This is about the chart and not the music, I am a fan of pretty much all of the following artists.

 

Running through a list of the all time artists:

 

1. Elvis Presley: his 30 Number One hits appeared for just one week at No 20 in 2023

2. Beatles: their pair of 50 year old greatest hits albums appeared for 5 weeks in the 2023 albums chart, mainly because of a lost 'manufactured' single which reached No 1 and stayed just 3 weeks in the Top 20 in 2023. "1" lurks in the lower reaches

3. Ed Sheeran: to his credit, he has not released a greatest hits package yet

4. Madonna: her Immaculate Collection has not appeared in the Top 20 for 23 years

5. Elton John: his Diamonds was ever-present in the Top 20 in 2023 - for all 52 weeks

6. Queen: their greatest hits and platinum collections have been a constant feature in the chart for many years, although they haven't been seen in the Top 20 since May 2023

7. Rolling Stones: in spite of a No 1 album of excellent new material, and 2 derisory greatest hits packages in 2012 and 2019, their last successful look back Forty Licks was in 2002 and that has not been seen in the Top 20 since 2006.

8. Michael Jackson: his Essential pops occasionally in and out of the Top 20.

9. Abba: their Gold- Greatest Hits is ever-present in the Top 20 to this day

10. Rod Stewart: 2001 was the last time he attempted a serious greatest hits package, lasting just 7 Top weeks and peaking at No 7

11. Cliff Richard and the Shadows: they made No 11 in 2019 with their Pioneers album but have been largely absent for donkey's years

12. Cliff Richard: his last truly successful compilation was in 1988, otherwise he is forgotten by pretty much everybody

13. David Bowie: occasionally seen with his Legacy album in the Top 20 despite a succession of "new" albums since his death

14. Taylor Swift: no greatest hits package yet as she concentrates on re-recording her earlier albums for legal reasons; a current phenomenon

15. Eminem: his Curtain Call retrospective continues to be a massive seller

16. Shadows: they tried their Life Story in 2004 reaching No 7 briefly

17. Fleetwood Mac: their half-century history continues to sell consistently well in the Top 20

18. Paul McCartney: his 4 greatest hits releases between 1978 and 2016 have never done him justice, not one reached No 1

19. Simon and Garfunkel: after their massive selling greatest hits in 1972, they ain't been seen since their Tales of New York album reached No 8 in 2000

20. Robbie Williams: although his XXV album reached No 1 in 2022, it enjoyed only 3 Top 20 weeks following his big selling 2004 Greatest hits in 2004.

 

I guess my point is this: why do Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Abba, Queen, Eminem, Arctic Monkeys and, now, Taylor Swift dominate the Top 20 chart for the past three years and not the other acts mentioned above?

 

Do we not deserve a separate chart for albums released, say, more than 2 years ago, to allow fresh acts and music to have a bigger impact in the current chart?

 

Different questions, I know.

Grateful for your observations.

 

I'd say it's about popularity, Taylor is the biggest star on the planet right now so obviously her albums are streamed like crazy

some in your list like The Shadows I don't think I even know who thy are so no surprises no one streams them

 

then there are greatest hits that are charting cos of the This is The Weeknd, This is Elton John playlists

Personally I think it’s time GH albums moved over to the compilation charts because that’s what they are a compilation of songs. That would leave the album charts for proper albums.

Just comes down to which artists have a robust catalogue of classics that continue to rack up streams really (not hard to rationalise that the likes of Cliff and Rod don't do too well in this regard, they just don't have a catalogue that transcended generations in the same way as ABBA, Fleetwood Mac et al.)

 

Slight correction though, Rod did have a more recent GH album that spent a good amount of time in the charts albeit still before the streaming era ('Some Guys Have All The Luck').

Surprised that Madonna doesn't rack up big streams considering how huge she was for a good 20 years or so from her debut and how much her songs were on the radio. Is it an older woman not being appreciated thing?

There's definitely something in general about female 'legacy' acts not doing as well as they perhaps should. Madonna does skirt the top 200 at least and I think Whitney Houston tends to do okay but to my knowledge it's rare that others make it. A quick look at the current chart sees Tina Turner there too but given she passed relatively recently that's more to be expected.

Just comes down to which artists have a robust catalogue of classics that continue to rack up streams really (not hard to rationalise that the likes of Cliff and Rod don't do too well in this regard, they just don't have a catalogue that transcended generations in the same way as ABBA, Fleetwood Mac et al.)

 

Slight correction though, Rod did have a more recent GH album that spent a good amount of time in the charts albeit still before the streaming era ('Some Guys Have All The Luck').

 

 

I think it is also swayed towards which 'legacy' acts are favoured on Spotify playlists too. I understand the comment re Cliff and Rod but the likes of Madonna, Kylie, Cher, Tina and Whitney all have plenty of huge classics that are up there with Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours does a lot of the heavy lifting for them tbf.