I really think the sales of the numbered albums must have got so dire that they just can't afford the licenses to as many of the bigger hits anymore, so they have to pick and choose who they take and who they leave. It's a shame there's no competitor compilation anymore to mop up the others.

 

At this point I would definitely stick to two editions a year to try and reduce the extreme filler by being able to include more top ten hits and to buy more time to get licenses for more of the bigger hits. The brand is being diluted far too much now, hardly any of Disc 2 were major hits, or hits of any sort really.

 

Having said that, on a selfish level there's a lot of songs among the flops that I'm happy to have on CD. But as a series that promises the hits, it is now failing in its purpose.

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by gooddelta

the hottest hits from recent sales and airplay charts.

 

This feels more pertinent. Not sure I've seen that tagline before but makes more sense than them just claiming everything is a 'hit'

Well you could say the non-streaming hits were sales only hits. Some of those were at least No.1 (or close enough) on itunes.

I think it's could they include those artists which don't get the streams to make the Official Top 40 (or even Top 100).

It's a good mix of official chart and non-streaming hits.

 

And some of those non-streaming acts are no stranger to numbered NOW albums so it's good to see them increase the number

of NOWs they appear on.

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by Mark.

They should start issuing the numbered Nows on vinyl and have it new for 2024. I hope Now 117 gets filled with songs which missed Now 116 ie. Water, Greedy, Prada

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by Hadji

I really think the sales of the numbered albums must have got so dire that they just can't afford the licenses to as many of the bigger hits anymore, so they have to pick and choose who they take and who they leave. It's a shame there's no competitor compilation anymore to mop up the others.

 

At this point I would definitely stick to two editions a year to try and reduce the extreme filler by being able to include more top ten hits and to buy more time to get licenses for more of the bigger hits. The brand is being diluted far too much now, hardly any of Disc 2 were major hits, or hits of any sort really.

 

Having said that, on a selfish level there's a lot of songs among the flops that I'm happy to have on CD. But as a series that promises the hits, it is now failing in its purpose.

It feels like trying to get blood out of a stone every time now. They are trying to get name power to sell compilations rather than the hits themselves. For Calvin Harris to be Disc 1 Track 1 with a weaker single that didn’t perform particularly well compared to his earlier #1 is the wrong move. There really is far, far too much filler on this volume, it is not “The Best Of The Best” in any sense of the phrase. It’s extremely disappointing that both the sequencing and the balance of quality along with current hits with lesser known pop songs is so infiltrated into the fabric of what this series is about now. I agree that revenue must be so dire from the main series to warrant expensive licences for big hits.

 

Two discs might mean less music each year, but there’s better chance of it being good music with much less filler.

 

When I look back in years to come, Now 116 is not how I will remember the music of 2023 and that’s the biggest tragedy for me going forward with this compilation series.

This feels more pertinent. Not sure I've seen that tagline before but makes more sense than them just claiming everything is a 'hit'

Not good enough. Scraping the barrel to include a 12 year old Lana Del Rey track that barely even took off in 2023 is not an excuse to not break the bank to find better quality.

 

They should start issuing the numbered Nows on vinyl and have it new for 2024. I hope Now 117 gets filled with songs which missed Now 116 ie. Water, Greedy, Prada

 

I don't think this would be possible due to vinyl lead times. Kylie mentioned somewhere recently that for Tension she had to deliver the album to her label about six months before it was released so the vinyls would be ready in time.

 

The only way they could do this is release it a few months after the CD. They could alternatively do a mop up 'Now Annual' kind of vinyl at the end of the year with hits from the first 8 months of the year maybe, it would probably be quite representative as most of the year's biggest hits do come in the first two thirds of the year. Not sure how well it would sell though as most Now vinyl collectors prefer the older music to the newer stuff.

I don't think this would be possible due to vinyl lead times. Kylie mentioned somewhere recently that for Tension she had to deliver the album to her label about six months before it was released so the vinyls would be ready in time.

 

The only way they could do this is release it a few months after the CD. They could alternatively do a mop up 'Now Annual' kind of vinyl at the end of the year with hits from the first 8 months of the year maybe, it would probably be quite representative as most of the year's biggest hits do come in the first two thirds of the year. Not sure how well it would sell though as most Now vinyl collectors prefer the older music to the newer stuff.

If they can’t fit all of the songs from a numbered Now onto vinyl, they could at least have a selection of the biggest songs for the vinyl edition. Bit odd not including any of Chase & Status' hits such as Liquor & Cigarettes or Baddadan but they got included on Now 112 for no reason

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by Hadji

Mixed Emotions spent several weeks in the charts and peaked at #44. I wouldn't say that's including them for "no reason" when several tracks make these Now albums that haven't even graced the chart.

Mixed Emotions spent several weeks in the charts and peaked at #44. I wouldn't say that's including them for "no reason" when several tracks make these Now albums that haven't even graced the chart.

Still, both their current two top 40 hits missed out and I’m not referring to Disconnect. Prada missed out probably due to DBE having joint top billing

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by Hadji

Still, both their current two top 40 hits missed out and I’m not referring to Disconnect. Prada missed out probably due to DBE having joint top billing

Baddadan and L&C are probably just a bit too 'loud' for it. It's pretty clear more than ever that they're going for a Radio 2 audience with the Now albums.

 

Perhaps it is cheaper to get the 'Radio 2' songs, but I can imagine Rick Astley appearing is more likely to attract a CD purchaser in 2023 than D-Block Europe or Gunna.

It's pretty clear more than ever that they're going for a Radio 2 audience with the Now albums

Well if they’re going for a radio 2 audience, then there’s also no need to edit out explicit lyrics as they wanna appeal more to the older audiences and besides, the younger audiences who use streaming will come across the explicit lyrics on the songs so a bit pointless to edit explicit lyrics out too. The reason for the clean lyrics is for the younger audiences

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by Hadji

Baddadan and L&C are probably just a bit too 'loud' for it. It's pretty clear more than ever that they're going for a Radio 2 audience with the Now albums.

 

Perhaps it is cheaper to get the 'Radio 2' songs, but I can imagine Rick Astley appearing is more likely to attract a CD purchaser in 2023 than D-Block Europe or Gunna.

Whilst factually correct, and perhaps the gullible of us all should have seen this coming a mile away, but this does actually feel a little more than usual filler than we are used to seeing, it feels cheap and doesn’t account for almost over half of the songs that actually were mainstream in the UK over the summertime. That’s why I said in years to come you will look back at volumes like this one and question what exactly 2023 was all about as the volumes no longer give an accurate account of what were the most popular songs of the time.

10 top 10 hits could be a new low for Now? I guess a couple of songs could become top 10 hits in the future at a stretch.

10 top 10 hits could be a new low for Now? I guess a couple of songs could become top 10 hits in the future at a stretch.

It’s sad how we have these same complaints every time a new main volume is released. It’s always filled with negativity and never anything positive to reflect on. Our staple compilation series is simply not what it used to be and no longer lives up to the core values of what the first 100 volumes did which is to celebrate the most successful releases of the time and highlight rising stars of the future. I recall for many volumes of the past we had a song included that had not even been released before the tracklisting was announced. Nowadays they have to search back over 12 months ago to find a song to include because suddenly the licence is more within their budget to acquire. There’s never any focus on the future and that’s what makes every volume feel so dated by the time of its release due to the average age of the tracks included.

Must admit I thought Now 115 was the best in a long while, the opening few songs include many of my favourites of the year, it included long running No.1s like Miracle and Flowers, seemed relatively well sequenced and featured something like 15 top 10 hits (albeit bumped up by the Eurovision songs).

 

But the winter releases always traditionally used to be the strongest and this is just...the weakest in a long time, not just the choice of songs but the terrible sequencing. What reason can there be to put Desire first instead of Strangers or Vampire? Unless Calvin's team insisted on it.

Upon a request from Wardy, here's the tracklist to the current German Now equivalent, Bravo Hits 123 - they are going through a kind of similar scenario in that a lot of the songs on here aren't big hits in Germany, but they do tend to feature the absolute biggest mostly somewhere among the tracklist each time.

 

Disc 1

 

1 9 bis 9 - SIRA, Bausa, badchieff

2 Strangers - Grace, Kenya

3 Something On My Mind - Purple Disco Machine, Duke Dumont, Nothing But Thieves / Nothing But Thieves

4 Summertime - Kontra K feat. Lana Del Rey

5 Lifeline - Glockenbach, Ella Henderson

6 Oxigeno - Soler, Alvaro

7 ITALODISCO - Kolors, The

8 Me and My Guitar - Jones, Jax, Fireboy DML

9 Car Keys (Ayla) - Alok & Ava Max

10 One in a Million - Rexha, Bebe & David Guetta

11 Genug - Forster, Mark

12 At Your Worst - Scott, Calum

13 Mr Right - Stephens, Mae, Meghan Trainor

14 Herzfeind - Montez

15 Driving To Nowhere - Evans, Nathan

16 Body Count - Derulo, Jason

17 Cupid - FIFTY FIFTY

18 Fast Car - Combs, Luke

19 Lipstick - Puth, Charlie

20 Tuff Cookie - Fox, Peter

21 June - BECKS

22 nie wieder normal - CRO, Blumengarten

23 Blindside - Arthur, James

24 vampire - Rodrigo, Olivia

 

Disc 2

 

1 Cynical - twocolors, Safri Duo, Chris de Sarandy

2 Dive - Lost Frequencies, Tom Gregory / Gregory, Tom

3 EWIGKEIT - REMIX - erobe, KXXMA, Lyfrix

4 Not Fair - Niklas Dee & Old Jim feat. Enny-Mae

5 Smash My Heart - Schulz, Robin

6 Schmetterling - Baby B3ns

7 Coming Home - YouNotUs, Shift K3Y feat. Norma Jean Martine

8 All For Love - Jaehn, Felix feat. Sandro Cavazza

9 Good Life - FAST BOY

10 Endless Summer - Walker, Alan, Zak Abel

11 Push Up (Pusher Babe) - Creeds & Summer Cem feat. Domiziana

12 Rock My Body - R3HAB, INNA, Sash!

13 Revolution - Alle Farben

14 Phone - MEDUZA feat. Sam Tompkins, Em Beihold

15 MIND YOUR BUSINESS - will.i.am & Britney Spears

16 Love Like This - ZAYN

17 Ghost Town - VIZE, Joris Sava, July

18 Drifting - Tiesto

19 mietfrei - Ski Aggu, SIRA

20 About You Now (How I Feel) - Niklas Dee, Luca-Dante Spadafora

21 Unendlichkeit - MilleniumKid, JBS BEATS

22 Changes - Santos, Nico, ClockClock

23 Enough Is Enough - Malone, Post

24 Lightning - Wees, Zoe

 

Also, Bravo do a mop up release at the end of each year, around half of which is the biggest stuff that has appeared on the numbered albums, and the other half of which are new, more recent big hits or other stuff they couldn't license earlier in the year and can by this point. I love these albums, as they're very comprehensive, I wish Now would do the same at the end of the year. Bravo The Hits 2023 is out on 10th November, and note the inclusion of some songs that Now didn't get, like Sprinter, Prada and Popular...

 

Disc 1

 

1 Miley Cyrus – Flowers

2 Udo Lindenberg x Apache 207 – Komet

3 Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, Savage 21 – Creepin'

4 RAYE, 070 Shake – Escapism.

5 SZA – Kill Bill

6 Peter Fox feat. Inéz – Zukunft Pink

7 Nina Chuba – Mangos mit Chilli

8 cassö, RAYE, D-Block Europe – Prada

9 Peggy Gou – (It Goes Like) Nanana - Edit

10 Purple Disco Machine, Kungs – Substitution

11 Tiesto – Lay Low

12 twocolors, Safri Duo, Chris de Sarandy – Cynical

13 Loreen – Tattoo

14 David Guetta & Bebe Rexha – I'm Good (Blue)

15 Rubi, FABE BROWN – Only 4 Life - Remix

16 Jonas Blue, Felix Jaehn – Weekends

17 Jax Jones, Calum Scott – Whistle

18 Lost Frequencies, Elley Duhé, X Ambassadors – Back To You

19 Coi Leray – Players

20 The Weeknd, Playboi Carti & Madonna – Popular

21 Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake – Keep Going Up

22 Sia – Gimme Love

23 Central Cee – Let Go

24 Ayliva Feat. Mero – Sie weiß

25 Dean Lewis – How Do I Say Goodbye

 

Disc 2

 

1 Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red

2 Ed Sheeran – Eyes Closed

3 Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For

4 David Kushner – Daylight

5 Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire

6 Linkin' Park – Lost

7 P!nk – Trustfall

8 Milky Chance – Living In A Haze

9 Michael Schulte, R3HAB – Waterfall

10 Kenya Grace – Strangers

11 Post Malone – Chemical

12 Lune, CÉLINE – Komm in meine Arme

13 Selena Gomez – Single Soon

14 Nico Santos, FAST BOY – Where You Are

15 Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – Miracle

16 Kontra K, Lana Del Rey – Summertime

17 Robin Schulz, RAF Camora, Montez, Dario Rodriguez – Vorbei

18 Niklas Dee, Old Jim, EnnyMae – Not Fair

19 BENNETT – Vois sur ton chemin - Techno Mix

20 Empire Of The Sun, southstar – We Are The People - southstar Remix

21 Luca-Dante Spadafora, Niklas Dee, Octavian, Peter Plate – Mädchen auf dem Pferd

22 SIRA, Bausa, badchieff – 9 bis 9

23 badmomzjay & Domiziana – Auf die Party

24 Creeds – Push Up - Main Edit

25 Dave, Central Cee – Sprinter

Edited October 19, 20231 yr by gooddelta

Now need to take note on compiling a strong tracklist. Thought they’d learn their lesson seeing as Now 115 stalled at #2. They should also reduce the price of the current volumes from £12 to £10

Edited October 20, 20231 yr by Hadji

Now need to take note on compiling a strong tracklist. Thought they’d learn their lesson seeing as Now 115 stalled at #2. They should also reduce the price of the current volumes from £12 to £10

 

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.

I think they’re very reasonably priced. Bravo Hits in Germany retails at about €22 on release, which is about £19, and very often features quite a few current mega hits still riding high as of the week of release.

 

For a quality product with more hits that is only selling to a small audience and isn’t a mass consumption product to benefit from economies of scale (as it did until about 2015), the price has to be kept higher. You could even argue that they could charge £17 for it, add about 10 more hits and lose some of the filler, and the albums would make the same revenue probably as while the remaining casuals would drift away, there’s probably a core fanbase of about 7-8k who buy every numbered release whatever.

Edited October 20, 20231 yr by gooddelta

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.