November 30, 20213 yr I say keep them in. The worst thing about Christmas music for me is that we get no exciting new releases for a whole month. Getting rid of Christmas songs on the charts isn’t going to change that and if they’re some of the most streamed/sold songs of the week then they deserve to chart highly.
November 30, 20213 yr It’s possible it could change that though, I would imagine artists are more inclined to release a song at a time when they’re not guaranteed to be stuck behind 40 Christmas tracks. I’m torn on it. I’m all for the charts reflecting what’s most popular but I can’t help but feel they are buoyed by shops and bars etc basically playing them on a loop from a streaming platform. It’s such a limited choice that it essentially has more of a concentrated effect than with any other type of song.
November 30, 20213 yr On the other hand, having some virality in December builds a perfect platform for post-Christmas climb.
November 30, 20213 yr I would like them to remove streams of songs that were chose by the streaming site's algorithm. Those songs don't actually reflect the listeners choice. If you select or queue a song or even select a playlist, then these should be counted, but corporation-decided listens shouldn't count towards the chart at any time of the year. I think the Ellie Goulding #1 is a perfect example of how they can game the system.
November 30, 20213 yr No for the reasons listed above but also subjectively for me Christmas songs generally massively lift the quality of the charts (feel good, upbeat pop tunes >>>) and make them more interesting. Like without them I'm sure the next month's top 10 would just be Ed Sheeran lingering around still even on ACR, the likes of Flowers and Coming For You climbing and Adele very easily staying at the top. The battle for Mariah to get the #1 made for some of the more exciting charts over the last few years, and its nice to see the likes of Kelly Clarkson getting another unexpected top 20 hit. But yeah if I hated Xmas music I can definitely see how its annoying. Something like a top 3 Xmas tracks rule could work but problems with the ambiguity of some "Christmas" songs would definitely come up.
November 30, 20213 yr when you think about it, it's crazy that we're you're at the mall or at a supermarket, the background music counts for the chart if they're streaming via Spotify for instance
November 30, 20213 yr I think with the Christmas songs it’s a good illustration for how ACR really wasn’t and isn’t the solution to the charts and trying to speed things up. If they are monopolising the chart with those rules applied, the way streaming is counted needs to completely change. Permanent capping is the only way forward imho.
November 30, 20213 yr Author ^ True - maybe with permanent capping the impact would be much more muted. And if it’s genuinely new people discovering the old songs that’s fine as those streams deserve to count.
November 30, 20213 yr a lifetime cap would sure help, I for one have streamed Mariah’s song over a hundred times yet when I give her about ten plays again this year it’ll still count to the chart even though I’d already given the song a whole sale. but in the other hand every year you’ll get a load of kids discovering the song for the first time or people new to a streaming service.
November 30, 20213 yr It’s only once a year - it’s not like they chart 24/7 like Mr. Brightside. I'd probably say it's more 5 or 6 times a year than once.
November 30, 20213 yr So far, AIWFCIY has spent two weeks at #1 and LC one week. And because they are on ACR, they are not guaranteed to be at #1 anyway this year with Ed/Elton and LadBaby releasing. Either of them might get a week if lucky. I still think in the big picture, the problem isn't as huge as some of you see it.
November 30, 20213 yr I love the fact that old classics and overlooked songs can get new peaks I just dislike the 4-5 week clear out, if it was 2 weeks every year then it would be better. But on the flip side the charts should reflect what people are buying and listening too even if that is through pressing repeat on a playlist for the next month.
November 30, 20213 yr I think with the Christmas songs it’s a good illustration for how ACR really wasn’t and isn’t the solution to the charts and trying to speed things up. If they are monopolising the chart with those rules applied, the way streaming is counted needs to completely change. Permanent capping is the only way forward imho. It's perhaps going on a tangent to this poll (for which I voted no), but my thinking on the streaming cap idea is that I'm sure the OCC would have at least trialled it by now if they had the means to do so. Either they would need to collect and process a lot more data than they currently do, or entrust the application of caps by song:user to the streaming companies - whose interests may be elsewhere. That aside, the cap could have some peculiar effects when it comes to Christmas songs. Say the cap is 20 and I've given Mariah 50 plays and The Pogues 60 plays already, my customary 7 or 8 plays this year will count for nothing. However on the 4 occasions that I succumb to the depths of Christmas Hits (or whatever it's called), a load of songs I don't particularly care for (Mistletoe, the Home Alone theme, some cover version of White Christmas) get 4 plays added to their totals. And the same again next year, and the year after, until I've played almost every Christmas song on offer at least 20 times and therefore 'bought' them all as much as possible whether I like them or not - some will just take longer to get there.
November 30, 20213 yr I actually think permenant capping might be the best solution to this and other chart issues. If it’s logistically possible without corruption then that is probably the way forward. The streaming sale ratios would have to be adjusted in line with the cap though I imagine, otherwise we would end up with some very low sales. Edited November 30, 20213 yr by Dot Branning
November 30, 20213 yr Author It's perhaps going on a tangent to this poll (for which I voted no), but my thinking on the streaming cap idea is that I'm sure the OCC would have at least trialled it by now if they had the means to do so. Either they would need to collect and process a lot more data than they currently do, or entrust the application of caps by song:user to the streaming companies - whose interests may be elsewhere. That aside, the cap could have some peculiar effects when it comes to Christmas songs. Say the cap is 20 and I've given Mariah 50 plays and The Pogues 60 plays already, my customary 7 or 8 plays this year will count for nothing. However on the 4 occasions that I succumb to the depths of Christmas Hits (or whatever it's called), a load of songs I don't particularly care for (Mistletoe, the Home Alone theme, some cover version of White Christmas) get 4 plays added to their totals. And the same again next year, and the year after, until I've played almost every Christmas song on offer at least 20 times and therefore 'bought' them all as much as possible whether I like them or not - some will just take longer to get there. Both good points. On your first one - the streaming companies presumably already need to do the 10 per user daily capping so hopefully it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to add a permanent cap. In fact you could even get rid of the daily cap and just say that (say) 20 streams whenever is a sale. That strikes me as easier to monitor than a daily cap anyway (though I could be missing something of course). As for unintended consequences, I bet they’d be relatively minor and you’d still get Mariah and Wham! beating the other Christmas songs just from new listeners discovering them (though they’d all be lower down probably). I think the problem is that it would be such a different model to the one used now that it would be a very bold step to rip up the rule book and start again. I guess they’d have to run both charts side by side for a while and see if it was having the desired effect. Maybe they already are doing something like that - who knows? Sorry I know I’m not strictly sticking to my own thread’s topic! 😅
November 30, 20213 yr Yes sorry I was going on a bit of a tangent there but yes one easy way to implement it would be removing the daily cap and replacing it with a final one. Sure it wouldn’t stop people that are discovering or playing Xmas hits for the first time counting but we wouldn’t have a top 40 that has only a handful of non-festive songs in each year. I personally didn’t mind the big flood of Xmas songs the first couple of years, it was a nice change but it’s now becoming increasingly tedious.
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