I’ve been noticing a trend in the charts of late whereby duets are the way to go for an almost certain hit. They didn’t used to feature so heavily in the charts for the last few years but lately there are a lot more breaking into the Top 40. I wondered if anyone nad any theories on why this is happening a lot more lately than in recent years.

 

Here’s just a few I picked from 2020 and 2021 that have charted inside the UK Top 40;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So why the sudden surge in duets breaking into the Top 40 in the last 12 months or so? :o

Well I wouldn't say there's a sudden surge. It's just more commonplace nowadays for an '&' or a 'x' to be used instead of a 'ft.' which gives the impression it's more of a half and half job than one of them just turning up to do some vocals. Why the accreditation preference is changing is something I'm not too sure about though.

 

On a general note a song by 2 artists is usually a decent tactic to gauge more interest and get a combined fanbase purchasing power but often at the expense of an actually decent song. On paper, a Shawn/Bieber collab sounds like an absolute monster smash but (in my opinion at least) it was a pretty forgettable effort.

Always love a good duet. I’ve noticed an increase in pop duets, although most of them seem to be screwed over by streaming

Duets have bee a thing for years surely? I can't say I've noticed they've been more prominent lately but like Dobbo says, maybe it's the more commonplace '&' or 'x' crediting which makes it feel like there's a surge.

in the past we had more of a Pop Artist ft Rapper

as in Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull

 

now we'er having more like Pop Artist ft (or &) another Pop Artist

which is a good tactic cos you get the 2 fanbases

I'd probably say the track appearing on both artist's streaming profiles is a big reason for their omnipresence these days.