For a while it seemed we might have been spared so much domination from old Christmas songs this year, but now they’re coming in thick and fast and we know they will be around for the coming 5 weeks until the New Year’s Eve chart.

 

I’m voting “No” but am interested to hear arguments on both sides.

 

How old is old? And if they did kick them off how would they do it? After all it’s difficult to actually define a “Christmas song”. Would the OCC just strike out the songs they decided fitted the bill? What about borderline cases like Stay Another Day?

 

Or could they just replace the permanent ACR rule with a permanently starred out rule?

Like said in the prediction thread, I see no harm in songs being on chart for 4-5 weeks a year. We still have Mr. Brightside there every week year after year and it's been 84 17 years...

Edited November 29, 20213 yr by Sour Candy

It’s only once a year - it’s not like they chart 24/7 like Mr. Brightside.

I see no issues - Christmas songs are what people are listening to over December (and just before), the chart is there to reflect this. New music will gets its time again in January (and labels have cottoned onto this with fewer big name releases in December).

They're already on permanent ACR. We can't help the British public spamming them for a few weeks a year, it's reflective of the current attitude to music so why purposely exclude them for tracks people aren't overly caring for right now?

star out anything older than 3 years unless it's a special case (I.e. TikTok boosted song no one cared for at its release date) problem solved (also solves the Mr Brightside problem)

Like said in the prediction thread, I see no harm in songs being on chart for 4-5 weeks a year. We still have Mr. Brightside there every week year after year and it's been 84 17 years...

 

Mr Brightside (and Perfect etc...) doesn't spend five weeks of the year every year occupying over half of the Top 40... in fact it hasn't even been in the Top 40 in years.

As much as I would love the songs not to dominate the chart, removing completely just doesn’t seem right. Wouldn’t mind an extra level of ACR to 25% for songs with over 20 weeks in the chart or something along those lines.

I really hate how dominant Xmas songs have become in recent years, especially now that they even chart in November

also hate people's habits in regards to xmas songs, basically going to Spotify and clicking the Christmas playlist and listening like a robot for 6 weeks without ever skipping a song or getting tired of hearing the same songs in the same order in a loop for ages

also hate how Alexa manipulates the charts and reports crazy unrealistic figures

 

but at the same time, it's what people listen so the charts should reflect that

 

^Heat Waves would've never been a top ten hit then :P

 

Let's face it, all these rules are arbitrary in a world where the availability is limitless.

Edited November 29, 20213 yr by Sour Candy

I quite enjoy the Christmas songs making a reappearance in the chart once a year for a few weeks - but I am Christmas crazy.

Star out xmas songs older than 3 years. Would encourage current artists to write new ones

Frustrating as it is to see a third of the top 40 already occupied by Christmas songs, I don't like the idea of permanently excluding certain songs. After all, that would mean that a song that "should" be number one wouldn't even be in the chart at all. It was bad enough when Despacito missed a week at number one (due to ACR) despite being number one in the sales and streaming charts (I can't remember whether videos had been included by then - if they were, it was number one in that chart as well) but at least that still featured in the chart.

Star out xmas songs older than 3 years. Would encourage current artists to write new ones

 

 

Ooh new Christmas songs also sounds like a great idea ;)

 

 

They’re better than the majority of modern day chart hits so I don’t get why people moan.

Voted 'no' as it's representative of listening habits this time of year and quality-wise I enjoy listening to a decent chunk of Christmas music myself (although not random playlists, I have my own)

 

(I did go off it all for a few years after working in retail but I'm back in a more positive place now)

It's a tough one, ideally there would be no additional rules or manipulation whatsoever and just track what has sold how much in any given week as used to be but we have seen how terribly stale or ridiculous the charts can get and would still be without things like ACR or the three track rule. I guess it's just very difficult to adapt the traditional singles chart for the streaming era and know where to draw the line.

I think this season was starting slow but boom the ultra cold weather and Omnicrom has made it feel wintry.

 

I dont like the Christmas tracks charting each year but that is what people listen to. I dont think we should pretend that the public are original or discerning enough to listen to stuff other than what they are spoonfed by streaming platforms!

Voted 'no' as it's representative of listening habits this time of year and quality-wise I enjoy listening to a decent chunk of Christmas music myself (although not random playlists, I have my own)

 

(I did go off it all for a few years after working in retail but I'm back in a more positive place now)

 

*raises hand* retail worker! Maybe that's why I don't like the whole thing starting before Halloween's even over... :lol:

No, keep them. It's mildly annoying but I don't like 75% of the songs that are normally in the chart anyway so it's no big loss for me.

 

Plus, the charts are already borderline "OCC Fan fiction" as it is- any further and they may as well just make up the charts every week for headlines instead of them actually reflecting what people are listening to