Similar to others I started around the back end of 1999 which was quite late in my life imo as I was around 16 but I think it came with my love of history and I saw music as part of the cultural history.

 

I joined totp 40.com then Coolclarity and Buzzjack to follow the goings on and facts.

 

Recently I rarely get to listen to the chart on a Friday but have loved watching totp repeats from the 80s on BBC 4 to see how music entered in that era.

Since the end of 1997! I remember listening to Spice Up Your Life being announced at #1, I was 9 years old. I used to like looking through the chart on Ceefax as well, and then eventually Dotmusic.

 

I used to listen to the radio 1 chart show regularly, but since the start of this decade my interest in doing so waned. I still have a look through the chart each week though!

I suddenly realised its my 40th Anniversary of following the charts, it was the first week when the Police - Message In A Bottle hit #1 way back 29 September 1979 :lol: I'm old :(

 

Well, my first period was from 1976-85, than a long gap until 2003 to date.

I properly started following the charts weekly around 2007 when Bleeding Love came out.

 

Was always aware and did watch TOTP most weeks as a kid, but only started to care about the chart element around 2007.

Another 1993-er here! I starting listening to the chart and watching TOTP every week when No Limit by 2 Unlimited and both became the highlight of my week ever since! The early/mid 2000s was a great era for me as I like a lot of indie music and a lot of bands I like that would get nowhere near the chart nowadays would get into sometimes. Those bands were always front-loaded so I always seeked out the midweeks and I found a website called Cool Clarity and the rest is history! :D The early 2010s were great as well as anything could get in, sales were high and a lot of the pop music and EDM was very good!

 

I'm still as passionate of a follower as ever but I've made my feelings on streaming clear here and there is still a part of me that hopes it'll die off but it doesn't look like it'll happen at the moment. I have got to the point that I have e-mailed the OCC with my suggestions as the chart should be about the amount of people that like songs and albums rather than the amount and ACR only sticks a plaster over the issue, has anyone else done this? Should we start a mass movement to change the charts for the better? :lol: I do feel that we can at least make things a little better anyway.

 

I think the charts are needed now just as much as ever and still make an impact as I think Sweet But Psycho taking off massively lately had at least a little to do with getting into the chart anyway.

I think it was in the spring or summer of 2003 when I was 11. I first had a radio in my bedroom a year before that, but I normally listened to the Pepsi chart because it was on my favourite station (Broadland 102 in Norfolk).

I'd been following the charts from a young age through Top of The Pops, although the first time I really sat down to listen to the charts for it to become a weekly event for me was in 2003, when I wanted to see if Robbie Williams would get to #1 with "Something Beautiful". He didn't, and was beaten by Ultrabeat & Blu Cantrell.

Well, my first period was from 1976-85, than a long gap until 2003 to date.

 

What was the long gap for and how did become interested again?

I'd been following the charts from a young age through Top of The Pops, although the first time I really sat down to listen to the charts for it to become a weekly event for me was in 2003, when I wanted to see if Robbie Williams would get to #1 with "Something Beautiful". He didn't, and was beaten by Ultrabeat & Blu Cantrell.

 

Haha I'm surprised that didn't put you off!

I’ve been collecting Now albums since 2005 (age 7) but I didn’t actually sit down and listen to a chart until I was about 10! This was in late 2007 during a week where Sugababes were at #1 with ‘About You Now’. I don’t know why I didn’t start listening before that as I did have that fascination with Now albums and the corresponding booklets with the facts in them. But there we go! I’ve been listening ever since, the move to Friday was initially not a problem for me as I was a Uni student who finished lectures before 4pm on that day, but it is an issue now, as I’ve been working 8:30 - 5 on a Friday since September, but I do listen later that evening on catch-up. I don’t think my love for the chart will ever die to be honest, ACR is a bit of a pain but it’s too much of a passion to let go of. I have been listening to older charts on Mixcloud lately and it’s been so fun :wub:

I have been listening to older charts on Mixcloud lately and it’s been so fun :wub:

Totally! I love listening to those older chart show recordings and there's no doubt that the shows used to be so much better back then (and I'm referring to anything before 2015, not least because they played the full top 40!)

It's great that they still upload more of them as well, means that we don't run out of shows to listen to!

28 August 1999. Odd bits before, but that's the first one I wrote down (Using dads old typewriter as I had yet to persuade my parents my own computer was a good idea! I was 14. Now I still listen to the music, prefer the 1960/70's era music, but have a soft spot for 1999 music. Just seems better than the rest since.

For me its since the end of 1988.

Edited December 2, 20186 yr by Feel_The_Fever

I have been listening to older charts on Mixcloud lately and it’s been so fun :wub:

 

So have I :D, I have enjoyed listening to some of the 80s and 90s ones but finally found one from the early 00s just there - Christmas Chart 2002! Starting off with Scooter at #40 :D https://www.mixcloud.com/marksplaceukII/uk-...ember-2002-pt1/ There is part 2,3 and 4 of it too if you change the URL!

Edited December 3, 20186 yr by SnowflakeSnake❄️

So have I :D, I have enjoyed listening to some of the 80s and 90s ones but finally found one from the early 00s just there - Christmas Chart 2002! Starting off with Scooter at #40 :D https://www.mixcloud.com/marksplaceukII/uk-...ember-2002-pt1/ There is part 2,3 and 4 of it too if you change the URL!

Haha I've already listened to that one! December 2002 was a pretty good time for chart music!

Must have a listen to this, it's one I probably was listening too!

Snakey I was listening to that one the other day *.* I was too young to remember that Christmas chart race (despite my parents religiously watching shows like that, apparently we had a 'vote Will Young' poster on our window for Pop Idol :lol:) so it was excellent to be able to listen there. It's laughable how dated the One True Voice song sounds, compared to how fresh Girls Aloud's debut was! There's another 2002 chart on there actually where Xtina's 'Dirrty' spent a second week at #1.

 

The latest one I listened to was actually today in the background while working - t'was a top 20 from 2006 when Take That were at #1 with 'Patience' (this made me realise that 2006 is definitely one of my favourite years for chart music - Now 66 is packed full of absolute gems, albeit dips into 2007 slightly) and I found 2013 and 2014 Jameela charts the other week, so newer ones definitely seem to be cropping up now on that platform!

Almost exactly 10 years, my first chart show was early 2009 when Kelly Clarkson was #1! For the US charts it was probably late 2007 as I can recall seeing Alicia Keys' 'No One' at #1 there.

Snakey I was listening to that one the other day *.* I was too young to remember that Christmas chart race (despite my parents religiously watching shows like that, apparently we had a 'vote Will Young' poster on our window for Pop Idol :lol:) so it was excellent to be able to listen there. It's laughable how dated the One True Voice song sounds, compared to how fresh Girls Aloud's debut was! There's another 2002 chart on there actually where Xtina's 'Dirrty' spent a second week at #1.

 

The latest one I listened to was actually today in the background while working - t'was a top 20 from 2006 when Take That were at #1 with 'Patience' (this made me realise that 2006 is definitely one of my favourite years for chart music - Now 66 is packed full of absolute gems, albeit dips into 2007 slightly) and I found 2013 and 2014 Jameela charts the other week, so newer ones definitely seem to be cropping up now on that platform!

 

It's hard to find early 00s ones, most seem to be 80s and 90s charts on there with the odd 70s one.

 

The One True Voice quote at the start made me laugh I have to say! Poor One True Voice :(

It would have been late October/early November 1998. I was becoming obsessed with Cher's Believe but didn't have a stereo or any way to play music other than a radio at the time, so I knew the only way I could reliably hear the track was to listen to the chart show. This kicked off my obsession...I pretty much liked or loved every song I heard in those late 1998 charts and still love most of them now. I started writing them down in books while listening live from June 1999 and continued this for about four years until I had to start working Sundays.