streaming is easily accessible on a number of different devices - you can listen for free, or spend a relatively reasonable £9.99 per month... to access an unlimited number of songs you like/love, you don't have to be choosy - songs can never run out of stock - available to listen to for as long as people want to hear them - there's no longer time constrictions to accessing music (i.e. store opening hours), you can buy a download or stream any time you want to - sales can be built up continuously for years, there's now no limit - and modern songs are the ones that'll benefit the most from this system ^ 75% of Shape's "sales" comes from streams, i.e. listening to it. It's built up over 2 million of its total in this way. It's obviously such a different measure to a one-off purchase. Imo, his 2m sales from streams alone is hardly comparable to 1m sales built up from physicals, or even downloads. In this list, Shape of You looks massively popular (third of all-time is certainly a grand looking achievement) whereas Wannabe only appears to be "pretty great" in 81st. I'm obviously repeating myself, but the way they've amassed their sales is so different, they really can't be compared easily to each other. The list may show a wide gap in position & overall sales, but the impact both songs had, in their respective eras, is arguably very close together. Both were phenomenal successes. Its just that on-going streaming makes it easier for huge totals to be achieved now, than limited-time-on-sale physicals could manage. The list shows that Wannabe is the 3rd best seller from 1996, the 16th highest selling song released in the 90s, and the 7th most streamed 90s song in the list. It was a huge success, and 21 years on it's still one of the most successful songs of all-time. Even on the strength of this alone it makes the Spice Girls one of the most successful artists ever, before you consider the other singles / albums / merchandise etc! There's certainly a lot of 2010s hits on this list which look a bit jarring to have "million status", and I feel in certain eras they would only have been a silver/gold level of hit. Sadly there's a load of iconic 2000s songs not present in the list, purely because sales-levels were so awful back then. (If you read this far, thanks for taking the time!) You are always a man of good words Jay, so it's worth the long read :) Just highlighting a couple of things you said there. What you said about stock being depleted is so true, especially in the case of records like Wet Wet Wet's Love is All Around and Aqua's Barbie Girl. They all got deleted from inventory for stores to order in after a certain time because either they'd spent too long at number one (Wet Wet Wet) or the prolonged success of them was potentially to the detriment of a imminent follow up release (Aqua - although it didn't matter in the event because 'Doctor Jones' went to number one anyway). But enforced deletion is an unheard of thing these days. Last record to receive that treatment was Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' and that was what, 11 years ago? So the fact those records sold as much as they did in spite of this, and before the technological advances we have and take for granted now which have helped to update those totals is incredible really. James Masterton actually pointed out on Twitter this morning that the only record in the list there on pure sales is Various Artists - 'Perfect Day' as that isn't available to stream or download anywhere (probably due to legal rights issues I imagine). I think the lack of 2000s hits - note how there are none from 2003 in the million sellers for instance - highlights that songs found an appeal way beyond their physical availability. But it also highlights how silly the OCC were to not incorporate downloads into the main chart sooner. And even when they did it was two years before they were properly included with all that 'charting on downloads alone before week of physical release' and 'single disappears from the chart once it's physical equivalent is deleted' nonsense.
September 20, 20177 yr I've never wanted to slap someone so much that I've never met. Every girlband ever deserves no hype at all then as non are ever touching the 3 million copies Spice the album sold. Just using your logic and ignoring album sales have declined like you are ignoring streaming sales are much higher than cd singles sales which make up the majority of Wannabe's total. Yeah i'd like to back this up, although I'm not wanting to give a slap haha. They were phenomenal for a time, all four of their singles off that album reached no1 and sold over 600k each, three of them over 950k. Not many artists have managed that feat and it was a harder to achieve back when singles had a shelf life of 3/4 months, rather than infinite potential. To then have an album sell as it did alongside two of those singles, with both 2 become 1 and Spice shifting 400k each in one week over Christmas was/is huge. Anyway, aside from that I'm sure Coldplay's Paradise is actually a million seller? Wasn't it prevented from charting for several weeks due to the promotional single rules back at the time and therefore actually not having its sales counted. They may have added it on since but I'm sure it shifted between 20-40k before it was made chart eligible which would make it an million seller on downloads if it hasn't been counted. I do love this all time list but do think it would be interesting/good practice if they had a separate list for the digital era, i.e downloads/streaming. As that would show more evenly how songs have rated the past 10-15 years. And as others have pointed out, draws a more fair comparison to the Physical chart era. Edited September 20, 20177 yr by Supercell
Create an account or sign in to comment