Looking at how legend/historical/catalog artists re doing on streaming

as judged by the EOY album chart position of Greatest Hits by these sorta artists, not studio albums, just GH

who surprised you by beibg too high/ too low/ missing???

 

this is the list of:

 

7 Fleetwood Mac

11 Oasis

12 Elton John

13 Eminem

14 ABBA

16 Michael Jackson

25 Queen

30 Bob Marley

35 Maroon 5

38 George Michael

 

41 50 Cent

45 Elvis

46 Green Day

51 Billy Joel

52 Smiths

53 Whitney Houston

54 Red Hot Chilli Peppers

56 Little Mix

57 Pitbull

59 David Bowie

60 Foo Fighters

65 Killers

67 Nirvana

71 Britney

78 Beatles

82 Rolling Stones

87 Phil Collins

91 The Cure

95 Celine Dion

 

for me still surprised at the love for Fleetwood Mac, If I didn't follow the charts I would never tell

they're the #1 "legendary" act in the charts. Also surprised at Billy Joel. Also at some rock acts like Smiths, Green Day and The Cure.

 

for the low/missing, surprised there's no more love for Madonna. Also some rock bands like REM or U2

and classic British acts like Take That or Robbie Williams.

 

of course some big names like Rihanna don't have a GH hence not on the list above.

 

How Pitbull is streaming that much is beyond me. Did he really have that many popular songs as lead artist?

I think it just depends who has a greatest hits, for example Bruno, Gaga, Perry, Beyonce, Taylor etc majority don't if all popular artists have one the entire album chart would be greatest hits. So that kind of tells you the meaningfull and usefulness of the charts now days, and the pointless conversation regarding them

It's not the fun answer, but so much of it just comes down to how willing the artist and/or label are willing to do corporate shilling. The most perennially uncool acts of letting your songs be in commercials, making Christmas music has the side effect of letting an artist endure beyond their steadfast peers. No one would ever imagine in the '90s that Smash Mouth would be nearly as popular as Pearl Jam decades in the future, but the former has their Shrek moment for the next generation while the latter frequently stood to their (admirable) beliefs and hardly sold out. What draws zoomers into Pearl Jam?

 

Whenever I see a new high budget biopic or legacy artist-centric film, it screams to me of labels or rightsholders scurrying to immortalise that artist's legacy, and they do it because it absolutely just works.

50 Cent seems bizarrely high over some of those who I’d have thought have more legendary status

I checked the tracklist of 50 Cent's Best of and only know Ayo Technology and In da club

 

also a bit surprised by the absence of Pink, who has lots of huge hits

and does have a GH unlike Taylor, Beyonce, Rihanna etc

Pink did well couple of years ago when she toured the UK.

P!nk's one dips in and out - charted for 12 weeks in 2024! Was more of a presence in 2023 when P!nk was active.

 

Madonna and Kylie not having much of a top 100 presence always surprises me, although I know Finally Enough Love has worked as something of a GH for Madonna in recent times. Take That don't really have a modern greatest hits album, they have two that cover up to 1996, but Odyssey, which covers to 2018, contains some reworked versions etc so it's not really a traditional GH album, which is why it may not be much of a mainstay.

50 Cent seems bizarrely high over some of those who I’d have thought have more legendary status

 

I think he has loads of classic songs. And Baby By Me went viral this year so that probably helped a bit too.

Rod Stewart, the Bee Gees and The Who were once lauded as legendary contemporaries to sit alongside many in the list. They seem to have waned in populalrity in the last 20 years.

 

Many rock artists like Led Zep, Metallica or Pink Floyd tend to have fans listen to whole albums so that dilutes their chart potential.

 

 

Madonna, Prince, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Meat Loaf and Diana Ross are the US acts I would've thought held up.

 

 

But I think the overriding factor is that the audience for many of these acts is split between those that stream and many who still prefer a physical copy of an album. So only those that have reached a younger audience as well as retained their older fan base will have significant numbers

 

 

There are many like myself who don't using streaming platforms to any great extent.

 

For example in 2024 -

I added 756 songs (all from 2024) to my library

I added 45,064 listens to my Lastfm stats

But according to my Spotify Wrapped I listened to only 659 songs this year and my top song was played 6 times in total.

Surely it's all just artists that Gen Z love/grew up on or see cultural importance in? A lot of the names listed on here are ones I don't see your average 15-25 year old enjoying/knowing or believing they have a reason to listen to them.

Edited December 31, 2024Dec 31 by gasman449