Shawn Mendes went from a #1 a few years ago to a one week top 40 entry this year. Uncertain whether to write him off yet but his previous song didn't even make top 40 and when the likes of Ed and Harry are dominating he's suffered a little bit. Who knows it might be a little phase but he could be another of those that scores a hit every now and then rather than bagging top 10's/ 20's almost consistently.

Another good one, but as with the female singers, there has been lots of competition for male singers to get hits too with the likes of Tom Grennan, Dermot Kennedy, Sam Fender, Paolo Nutini, The Kid LAROI, Calum Scott, Charlie Puth, Rag’N’Bone Man, James Arthur, Lewis Capaldi and tons of other names that have released in recent months.

 

There isn’t enough room for everyone in the charts, and as we all know songs stick around the Top 40 much longer than a decade ago. So it’s no wonder really that so many artists are genuinely in decline because of the chart rules.

 

Regarding Dua Lipa, I don’t think she has done badly at all even towards the end of her last era, I think it was to be expected given how long the era went on for. I think she should be fine for another era but I don’t think it will perform as well as the last one. It all depends really when she begins it? Would Summer 2023 be the year of Dua maybe?

 

As well as existing artists, I hope we see more new artists get noticed too as it’s hard to name too many breakthrough acts of 2022 that you can see having long-term success. Hopefully Sam Ryder proves me wrong.

I don't think 'We're Good's floppage will affect her, although I do perhaps think she could've done without those two underwhelming collabs she got involved in this year.

 

This! We are not talking about the 6575th singles from FN, but more like that she hasn't chosen very good collaborations to broaden her image as an artist... if anything, the collaborations have shown that she cannot carry anything to top of the charts.

Personally I am worried for Rihanna. Most people seem to think that she will come back and dominate like she always did, but I think it will be hard. Someone in year 7 right now, although it's possible they may know a song like Umbrella from hearing it in places, might not be able to remember experiencing a current Rihanna hit. I don't imagine that Wild Thoughts was popular with young children.

 

Also, on the topic of Rihanna, I don't think you can say that Dua Lipa's career is over because We're Good didn't do as well as expected. Rihanna had many singles that did even worse than We're Good and it didn't hurt her. If you can get at least one massive hit each year along with a few moderate hits each year then you can also have a couple of flops each year, it doesn't really matter.

I get where you're coming from with Rihanna, but so many people know who she is and the likes of We Found Love, Disturbia, Don't Stop The Music, Work amongst many others are still very popular and still played on nights out / on radio to this day.

 

I think she will almost certainly get a big hit when she returns out of interest, it'll just be interesting to see whether it's a big week one hit or it drops off quickly alongside further hits / an album.

I’m sure I’m alone with this opinion, but Adele’s much awaited comeback that happened this year feels like a flash in the pan now. She gave us one ballad pre-album which unsurprisingly did rings around the charts (despite being a tad weaker than her previous lead singles like Someone Like You and Hello), and then once the album was out and everyone had finished streaming every track for some weeks, then she disappears from the charts all over again until the next era comes in another 5 years time we can expect. It just feels very orchestrated and also seems to be very short lived for her era. Again, as I said I know it’s just my view and most on BuzzJack will choose to disagree with me which of course is fine. :P

I’m sure I’m alone with this opinion, but Adele’s much awaited comeback that happened this year feels like a flash in the pan now. She gave us one ballad pre-album which unsurprisingly did rings around the charts (despite being a tad weaker than her previous lead singles like Someone Like You and Hello), and then once the album was out and everyone had finished streaming every track for some weeks, then she disappears from the charts all over again until the next era comes in another 5 years time we can expect. It just feels very orchestrated and also seems to be very short lived for her era. Again, as I said I know it’s just my view and most on BuzzJack will choose to disagree with me which of course is fine. :P

I don't necessarily disagree, but she didn't even TRY. She released one more video for 'Oh My God' and that was .... it. Had she done more performances / promotion in line with previous eras I think the likes of 'Oh My God', 'I Drink Wine' and 'Can I Get It' could have been hits meaning a longer era.

 

I do agree that I'm really not a fan of one album / one single, then done eras. As much as I love Taylor's 'Evermore' and 'Willow' albums, I do prefer a traditional approach to a album era which unfortunately is really rare these days due to the lack of success with post album singles :(.

I get where you're coming from with Rihanna, but so many people know who she is and the likes of We Found Love, Disturbia, Don't Stop The Music, Work amongst many others are still very popular and still played on nights out / on radio to this day.

 

I think she will almost certainly get a big hit when she returns out of interest, it'll just be interesting to see whether it's a big week one hit or it drops off quickly alongside further hits / an album.

If and when Rihanna returns, would we expect her to copy Adele’s formula and put out one big pre-album single and then just let the rest of her music fall by the wayside to an extent by letting people stream the album and not pushing for another big single from the era? It’s sad seeing this happen for some artists but it seems fans want albums before singles so that’s how it works I guess. Mind you Harry Styles has had some incredible success with As It Was and Late Night Talking even after his album was released.

yeah there’s absolutely no chance of rihanna doing promo

she’ll probably go for the new beyoncé method of throwing a single out then dropping the album a month later but without doing any promo for it

I think Rihanna would be willing to do a performance unlike Beyoncé at least, and maybe give visuals. But that's about it, and the performance would likely be on a awards show or somewhere very high profile.

I would say with regards to male artists...

 

Robbie Williams - who used to be the biggest pop start in the country and doesn't really have hit singles now (though his albums do good).

Olly Murs - who used to be a force to be reckoned with in singles and albums.

Justin Timberlake - I think his reputation has taken a knock and apart from the odd feature like the Calvin Harris one, would struggle now.

Zara Larsson.

And now she’s gone and shown everyone she still has a smidgen of relevance left by nabbing another Top 40 single, although it must be said it was a longs and painful struggle to do so which doesn’t bode too well for future releases. Plus of course it’s as a feature too not as a single in her own right.

I really hate the term ‘irrelevant’ as it’s so dismissive but I can’t think of a better term for what we’re discussing.

 

I do think there’s a case that what goes up must come down but there are always exceptions. And even when artists do stop making the top 40, does that make them irrelevant? Madonna and Kylie can’t do it anymore but were managing it for over twenty five years. Pink had been getting top 40s for over twenty years but I’m doubtful we will see this continue. I’d argue these artists have solidified their relevance even if they can’t get a top 40 hit.

 

But I guess my real question is: is the chart actually relevant? If so, to whom? And if not, when did it lose its relevance? It seems to me that it’s a reflection of the listening habits of a minority and incorporates way too much passive listening. I’m not sure ‘relevance’ is as easy to measure as it perhaps used to be.

 

But someone somewhere, please stop Ed Sheeran being ‘relevant’.

I don't necessarily disagree, but she didn't even TRY. She released one more video for 'Oh My God' and that was .... it. Had she done more performances / promotion in line with previous eras I think the likes of 'Oh My God', 'I Drink Wine' and 'Can I Get It' could have been hits meaning a longer era.

 

To be fair, Adele cancelling her Vegas residency last minute completely ruined the era. She went into total silence for many months after that. The music video for "I Drink Wine" exists, so maybe they will release that/push it as a single this autumn/winter to coincide with her new Vegas dates.

I do agree with Toby to an extent, charts do not mean relevance nowadays. There are so many acts who sell out tours but don't do anything commercially at all, even pop acts like Madison Beer sold out all her shows and has a massive fanbase. You have acts like Yungblud, Halsey, Holly Humberstone and the list goes on who don't do well in the charts but due their live presence always do well with tours and have solid fanbases.

I do agree with Toby to an extent, charts do not mean relevance nowadays. There are so many acts who sell out tours but don't do anything commercially at all, even pop acts like Madison Beer sold out all her shows and has a massive fanbase. You have acts like Yungblud, Halsey, Holly Humberstone and the list goes on who don't do well in the charts but due their live presence always do well with tours and have solid fanbases.

Oh yes that’s a good point, not all artists are about getting chart hits, and that fact alone doesn’t make them any less relevant but the chart has always been a gauge of what is trending on streaming platforms and what people are downloading. I understand that times change and will continue to in the future which will likely mean artists who were chart dominant before are much less so in the future. Not all artists have to push the commercial singles to gain a chart hit, but it used to be the fun of releasing a new single to see where it peaks, but if people stop caring about that then eventually artists will stop caring too. Perhaps the official UK charts are deemed by many artists to be a much more insurmountable goal to achieve than years gone by and that would put them off promo and other activities to help gain traction.

 

I hope that some of the names you mentioned there Jack will manage to get at least one hit to their name during their career, even just a minor one, it would be a small token of appreciation for all that they have done as a recording artist.

It's almost quicker to ask, which acts who started before 2010 have not lost their singles chart relevance (excluding old Christmas songs and one-off revivals of classics like Kate Bush):

 

David Guetta, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, OneRepublic, Lady Gaga, Adele, Elton John (with help from friends), Calvin Harris, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, P!nk...there aren't many though.

 

Even fewer pre 2000s, which shows the ageism of the industry now I guess. Because in the 90s there were quite a few 60s and early 70s stars still having hits.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

Chart success doesn't always mean proper relevancy either. Did Billy Ray Cyrus become relevant with Old Town Road? Is Tom Odell more relevant now than a year ago just because Another Love is popular on Tiktok?

There aren't too many I can think of that had chart dominance and lost it. The only prominent ones I can think of are Charlie Puth, James Arthur and Sam Smith (who is non binary anyway) and even they still get the odd hit here and there.

 

Plenty with chart dominance have lost it:

Robbie Williams

Will Young

Olly Murs

Paul McCartney

Rolling Stones

Daniel Bedinfield

Mark Ronson

Shawn Mendes

Justin Timberlake?

Maroon 5?

Gary Barlow

Take That

Coldplay - only top 10 was a collab

Elton John - didn’t chart for years then only has done really due to the collabs

Blue

Backstreet Boys

 

They are just off the top of my head

Plenty with chart dominance have lost it:

Robbie Williams

Will Young

Olly Murs

Paul McCartney

Rolling Stones

Daniel Bedinfield

Mark Ronson

Shawn Mendes

Justin Timberlake?

Maroon 5?

Gary Barlow

Take That

Coldplay - only top 10 was a collab

Elton John - didn’t chart for years then only has done really due to the collabs

Blue

Backstreet Boys

 

They are just off the top of my head

I was talking recently but thanks.

Pet Shop Boys has lost popularity and they are my all time favourite band.