For me, I started paying attention to the UK charts back in 2009 when I was 14 or 15 years old. However, it became a full-blown thing the year after. I used to watch the UK top 40 singles chart on MTV literally every single week.

When did you start paying attention to the UK charts?

Edited May 9May 9 by DanielsAloud

2009 for me too! I started out just looking at chart positions on Wikipedia, and it took me a couple of months to realize there was an OCC website and a chart show I could listen to on Radio 1. I started properly following the week Kelly Clarkson was #1 and haven't looked back since.

I got into the Now! That’s What I Call Music series in early 2005 (so would’ve only been 7 years old) therefore was aware of the chart due to the stats in the relevant booklets. However, I didn’t start actually tuning into the chart show until 2007 for some reason, I remember Sugababes - ‘About You Now’ being #1 in the first one I listened to. Never looked back since and this would soon blossom into a love for the history of the chart as well.

For me it would be around 1998/99 and I tuned into the Pepsi Chart hosted by Doctor Fox.

October 98! Shortly after I started at secondary school.

And literally only because I was obsessed with Believe by Cher and didn’t have the means to play music at the time any way other than radio. So I was trying to find a foolproof way to catch it on the radio and it occurred to me that it would be in the charts - from then on I grew to love and know many other songs and found the whole process of the ranking fascinating.

1993 - the first pop album I bought was Now 1993 which had the peak positions for each song in the tracklisting. I started taking notice of the Top 5 updates on The Big Breakfast, where the chart fortunes of Mr Blobby piqued my interest in a big way! I got a portable radio that Christmas, started tuning into the Top 40 every week in Jan 1994, writing down the chart as it was announced a few weeks in, and it all kind of snowballed from there.

1994 (aged 10) was the big moment for me. I had watched TOTP casually before but I watched the week Whigfield knocked Wet Wet Wet off #1 after 15 weeks. Suddenly I became hooked on the charts and “Saturday Night” was instantly my favourite song. People around me were quite taken aback by how obsessed I suddenly became.

The obsession came and went in my case. In 1997 I lost interest for a while and I was more interested in classical music. However I happened to tune into the first chart show of the new century in 2000, and suddenly I became hooked again.

My interest level continued to ebb and flow a bit after that, until around 2015 when I found it really hard to adjust both to streaming and to the Friday move. I stopped following (other than taking a glance here and there) until the pandemic in 2020. Then I realised that I had finally got over the shock of streaming and Fridays and with the rest of life being restricted it would be a good time to rediscover my interest. And since then I’ve become more passionate than ever, and immersed myself in the history too.

Probably around spring 2006 (same time as Buzzjack’s birth I think!) I began getting interested in chart positions through buying the Now CDs in 2005 and reading the booklets, then managed to catch the chart where Nelly Furtado’s Maneater was #1. Then I spent a year listening to Hit40UK on Invicta FM(!) thinking it was the official chart. I used to follow James Masterton’s chart commentary on Yahoo Music too before he stopped.

Was never that interested in music at all until 2020 but was suddenly hooked onto the charts halfway through 2021! Think it was something to do with Donda VS Certified Lover Boy and the discussions around it.

In 87 - 88

around 2010 (aged 16) when I began getting interested in music more generally rather than as background noise

stopped paying closer attention as it slowed down in 2016 and I focused more on exploring music I liked rather than what was necessarily popular, but I still value looking at it from time to time as a snapshot of at least part of music history and particularly how it relates to music as a wider cultural force.

Damn you guys are so young~ some time in the 90s for me, I'd say 98 or 9? Spice Girls era but not their debut

I think I first started listening to the Official Chart in 2003 aged 11 or 12. I'd bought a couple of Now albums by then, and during 2004-5 I bought them every time they came out. The last one I bought was in early 2007 (Now 66) before I started downloading individual songs instead.

Wow I can't believe how late most of these years are.

For me it was 1987 when I remember Starship being number one with "Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now" on Top of the Pops. I stopped paying attention around 2005 when I got out the habit of watching Top of the Pops when it moved to Sunday and found the music to be mostly rubbish. Started following again around 2016 just after I'd started my blog and heard that Bryan Adams 16 week record at number one was under threat. I follow more for the chart stats these days because if anything the music's got even worse.

Really early. Probably around 1982. I used to make up my own charts, but they would be two or three times a week rather than once a week.

Really listening to them and following them quite avidly probably didn't start until the late 80s though. Probably around 88/89.

Dropped off my radar somewhat in the early 2000s.

I'd say discovering Buzzjack (quite a while before joining as a member) reignited my interest though.

1998, god I feel old. I was there, every Sunday, taping the songs I wanted to listen to for the week

I have it etched into memory of the 12th of November 2006 being my first chart show, when Westlife's The Rose was announced as number 1 (their last one so I dodged that bullet x), I had followed charts sporadically up until then and watched unofficial countdowns on TV and radio but I consider that to be ground zero.

I listened pretty consistently for almost a decade until summer 2015 when the date changed to Friday and it became less practical for me to listen and streaming did make the charts a hell of a lot more slow. My interest faded but then came back in ebbs and flows and I think that reflects it nicely today, right this moment, it's on the lower end given there's pretty much nothing interesting happening or being released.

I think overall my interest has shifted into that less of one focusing on musical discoveries (as I've leant much less mainstream over time and most music to my tastes these days doesn't chart) and more the chart as a cultural/historical measuring of the UK's relationships with music genres and trends over time and how the industry is working, as well as some fun stats (though I can't rival some of you in that area).

Properly paying attention? About '79 I guess. Cool for Cats by Squeeze was the first single I ever bought with my own money so that might be around the time.

Mum would always have the radio on and the charts on Sunday were required listening. Between that and an older brother who was heavily into music, I kind of started young.

By the mid 80s the Indie chart was essential too.

When did I lose interest? Around about 2007 or 2008

I not long ago noticed that I didn't recognise nearly all of the UK numbers ones since 2010 so I made a playlist to listen to them all as it a quiz night blank spot. Can't say that I missed much.

I still check the run down and make a point of seeking out anything that sounds intriguing but don't ever pay that much attention and even the Indie chart has been redundant for about 30 years

My brother was into the charts first and I remember starting watching Top Of The Pops on Fridays in late 96 and also the Chart Show on a Saturday morning. In early 97 I started listening with my brother to the Radio 1 chart show and I followed it then for almost 20 years.

2015 is when I completely stopped listening to the chart show. They were getting slower with streaming and I just didn’t have time to listen on a Friday night (I’ve always maintained that they didn’t NEED to move the time and day of the chart but people will always argue that with me) as I was 26 and was usually busy on Friday nights. Over the next few years, there was less and less music I liked in the top 40 that I barely even pay attention any more.

I remember watching Top Of The Pops as early as 1971 but I think it was 1974 before I would listen to Radio 1 playing the chart on Sunday evenings with my sister. At that time, I think it was just the top 20 that they played. I would sometimes write down the chart as they played each song.