The Spotify chart bores me so rigid. :zzz:

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by Tawdry Hepburn

It always surprises me something like Spotify is as static as it is, I never listen to the same songs every day so it always surprises me that things like the entire top 20 staying close to the same occurs so regularly. Maybe I'm just being dumb.

People just put on the Top 50 / Hot Hits and listen to it every day because they can't be bothered to think for themselves 🤷🏻‍♀️ It doesn't bother me that much anymore but that's the tea.

Basically people are too lazy to do a search on spotify

Yeah an inability to use the search button has hindered the charts hugely.

Drake with 737K - 747K - 768K 3 days in a row. Nice.

Basically people are too lazy to do a search on spotify

People search more for playlists now rather than tracks/artist, hence getting on certain playlists now is so key to doing well. A sad state of affairs.

People search more for playlists now rather than tracks/artist, hence getting on certain playlists now is so key to doing well. A sad state of affairs.

 

I don't think people even search for playlists THAT much. I think they mostly just go with the front four that are advertised on Spotify when they log in.

Surely it's completely natural for the most visible songs to be the most streamed ones? I'm sure there are plenty of people who 'think for themselves' and listen to other songs but there are a near infinity of those vs. the ~100 or whatever on the major playlists, individual songs are always going to be drowned out by the people who do listen to the playlists.

Plus I imagine lots of people are searching for songs they heard on radio or whatever so songs like God's Plan will be searched for more than anything anyway. The chart would be a lot slower if there were no playlists dictating the hits.

The chart would be a lot slower if there were no playlists dictating the hits.

 

You're 100% wrong about that in my opinion.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around how people can just stream from playlists because I am the opposite. How people can be content with just listening to a small collection of songs that someone else has picked is mind-blowing.

I imagine that if there were no premade playlists on Spotify, one of two things would happen:

 

1:

Everyone searches for completely random songs they want to listen to, most of which are previous chart hits from months before and they play them because they don’t know what else to put on. They make their own playlists of “hot hits” but never remove songs, resulting in playlists of mostly older songs spanning back months/years and not having much influence on the steaming chart because of the wide variety.

 

2:

The majority of people just listen to the actual steaming/official charts which remain stagnant because no one is bothering to search for different songs.

 

Another issue would be that there would be no New Music Friday type playlists. The only genuine way people would learn of new releases would be via the radio or searching an individual artist and happening to find a new release when they do. Big recent example: neither Marshmello nor Anne-Marie have large fanbases and Friends has only taken off in streaming so fast because it was heavily advertised at release and on subsequent playlists. I love the song, but I doubt it would be #4 or even Top 10 if not for playlists.

 

Edit: Playlists are used for more than what I think many people here give them credit for. Personally I don’t listen to playlists like Hot Hits or anything, but I do keep up to date with what’s on them and check out new songs I haven’t heard before. Yes, some songs are purely on there via payola, but some are also there because they’ve been trending without being on playlists and are looking to take off with just an extra little push.

Edited February 21, 20187 yr by Dexton

The Wombats climbing the Spotify charts with a newie is quite surprising (albeit only into the low 100s). Would love it if it was to become a hit, but one suspects that is highly unlikely.

I think it goes both ways. Playlists go some way to push newer (read: songs under 6 months old) songs into the forefront. Being included on the UK top 50 and HHUK probably gives a song 50,000 daily plays for free (if not more), and that's 50,000 plays that's not going to all the ancient fodder below the top 50, if not for it, Mr. Brightside would be in the top 50 every single day of the year (except maybe around Christmas time). However it has the downside that songs need to be 'approved' by the stingiest of gatekeepers, and of course there's the problem of the top 50 perpetuating itself by design. Nonetheless, I remember being an avid watcher of the last.fm charts many, many years ago which were entirely driven by (pretty in-the-know) people's music library, and (outside of big new albums) the top tracks chart week by week was glacial compared to the Spotify charts of the time. I am certain that Spotify-curated playlists are much more frequently updated than general user created ones.

I think it goes both ways. Playlists go some way to push newer (read: songs under 6 months old) songs into the forefront. Being included on the UK top 50 and HHUK probably gives a song 50,000 daily plays for free (if not more), and that's 50,000 plays that's not going to all the ancient fodder below the top 50, if not for it, Mr. Brightside would be in the top 50 every single day of the year (except maybe around Christmas time). However it has the downside that songs need to be 'approved' by the stingiest of gatekeepers, and of course there's the problem of the top 50 perpetuating itself by design. Nonetheless, I remember being an avid watcher of the last.fm charts many, many years ago which were entirely driven by (pretty in-the-know) people's music library, and (outside of big new albums) the top tracks chart week by week was glacial compared to the Spotify charts of the time. I am certain that Spotify-curated playlists are much more frequently updated than general user created ones.

 

The playlists can put new music in peoples hands without them doing much digging. As a lot of people don't like digging around no more to find something they like.

I suppose even if it is added to Hot Hits, it doesn't automatically mean people are going to like it and love it.

 

For instance look at (unfortunately) Charli's Out Of My Head or Matt's Sucker For You which have both been added and not really done much as a result. It just gives that extra exposure. If you also look at YouTube most played, it's always the same songs on there forever.

 

Lol at me contradicting myself, it still stands, I just think the general public are happy with familiar hits and aren't avid music fans like us.

I suppose even if it is added to Hot Hits, it doesn't automatically mean people are going to like it and love it.

 

For instance look at (unfortunately) Charli's Out Of My Head or Matt's Sucker For You which have both been added and not really done much as a result. It just gives that extra exposure. If you also look at YouTube most played, it's always the same songs on there forever.

 

Lol at me contradicting myself, it still stands, I just think the general public are happy with familiar hits and aren't avid music fans like us.

 

I agree, I think people just don't like change much. Or doing too much work for themselves

Do you blame people for being lazy though? The typical adult will work 5 days a week/40 hours a week for a start. They just want the ease of putting something on without having to think too hard about it.

The playlists can put new music in peoples hands without them doing much digging. As a lot of people don't like digging around no more to find something they like.

Yeah I agree, and I think that unless everyone were to do an inordinate amount of digging, the charts would be even more stuck without them.