Yesterday's Music Week sales report, penned by Alan Jones, noted that Bastille's "Pompeii" was the 22nd most popular track of the 21st century, with sales of 2,940,258.

 

The table below shows the probable 21st Century Top 40 Tracks.

 

Edited February 12, 20223 yr by Music Chronicle

We need to find another way of saying "best-selling" don't we

^was thinking the same

What a generally horrendous representation of the 21st century.

Still think they should stop combining sales and streams for total units, it just doesn't make sense. Of course it's necessary for the weekly charts, but it's rendered comparisons with the pre-streaming era absolutely meaningless. No doubt that Shape Of You was a massive record, but it wasn't bigger than Candle In The Wind or Do They Know It's Christmas.

Edited February 12, 20223 yr by AcerBen

they should split it pure sales + streaming points

There has to be some way to combine sales and streams so that, for example, a chart like this doesn't start in 2013 or grind to a halt in 2015. However the ratio of 100:1 (excluding free streams) is far too high in favour of streams. Considering the OCC had introduced ACR with a ratio of 300:1 in July 2017, that would have been the best time to revise the all-time combined sales ratio to a similar level - but they kept it at 100:1 and published the 'millionaires' list a couple of months later, at which point the horse had bolted.

There has to be some way to combine sales and streams so that, for example, a chart like this doesn't start in 2013 or grind to a halt in 2015. However the ratio of 100:1 (excluding free streams) is far too high in favour of streams. Considering the OCC had introduced ACR with a ratio of 300:1 in July 2017, that would have been the best time to revise the all-time combined sales ratio to a similar level - but they kept it at 100:1 and published the 'millionaires' list a couple of months later, at which point the horse had bolted.

I agree with you there. No one likes seeing figures retrospectively changed (we have enough with OCC inconsistencies around pre-1994 sales) but because they left those 3 years alone from before the revised the ratios, they now stick out like a sore thumb.

 

With that aside, this does highlight how much streaming has benefitted classic hits and Christmas music. Expecting our decade end list to be made up around 50% pre-2020 tracks if things don't change soon.

In the same Music Week report, Alan Jones stated that Toto's "Africa" was the 114th track to pass 2 million sales in the 21st century.

 

Here is a full list. The dates signify the year each track passed 2 million.

 

Note there are 115 tracks on the list. Either "Halo" or "See You Again" hasn't quite yet reached this milestone.

 

 

 

 

Surprised The Kooks Naive is on the list, good to see Arctic Monkeys in there.

No doubt that Shape Of You was a massive record, but it wasn't bigger than Candle In The Wind or Do They Know It's Christmas.

'Popularity' is a nebulous concept that can swing various ways depending on what weighting you put where, but I find this very easy to believe and accept to be honest.

Thanks very much for these lists! Bad Habits is over 1.9m so will be joining in a few weeks - only the second song released this decade to do so after Head & Heart.

The thing is, any combined units with a ratio of streaming to sales will always be extremely arbitrary (alongside the difference in paid/free streams). Although I understand the desire for continuity the difference between the sales/streaming eras make any comparison meaningless and the chart itself is distorted with ACR, paid/free streams ratio and the three track rule anyway. Ideally I would just have separate lists (and certifications) for sales and actual streams.

We love to see 'Africa' joining this list :heart:

 

I know both songs were huge so it's not too surprising but it feels odd to see James Bay with 2 songs on that list, he kind of sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the other artists with multiple appearances who all have at least a couple of other big hits on top of those.

Thanks very much for these lists! Bad Habits is over 1.9m so will be joining in a few weeks - only the second song released this decade to do so after Head & Heart.

 

unfortunately.

Unforgettable never fails to give me a migraine - horrendous song

Interesting to think how the pure sales version of this would look.

 

I think Happy is #1 with 1.9 million or so?

Then I think #2 with 1.8 million would be a song that doesn’t feature at all on this list - Evergreen / Anything Is Possible.

Someone Like You would probably be third?

Interesting to think how the pure sales version of this would look.

 

I think Happy is #1 with 1.9 million or so?

Then I think #2 with 1.8 million would be a song that doesn’t feature at all on this list - Evergreen / Anything Is Possible.

 

Crazy to think that according to OCC, Evergreen isn't even in the top 100 biggest singles anymore.

Someone Like You would probably be third?

I know Blurred Lines overtook Someone Like You back in the day but the latter may have re-overtaken.

Think the rest of the Top 10 might be something like:

Uptown Funk

Somebody That I Used To Know

Moves Like Jagger

I Gotta Feeling

We Found Love

Wake Me Up / Get Lucky ?