37 minutes ago, Liam Sota said:

Looking at their chart here is their #1’s this year

Apt - 5 weeks

Anxiety - 3 weeks

Blessings - 4 weeks

Ed Sheeran - 7 weeks

Lady Gaga - 3 weeks

Messy - 2 weeks

Think the official charts has had better #1’s

Much better bigtop40 some proper anthems there

52 minutes ago, Julian_ said:

I’d go for the one that isn’t made up.

Tbf its just a d different measure of what's popular 🤷 i wouldn't say its made up 😅

27 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

Tbf its just a d different measure of what's popular 🤷 i wouldn't say its made up 😅

But what measure is it? They don’t release any details.

Now I can understand with something like “APT.” that if you spun the data slightly differently that might have made #1. But we’re saying Ed has had 3 #1s on the big Top 40 this year, presumably including “Old Phone”?

Well there’s no way you can spin any of the sales or streaming data that would show “Old Phone” as having been the country’s #1 song at any point. If it is actually based on data at all it’s pretty flawed I suggest.

Yes, Old Phone was No.1 for a week.

The Big Top 40 FAQs state the chart is based on iTunes sales and Apple streaming, but Wikipedia throws in airplay from the stations that broadcast the chart... So who knows?

At times it's not a bad chart to listen to, as some songs make it which are nowhere to be seen on the official charts, but at other times you have A Bar Song still Top 20 and four songs by Teddy Swims in the Top 40.

Just now, ChrisJK said:

The Big Top 40 FAQs state the chart is based on iTunes sales and Apple streaming, but Wikipedia throws in airplay from the stations that broadcast the chart... So who knows?

At times it's not a bad chart to listen to, as some songs make it which are nowhere to be seen on the official charts, but at other times you have A Bar Song still Top 20 and four songs by Teddy Swims in the Top 40.

They usually say "the songs you've been streaming, buying and listening to on the radio the most" so would assume it's iTunes, a tiny bit of Apple Music and Global airplay (which can easily be fabricated). It's a better format than the BBC's show, seeing as they actually acknowledge the stats of their chart and talk to the artists but they do skip new entries quite a bit and I much prefer Jack's presentation to Will's.

56 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

Much better bigtop40 some proper anthems there

Jessie J at #40 as well.

Well “Old Phone” was only #4 on pure sales even in its release week and seems to have never made #1 on iTunes. (The pure sales #2 the same week “Old Phone” was #4 was that poor non #1 “Ordinary”!) It’s reached #47 on video streaming, #39 on audio streaming and only #17 on airplay even (and that not until a few weeks later). OK that’s UK airplay and not their favourite stations, but you’d really have to be quite creative with the data to make “Old Phone” a #1.

(Not picking on Ed specifically - that just happens to be the most egregious example this year.)

Probably why we should include radio airplay into charts, loads of songs are massive on radio (and casual people probably know them) that never chart and others do well on charts but are never played on radio (outside of the chart show)

4 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

Probably why we should include radio airplay into charts, loads of songs are massive on radio (and casual people probably know them) that never chart and others do well on charts but are never played on radio (outside of the chart show)

No way- the chart should continue to reflect what people CHOOSE to listen to, not what some suits at a radio company/label want people to listen to. Also you'd have the chart dominated by acts repeatedly labelled as "boring" on this forum eg Teddy Swims, Myles Smith and the like

Just now, gasman449 said:

No way- the chart should continue to reflect what people CHOOSE to listen to, not what some suits at a radio company/label want people to listen to.

Isn't that what happens now when people listen to playlists on streaming?

They're just playlists put together by people at Spotify or whatever. Not necessarily what people CHOOSE to listen to.

So there is an argument for airplay there!?

Well guess what’s in the current airplay Top 10 that’s sadly missing from the official Top 10… “Beautiful Things”.

1 Ordinary

2 Gold

3 Azizam

4 Nice To Meet You

5 Blessings

6 Pink Pony Club

7 Bloodline

8 Sapphire

9 Mystical Magical

10 Beautiful Things

I mean I don’t agree with including airplay anyway but that really is far from an improvement.

10 minutes ago, ChrisJK said:

Isn't that what happens now when people listen to playlists on streaming?

They're just playlists put together by people at Spotify or whatever. Not necessarily what people CHOOSE to listen to.

So there is an argument for airplay there!?

I argue that people are choosing the playlist because of what’s on it. If it doesn’t have what people want to listen to in the first place they’ll move to another playlist.

It’s a bit chicken and egg, but when people say “Wham!” only have the most popular Christmas song because it’s top of the playlists I say that it’s at the top of the playlists because it’s the most popular and not the other way round.

11 minutes ago, ChrisJK said:

Isn't that what happens now when people listen to playlists on streaming?

They're just playlists put together by people at Spotify or whatever. Not necessarily what people CHOOSE to listen to.

So there is an argument for airplay there!?

This id personally say a playlist is essential radio without the talking presenter interrupting all the time or cutting off songs

4 minutes ago, Julian_ said:

Well guess what’s in the current airplay Top 10 that’s sadly missing from the official Top 10… “Beautiful Things”.

1 Ordinary

2 Gold

3 Azizam

4 Nice To Meet You

5 Blessings

6 Pink Pony Club

7 Bloodline

8 Sapphire

9 Mystical Magical

10 Beautiful Things

I mean I don’t agree with including airplay anyway but that really is far from an improvement.

Oh dear God!! Maybe not then!!

Haha!!

5 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

This id personally say a playlist is essential radio without the talking presenter interrupting all the time or cutting off songs

But a playlist still gives you the ability to skip songs etc which you can’t do on the radio, so there is an element of choice there

For radio you'd have to blanket accept everything whereas you can skip something you don't like on a playlist, where it wouldn't always automatically count in the same way

My driving instructor is a Heart FM listener and will immediately mute the radio for a little bit during a lesson if a song she doesn't like comes on yet it would still count. If she stuck on a similar hits playlist on Spotify and skipped the same song then it wouldn't. So overall I like that the listener has more of a say, if that makes sense.

I guess there will be people who passively listen to a whole playlist but not everyone. So I like that we at least have some choice in the matter (especially as I make my own playlists anyway)

The playlist argument is fair but AFAIK the major UK radio stations are available for free whereas you have the option to pay for streaming. Would also argue that songs on radio are more like "adverts" for songs, showcasing them to the general public and encouraging them to seek them out in their own time. Again you could argue Spotify playlists also act like this but you can just skip a song if you don't like it, on radio you'd have to change to another station which is likely playing the exact same track because their playlists are all so similar. Major labels and acts also have the instant advantage on radio, it would be near impossible for indie acts that don't do well on radio to get anywhere unless the radio's ratios were terrible.

I think we're years past the notion of having a chart that's properly representative full stop, I mean it's already been modified beyond recognition as it is.

Unless you put playlists on as background music, 😅

Got 15 seconds into ordinary before I had chance to skip yesterday 😩

This is true, there are flaws, but at least you have the option to skip. So there’s still more choice unlike airplay where you don’t even get that option.