I think Elton has more to do with that than Britney. He was coming off the back of a big number one hit with the same schtik.

Hold Me Closer definitely got a lot of publicity and interest for being Britney's first single in years (and, notably, since the end of her conservatorship). I'd argue most of the interest came from Britney because it wasn't like anything else from Elton's album garnered much interest (After All, a collab with Charlie Puth, didn't make the top 100 for example and that was the direct follow-up to Cold Heart). The fact it's a rework of a huge Elton classic will have helped but I think much of it can be put down to Britney's name, at least for the initial interest.

Avril Lavigne is definitely still relevant, Ellie Goulding is declining however has just had a number one album and likely to have another this year.

 

Ellie has lucked her way into a No.1 single via Amazon a few years ago and now a big feature.

 

I would say she is relevant, just about, but it’s a grey area despite those hits.

 

Could add Shania Twain? The album didn’t exactly hang around for ages but she’s been everywhere recently as if she’s the star of the moment, and it was a No.1 in a blaze of publicity. Again, it’s a borderline case.

Also Oasis I will add to this. If they reformed tomorrow they’d sell out a huge tour and probably get a top ten single quite easily. Maybe Liam and Noel should be here for their solo efforts too.

Also Oasis I will add to this. If they reformed tomorrow they’d sell out a huge tour and probably get a top ten single quite easily. Maybe Liam and Noel should be here for their solo efforts too.

 

Well...

 

https://news.sky.com/story/oasis-fans-think...mments-12840208

Shakira? Just had a #31

 

Shania Twain? Just had a #1 album this year

 

Muse, certainly on albums.

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers & Kings of Leon for albums

 

Sorry, just posting as I think of them at work - should have done one consolidated post!

1978 Kate Bush

also if she counts then the other beneficiaries of Stranger Things, Metallica certainly do (and unlike Bush they’re actually touring and releasing new music - they have an album next month which I expect will go number one)

It feels like there are lots of legacy acts that can manage album chart success, it's difficult to see where you would draw the line really. And I'm not sure that album chart success, in the form of a short lived #1 or #2 hit there really equates to relevance these days.

 

 

It's difficult to see past P!nk, Beyoncé, Eminem and Coldplay as being acts from around the turn of the century that are still relevant enough to consistently have hit albums and singles these days. There's a second tier that the likes of Kylie and Gorillaz fall into where they will have a few top 75/100 singles and a reasonably big album.

 

We've then got a third layer of relevance that the likes of Radiohead would have in terms of consistent success in albums but pretty much no chance of a single doing well. Beyond that we're getting into the territory of acts that peak highly with albums because there's a distinct lack of competition and the legacy appeal of physical sales temporarily outdo the streaming approach for newer acts - I'd even include the likes of Muse potentially in this category - and definitely think people like Shania Twain fall into here.

 

 

And somewhere among all of that we have the final category of those who still chart every week with an album of greatest hits that was released about 30-50 years ago - I'd class Oasis as being in this category at the moment along with the obvious ones like Queen/ABBA/Fleetwood Mac

Shocked nobody’s mentioned Mariah yet, Big Energy was a big hit last year mostly due to her. Under the right circumstances she can definitely still chart highly and she’s far from irrelevant

Hold Me Closer definitely got a lot of publicity and interest for being Britney's first single in years (and, notably, since the end of her conservatorship). I'd argue most of the interest came from Britney because it wasn't like anything else from Elton's album garnered much interest (After All, a collab with Charlie Puth, didn't make the top 100 for example and that was the direct follow-up to Cold Heart). The fact it's a rework of a huge Elton classic will have helped but I think much of it can be put down to Britney's name, at least for the initial interest.

 

Agree with this. I’m sure all the initial interest was down to Britney being involved.

It feels like there are lots of legacy acts that can manage album chart success, it's difficult to see where you would draw the line really. And I'm not sure that album chart success, in the form of a short lived #1 or #2 hit there really equates to relevance these days.

It's difficult to see past P!nk, Beyoncé, Eminem and Coldplay as being acts from around the turn of the century that are still relevant enough to consistently have hit albums and singles these days. There's a second tier that the likes of Kylie and Gorillaz fall into where they will have a few top 75/100 singles and a reasonably big album.

 

We've then got a third layer of relevance that the likes of Radiohead would have in terms of consistent success in albums but pretty much no chance of a single doing well. Beyond that we're getting into the territory of acts that peak highly with albums because there's a distinct lack of competition and the legacy appeal of physical sales temporarily outdo the streaming approach for newer acts - I'd even include the likes of Muse potentially in this category - and definitely think people like Shania Twain fall into here.

And somewhere among all of that we have the final category of those who still chart every week with an album of greatest hits that was released about 30-50 years ago - I'd class Oasis as being in this category at the moment along with the obvious ones like Queen/ABBA/Fleetwood Mac

 

Agreed, you've laid it out perfectly. I think that any legacy act these days that is getting a second week in the top 10 with their new album (or near enough, like Shania and Gorillaz) is doing pretty well in the ongoing relevance stakes, as they're selling outside their immediate fanbase.

 

Many are relevant to one of these categories and I don't think anyone will ever agree on all of these, but was curious to see the suggestions.

 

Even fewer are relevant after 20 years to both the singles AND albums chart, and P!nk, Beyoncé, Eminem and Coldplay are pretty much it, throw in David Guetta and Tiësto too thanks to their apparent ghost producer supported longevity.

 

So it's pretty hard to predict who of the current chart will still be having hit singles in 20 years from now, particularly outside Taylor who I'm quite certain will. If Ed doesn't evolve musically soon, I think his music will have a shelf life eventually.

Hmmmm, in 20 years Taylor will be over 50 and 35 years into her career. I'd definitely say she's safe for the next 10 years at least!

I sort of see her going way into the distance somehow, like Janis Joplin longevity. I'm not sure why but I get that vibe.

Well if Christmas counts then surely Kelly Clarkson she even had a new Christmas one do well recently

Me too. Some even day she's the next Madonna!!

 

Rihanna fell off after American Oxygen gave her a true taste of floppage.

 

GaGa fell off a bit due to early career pretentiousness and never really recovered. She will probably score a couple top 10s each album, yave a moderately big album, but nothing like pre-BTW/ Judarse/ Artpop/ Joanne. More Cher-style career than Madonna.

 

Katy Perry - woah mamma!

 

Nelly Furtado - woah mamma!

 

Britney and Christina - Madonna was right years ago when she said she didn't see them having longevity like herself.

 

Ariana is still too new to say.

 

That leaves Beyoncé and Taylor as the only current Madonnas.

With albums it is indeed tricky, but I’d say 30+k sales first week and then no less than around 10 weeks in the top-100? Or smaller initial sales but a longer tail. That should rule out the legacy acts which only sell on week 1.

With albums it is indeed tricky, but I’d say 30+k sales first week and then no less than around 10 weeks in the top-100? Or smaller initial sales but a longer tail. That should rule out the legacy acts which only sell on week 1.

It’s tricky though, as you’ve also got artists like The Wombats and Foals who’s album sales are just “good”, but do dip after week 1, but they still sell out big venues/festivals - and their new stuff does decent numbers on streaming.

In the modern era, I think it is hard for ANYONR to completely flop out of TOTAL relevance. Even Katy Perry still gets Just Rats commercials and can do concerts; her chart performance, however, is done and done.

Just Eats*

 

Even Spicy Girls, who are amongst the biggest flop bands in the charts these days, can do a MASSIVR WORLDWIDR TOUR!! Also S Club 7, also massive chart flops, are going on tour.

That said, the album chart in such a dire state that it is very hard to get what is 'album chart relevant' these days.

 

These are the albums which have spend from 3 to 52 weeks in the top-100 as of right now:

04 05 04 P!nk ~ Trustfall

05 07 43 Harry Styles ~ Harry's House

07 06 14 SZA ~ SOS

08 08 21 Taylor Swift ~ Midnights

24 33 15 Metro Boomin ~ Heroes & Villains

27 30 32 Eminem ~ Curtain Call 2

28 11 03 Gorillaz ~ Cracker Island

46 49 33 Beyoncé ~ Renaissance

47 50 20 Foo Fighters ~ The Essential Foo Fighters

49 53 18 Ella Henderson ~ Everything I Didn't Say

54 56 40 XXXTentacion ~ Look At Me: The Album

58 55 19 Drake and 21 Savage ~ Her Loss

71 RE 05 Lizzo ~ Special

72 73 09 Clavish ~ Rap Game Awful

77 83 21 Nicki Minaj ~ Queen Radio, Vol. 1

87 RE 39 George Ezra ~ Gold Rush Kid

88 78 49 The Weeknd ~ Dawn FM

89 97 22 Madonna ~ Finally Enough Love

90 98 25 D-Block Europe ~ Lap 5

94 100 42 The Smiths ~ The Sound of The Smiths

95 91 22 The 1975 ~ Being Funny In A Foreign Language

 

From this list some of them are compilations, the others are driven by the streaming.

I think I could tell that from the acts that don't do well on the singles front, Gorillaz are still relevant from this list, but then, they'll probably fall out of the top-100 within a month, no more.

P!nk and Beyonce's albums are genuine hits, but then again, they did well in the singles.

 

There is simply next to no continued (physical) album sales success anymore.

 

That makes me want to look at the album SALES chart. All of the top-10 is no more than 4 weeks old, with 6 new entries.

Looking down, there are lingering classic albums charting for 100+ weeks and the new-ish compilations from classic artists.

I see the continued album sales from the new albums from:

Harry's House (#11, 43 weeks),

Midnights (#23, 21 weeks),

Ocean of Me (#24, 6 weeks),

Only The Strong Survive by Bruce Springsteen (#32, 18 weeks),

Gold Rush Kid by George Ezra (#38, 40 weeks),

Gloria by Sam Smith (#41, 7 weeks)

Wet Leg by Wet Leg (#43, 49 weeks)

There's Nothing But Space, Man (#55, 14 weeks)

Seventeen Going Under (#59, 75 weeks) - I included this, as it's his latest album

= by Ed Sheeran (#66, 72 weeks)

Hugo by Loyle Carner (#67, 10 weeks)

Beatopia by Beebadoobee (#69, 10 weeks)

 

So from this list I'd definitely nominate Bruce Springsteen, as he clearly continues selling albums in the long run.