You might have seen the thread the other day revealing that the Official Charts Company have announced the launch of a new award to recognise Top 10 singles in the UK. It comes as many may question what it takes to get a hit, and what should a hit be defined as in 2024 for future artists to set as a target. The goal posts may have moved from what was considered to be a hit before streaming started, but the underlying principles of what should be recognised as a hit still remain the same. The accolade is something to be prized, to say you have a hit, and something many artists will want to achieve in their careers.

So let’s discuss what should be defined as a hit in 2024.

#1...but only until it goes to ACR after 9 weeks at #1 is a hit (saying with the outmost sarcasm).

Voted for:

 

A Top 10 chart peak

A chart run or 10 or more weeks inside the Top 40

Viral presence on TikTok

A Top 5 album (with few or no Top 10 singles)

 

For something that hasn't charted, I'd consider a song with 100m+ Spotify (or other service) streams a hit.

Honestly, anything that charts can be considered a hit - so the first two options and a Top 5 album definitely count (even a Top 100 placing, which only about 1/8 of my favourite songs from the previous year or so have managed to achieve).

 

I also voted something else to include certifications - 200k sales for a silver equates to at least 20 million streams, so 1 million streams on its own, while impressive in itself, doesn't really compare. The other things are great and all that but don't necessarily mean much.

Honestly, anything that charts can be considered a hit - so the first two options and a Top 5 album definitely count (even a Top 100 placing, which only about 1/8 of my favourite songs from the previous year or so have managed to achieve).

 

I also voted something else to include certifications - 200k sales for a silver equates to at least 20 million streams, so 1 million streams on its own, while impressive in itself, doesn't really compare. The other things are great and all that but don't necessarily mean much.

Valid point about the BPI certifications. I guess they do validate the strongest of all hits (silver, gold, platinum etc).

 

I think those other things might have been more relevant ten years ago perhaps, but yes I see how a million streams doesn’t really account for much nowadays, which is why I was asking what can be used as a measuring tool to determine a hit or non-hit. There’s no right or wrong answer of course, it’s just something I was interested to start a discussion about.

Anything that makes top 40 for me.

 

https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67706f000000049e7...030221d43553205

 

Can't find the version Kath uses

Yeah, BPI is best I'd say. It's not always about chart positions.

 

For example, Arctic Monkeys' '505' only peaked at #73 but is one of their biggest songs to date now and is certified 2x Platinum. There's been numerous more of these in recent years thanks to TikTok.

Yeah, BPI is best I'd say. It's not always about chart positions.

 

For example, Arctic Monkeys' '505' only peaked at #73 but is one of their biggest songs to date now and is certified 2x Platinum. There's been numerous more of these in recent years thanks to TikTok.

 

Not refuting your point, I agree with the logic. But in terms of that specific example 505 would have peaked a lot higher had it been reset to SCR.

Not refuting your point, I agree with the logic. But in terms of that specific example 505 would have peaked a lot higher had it been reset to SCR.

True! I suppose another one that comes to mind is The 1975's 'It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)' - it only charted at #46 but has since been certified Platinum.

 

Weirdly, actually, The 1975's highest-streamed tracks from three of their albums all missed the Top 40 :lol: 'It's Not Living', alongside 'Somebody Else' and 'About You'.

Top three, massive presencd online, huge ontiktok etc

 

Flops: Flopdini and Flopping Season and Yes, Flop?

Hits: Beyonce, Benson, that Stick Season one

It can depend on the type of artist and how long they are in the industry.

Padam Padam was a big hit for Kylie and viewed as hugely successful but the same success for Dua Lipa may be viewed as successful ahead of very successful.

I'd say roughly along the lines of

-Top 40 peak or long chart run below T40

-Platinum cert.

-Top 10 in another country

-100m streams

-#1 on a notable list or poll

Flops: Flopdini and Flopping Season and Yes, Flop?

Seriously, change the record. None of these songs are flops. Stop trolling, it's getting tiresome.

Seriously, change the record. None of these songs are flops. Stop trolling, it's getting tiresome.

 

Yes, quite. I wish somebody would do something about it <_<

 

And anyway, songs which spend 7 and 8 weeks respectively inside the top 10 cannot conceivably be considered "flops"

I think if it spends a couple weeks in the top 40 it is a hit! Id say if it’s a one week top 40 drop out maybe not but if it’s in for a couple weeks it’s a hit, and ofc the better it does the more of a hit it is! Id also argue it can still be a hit without chart positions, some popular songs like the arctic monkeys ones are hits despite only charting for a few weeks in the low top 100, so streaming amounts, general popularity and sales also contribute! I think there’s an expectation on here that anything that isn’t a multi-week #1 is instantly a flop and this is a narrative on here that needs to stop as it’s tiresome and frankly stupid to say something like Houdini and yes and aren’t hits, they obviously are

If people are consuming it in enough quantities to make it enter the Top 75, it's a hit to some degree.

 

How big depends on where and how long for.

 

That was always the rules and it works for me.

I'd say anything that reaches the published official Top 100 chart, for all its current faults and shortcomings. But not everybody is aware of or bothers to engage with the fuller charts, especially nowadays, so of course many will now disagree.

 

Obviously I am basing my opinion on the presumption that we just consider the term 'hit' to relate to charts and peak positions, which inevitably only tell a partial picture, and as others have noted, increasingly-so in an era of enduring streams over time which may not always translate into a significant chart profile for a track in any given week, but over time amass a relatively impressive to-date tally that in the sales-only era no track attaining such modest chart peaks would ever be likely to achieve, even in the digital period when tracks became available indefinitely as a catalogue product (as opposed to their physical counterparts whose sales power was finite thanks to stocks expiring or deletion). Clearly overall sales, or streams for titles released more recently, carry a significant role in measuring whether or not they were a 'bona fide' hit, as these screen-out the one-week wonders that may have charted high due to an event or a charitable cause, but don't endure and ultimately don't accrue bigger numbers in either sector of consumption. The context of a short-term big streams or sales splash should always be borne in mind when deciding whether a high-charting record should really be determined a 'proper' hit.

 

One could develop the concept further and start measuring other types of a song's impact and achievement, say by numbers of followers online, usage in TV/movies, reception at live performances, radio play and so on, which can help determine the wider cultural impact a song may have in time. But for me that is a slightly different evaluation and it's easier, and I suspect more commonly understood, if we refrain from expanding what constitutes a 'hit' too widely and restrict it to the song's commercial performance - as reflected by overall streaming and sales tallies, and to an extent weekly chart peaks and longevity in the published charts which people en masse can access. If we do so, the greater number of people will have a more easily-defined and consistent notion of what can be classified as true hit material and what should not be.

 

I don't have any empirical evidence, but I do suspect that most casual music lovers would likely still define the term very simply, i.e. whether a song attained a position on the main chart - even if it's just for a week and due to a very specific impetus rather than a more long-lived organic success. The only variable would be the size of the chart which people would feel represents a genuine hit over a miss - so some would say Top 10, 20, maybe 40, as these remain the most publicised and talked-about echelons of the weekly rankings.