I wouldn't mind them making a separate chart over the Christmas period which removes old Christmas songs just to be able to see what's going on during the month behind the impenetrable wall of Christmas hits (I suspect not a lot, but it could have clued us in a bit earlier to some of the songs that seemed to pop into the chart out of nowhere in the post Christmas exodus this year like Øneheart, Libianca and Miguel) but I think it'd be a bit of a joke to make that the canonical 'official chart'.

no one is suggesting we stop people listening to Christmas music at Christmas time, what some of us would prefer is if all the old Christmas music (and otherwise old music) get moved to a separate catalogue chart so the official singles chart can continue to represent the hottest new music. Granted the chart would likely not have a whole lot of movement in the month of December taking out the Christmas music but it's something I could definitely see the OCC doing at some point especially if as the trends suggest Christmas music is going to end up dominating all of November as well as December.

 

There’s not much point if there’s really not very many people listening to the “hot new music” though is there?

Is there any update today or does anyone know what number Cher is in the album chart?

we usually don’t get on Tuesday, the source we got for Tue/Thu updates in the past hasn’t been giving us anything for a while now

Covid seemed to be a big turning point for this. It really amplified the idea of celebrating Christmas a lot earlier. In 2020 I thought it would be a one-off early boost because people were determined to wash away the horrible year and have something nice to look forward to.

 

But somehow it’s got bigger and bigger every year since and for the first time ever, this year it seemed like a lot of the country was in full on Christmas mode from 1st November (advertisers certainly were anyway). Each to their own, absolutely, and I love Christmas myself but it does feel like the build up is way too intense and extreme now and being pushed in a much more ubiquitous way, earlier than ever before, from all angles, and this is now reflected in the charts too.

 

Black Friday was another example, what used to be a one day shopping event now goes on for 10 days in some cases?? When does it stop being an event and start being just another excuse for a long sale? I can see why from a retailer’s point of view though that they are happy to get involved as early as possible! Many of them limp along all year and need a good couple of months at the end to stay afloat!

 

Although I wasn't alive then, if only it was still the 50s and 60s when the build up was only Christmas Eve.

Old songs and/or legacy acts coming back to the chart is pretty much the only main media attention the chart gets outside the Christmas number 1, the biggest chart story of this year was The Beatles getting to number 1, the biggest chart story of last year was Kate Bush getting to number 1, Sprinter spent ten weeks at number 1, was there any coverage? The charts are 71 years old, and the times of speculation week in week out are clearly over, it will mean less and less to those born post 2005 as the charts' relevance has waned, yet the chart reflects those tastes primarily due to consumption methods changing which can alienate those traditionalists that do follow, so quirks like this are really keeping it alive. Wham getting to number 1 is probably not the headline they'd want given it's already done it, but it would still be much more interest than Jack Harlow being there.

 

I can see how they may go with this option in the future as it will clearly lose them attention if it's the same year on year, but without a big push to reframe the importance of Christmas number 1, I can't see what would replace and how authentic it would look given the huge numbers. The Christmas takeover will only get bigger, is just the power of commercialism getting stronger, once Halloween's over, Christmas has begun. People start shopping, attending parties etc. it's hardly surprising people would want escapism, especially in these hard times, I can't talk myself, I do always enjoy hearing my favourites (in some cases x).

 

I'd love to see a proper push for Christmas number 1 again and artists releasing around this time, it was at least more of an event in the 2010s and give credit to Ladbaby as dire as his output was, at least he kept it alive, it's just going to be harder as streaming becomes ever the more dominant.

A bit mad that people are saying "will they change it if Wham are Christmas Number 1 two years in a row?", when it has literally never been Christmas Number 1. There's every chance that Sam Ryder will nick it this year anyway, through Alexa manipulation. Even if it actually gets half of the streams that Wham gets.

 

Unlikely. If you remember Ellie Goulding, she dropped out of the top 10 in the Christmas chart. She climbed to number 1 the following week. Sam’s biggest week will be after Christmas - BUT there is much greater saturation in streaming of classic Christmas songs now than there was then, so his chances are low.

Exactly, but actually not just for Xmas song, there should be a catalog chart for all old songs.

 

lol at the idea of only allowing Xmas playlists from December, that's almost Hitler-esque lol

actually I got Xmas playlist ads from Sept 1 :D

 

Once again your not reading my point I didn’t suggest in the slightest the Xmas playlists should only be allowed in December I said they should be ‘less visible’.

Once again your not reading my point I didn’t suggest in the slightest the Xmas playlists should only be allowed in December I said they should be ‘less visible’.

I don't think Spotify etc would want to do that though and harm their own streams for the sake of another company!

I don't think Spotify etc would want to do that though and harm their own streams for the sake of another company!

 

 

Yeh was thinking that too

Another solution would be to increase the ratio to 300 streams per sale for songs that are over ten years old.

It’ll never happen but I think having an ‘official’ chart is pointless these days. It’s boring and way too cosmetic now. It counts some completely different things in the same way. There’s are already sales charts, streaming charts, video charts-why do we need an ‘official’ one anyway that’s doctored within an inch of its life or full of the same songs for an eighth of a year every year? Really, it’s to satisfy chart geeks. No one cares about the charts enough away from this website to be bothered if there was no longer an ‘official’ chart and just a series of others. That way, you could look to other charts to see what non Christmas songs are popular.

 

It won’t ever happen because the few chart fans left want to have their cake and eat it.

There are combined charts all over the world (most with a fraction of the attention UK charts get), it's not just some chart geeks keeping a relic going in the UK.

 

The UK chart isn't perfect but I appreciate that it tries to represent as much as it can. ACR keeps fresher music high but doesn't ignore long runners entirely. 3 track rule allows an album release to have an impact without drowning other artists out. The component charts still exist for those who don't like how the official chart combines everything (and fair enough, I know we all have differing views on the effecticeness of these rules). The industry obviously still cares when they're releasing cassettes to grab the #1, it's shortsighted to say only this website cares.

In most countries' charts I'm not sure there are even any rules. I often look at Sweden, Germany and Australia and they're always completely swamped by Christmas and album bombs in a way that suggests everything is counted like for like.

May be time to send songs that are over 3 years old to a catalogue chart, allowing exemptions in cases where they would repeak like what happened with Kate Bush. Might give newer Christmas songs a chance to shine.

Is it realistic to assume Houdini will get to no1 after the xmas rush?

Is it realistic to assume Houdini will get to no1 after the xmas rush?

As much as I would like it to, I don't think that's a particularly realistic expectation. Even without the Christmas songs it's tumbling down the chart.

Is it realistic to assume Houdini will get to no1 after the xmas rush?

 

It was only the 8th highest non Christmas song in last week's chart so it'll need a pretty big boost from somewhere to be in contention in January. Much more likely it'll just be Jack Harlow returning or maybe Noah Kahan rising there if Jack's hype starts dwindling in the next few weeks (and still wouldn't rule out cassö if they get a reset as the new year does favour dance songs a bit).

Wham and Mariah still haven’t had a Christmas number 1 so until that happens I don’t see people getting bored, i actually think they should remove acr entirely

I don't get why people are against old songs being on the chart. The chart is supposed to reflect what people are listening to. It's a different era to the sales one and people should just accept that.