I still have my receipt from when I bought Now 49 from Woolworths in 2001 and it cost me £14.99

The first Now CD I bought in 2000 was Now 45 and it cost £15.99 from WHSmith, 23 years later and they're around £12 so are probably very well priced given how much everything has gone up in cost over the past few years.

 

 

Now 45 was one of the best ever.

 

I'd love to plot the average chart peak of the tracks on each of the numbered editions, over the years. I'd put money on it peaking in 2000.

Edited October 20, 20231 yr by Colm

When they eventually do Now Yearbook '89 ... could be next year hopefully.

I think the last track on it will be Band Aid II

When they eventually do Now Yearbook '89 ... could be next year hopefully.

I think the last track on it will be Band Aid II

I hope it is and I’m willing to bet that Now Yearbook 1987 will start with George Michael and end with The Pogues. I reckon we will get the next yearbook in January

I have been thinking about this today and I genuinely believe that the series has close to bankrupted itself by going into the Yearbook markets for both CD and Vinyl because they have now made themselves accountable to release two editions (main and extra) for every year since the early 70’s (so far) and found out that they needed licenses for those releases too.

 

To offset the expense of producing a mammoth chronological series of Yearbooks, they have had to push out so many recycled spin-offs and in multiple formats to generate some kind of capital to reinvest into purchasing licenses (maybe for Bruce Springsteen, Pet Shop Boys and others) to keep the yearbook series authentic and accurate to its time, whilst featuring “lesser known/forgotten” tracks that generally didn’t feature in the main series before.

 

All of this therefore makes it an impossible financial task to produce high quality “main” series volumes featuring mainstream UK chart hits, so they just use whatever “filler tracks” they can get hold of by using big name selling power. The result is what we have seen in Now 116 and continues to be the way future volumes are devised too. The tracks used are always dated by the time of the volume’s release and feel cheap (almost akin to the free CD you used to get with a music magazine back in the day).

 

That’s my personal thoughts and I’m sure I’m not the only fan who sees things this way.

It comes back to points I've made previously - the current big hits are too expensive to license for them nowadays and given the fact they are now only selling less and less copies with each release, they can't justify the expense.

They should stop wasting their money on pointless spin-offs and just focus on the yearbooks, the millenniums and the numbered series then they might be able to afford the big hits to license on the numbered series

Edited October 21, 20231 yr by Hadji

They should stop wasting their money on pointless spin-offs and just focus on the yearbooks, the millenniums and the numbered series then they might be able to afford the big hits to license on the numbered series

That’s the problem though, they aren’t wasting money in their view, they are using these pointless spin-offs to fund the licences for the Yearbooks. So as long as average unaware customers see cheap collections of 80’s classics that they think would make a good gift for a mate, they will always put them out in high street shops for the general public to splurge cash on.

 

My fear is that they just aren’t allowing any reinvestment for the main series that is what makes the Now brand what it is today. The quality needs improving and fast.

And also with the yearbooks, they should be sequential with them instead of picking random years out of the hat. If they wanna pick random years out of the hat, they should at least finish off the 80s first then alternate between the 70s and 90s as much as they want

And also with the yearbooks, they should be sequential with them instead of picking random years out of the hat. If they wanna pick random years out of the hat, they should at least finish off the 80s first then alternate between the 70s and 90s as much as they want

 

That last point is pretty much not picking random years out of a hat.

 

Meh, I think people are taking this a little to heart. To me, the numbered Nows have declined in line with the chart itself. It’s been boring and slow moving for years and Now don’t have much to choose from especially when certain artists are holding tracks back. This wasn’t a problem back in the old days as there were still enough hits to go around. I adore the 1998 Nows even though they were missing Celine Dion, Madonna, Five, B*Witched, Pras Michel and Savage Garden. Ditto all the Nows from 2003 though they couldn’t get Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, Dido, The Darkness, Delta Goodrem, Evanescence or Sean Paul. The CDs were still strong but that’s just impossible now. And it’s not really Nows fault, the world has moved on and both compilation albums and the charts being relevant are now things of the past. Now 116 still probably represents 2023 a bit better than the year end chart will.

 

It isn’t surprising at all that they put out the Year Books like they do. Nostalgia is selling, particularly in the bleak world we’re living in. Honestly I’ve given way more spins to Now 02-03 these past few weeks than I did to Now 115 in the Summer.

And the release dates of the numbered Nows were a bit muddled this year. We had Now 114 on 14th April when we should’ve had it on 31st March as they normally release the spring Nows before Easter and not after Easter. I hope when Now 117 gets released next year, that they release it on 22nd March and not anytime after Easter and the Summer Nows now being released a week later than usual as we had Now 112 and Now 115 on 29th and 28th July instead of 22nd and 21st July. The best way to pan out the releases of the numbered Nows is to release them every first Friday in March, July and November

Edited October 22, 20231 yr by Hadji

I'm not going to overthink the state of NOWs. I'm just happy they're still making the Numbered editions, and will probably collect them until they stop (which is gonna be soon if we're honest). So until then, I'm happy.

I’m gutted that P!nk didn’t get included with her Sting collab seeing as she’s a Now favourite

I’m gutted that P!nk didn’t get included with her Sting collab seeing as she’s a Now favourite

As it was released a day after the tracklisting was announced I am not surprised. As I said earlier, it’s been a long time since Now included a very current or future hit on a numbered edition. That’s why the whole thing feels so old and dated by the time of release. No guarantees that song will perform well in the charts anyway as it’s been a while since Marshmello was featured.

As it was released a day after the tracklisting was announced I am not surprised. As I said earlier, it’s been a long time since Now included a very current or future hit on a numbered edition. That’s why the whole thing feels so old and dated by the time of release. No guarantees that song will perform well in the charts anyway as it’s been a while since Marshmello was featured.

Even if it underperforms, they might include it on Now 117 due to P!nk’s involvement in the song. Besides, his Demi Lovato collab appeared on Now 107 despite it missing the top 40

Honestly I’ve given way more spins to Now 02-03 these past few weeks than I did to Now 115 in the Summer.

 

I finally finished listening to this today and loved it, although I really even more would have loved full 2002 and 2003 yearbooks. Brought back some great memories though - a good mix of songs you still hear and songs that I still remember well but never listen to now - Big Brovaz, Lisa Maffia, Lemar and several others.

 

The one thing that did jump out when listening was the Annie Lennox song. I don't recall ever hearing it, and it was a hit nowhere, how was that chosen for this album? Even the John Mayer song makes sense in that it was a US hit that had a fair amount of airplay here and at least charted in the top 50.

Not sure with Annie Lennox. It even states in the booklet that no singles were released from the album. I do think these and the Year Books focus a lot on having ‘big name’ artists on them so perhaps that’s why.

@1717535822478520743

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s no need for these pointless spin-offs. Just focus on the yearbooks, the millennium series and the numbered series and maybe people might start buying them again

Just seen that Prada, So Much In Love and Little Things are gonna appear on the Annual 2024 by MOS. It’s a shame that Now chose not to include those three songs on any of their albums. With Prada, it will hopefully make them include Prada on Now 117 next year

Edited October 27, 20231 yr by Hadji