The last Sunday chart was on 5th July 2015, with the first Friday chart being 10th July.

How do you feel about it? Especially with it having been Sunday for so long.

It definitely made life harder for X Factor's winners singles because they'd lose a few days of sales.

Moving it to a Friday killed my interest almost entirely. It was perfect for a Sunday afternoon listen. People usually have plans on a Friday.

I still maintain, as I did at the time, that it didn’t need to be moved. In the streaming era, I’m not sure it really matters whether a song gets a full week of sales in the first week. Plus lots of artists still release midweek when they fancy.

I can seldom listen to it live anymore but that's no biggie as I just catch up on the week. The day move can be debated but it definitely made sense to curtail the run time, imagine a 3 hour show in the streaming era with every song played, doubt many would tune in.

Not fussed with the day move but in hindsight, they could have easily launched First Look the week after the final Sunday chart, its direct replacement the Number One Show got tedious really quickly

the friday move sped up my eventual disinterest in listening to the R1 chart show, I started a friday evening job not long afterwards anyway so couldn’t listen live nor could be bothered to listen on catchup.

I would’ve kept it on the sunday but it’s been done and kept this long so not particularly fussed about it ever moving back now

Honestly great! Was glad to see music releases being standardised across the world and enough of the held back releases or the music releases being released later in certain countries than others (Adele's 21 being a good example of that with 6 different release dates with 2 months between the earliest release and latest!).

Edited July 5Jul 5 by Envoirment

The global standard release day was the best thing to come out of it and no more held back releases, it was a killer in the UK hearing a song for months online because it was out in US/AUS/EUR but not here. The chart being on a Friday doesn't really bother me as it's readily available to catch up on in audio or print (or here, thanks Joseph 😝)

It's a shame that time in 2015 wasn't really iconic. I do love some of the tracks in the final chart, particularly the Lost Frequencies #1 but some of it hasn't stood the test of time.

Yeah wasn't BTW one of the biggest casualties of this would of been number 1 easy if was a "standard uk release" at the time

The change was more about global album releases coming out the same day of the week, so something coming out on a Friday in some countries wasn't leaked online before it was released on the following Monday/Tuesday in UK/USA.

It didn't mean record companies had to release everything globally at the same time. IIRC we still had some held back single releases, though I think most decided it was time to try "On Air On Sale" again pretty quickly, having abandoned the idea a few years previously.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by AcerBen

Yeah there were still held back releases until mid 2016 what from i remember. Think Give Me Your Love by Sigala was the last high profile one.

Sunday 4-7pm is still the best time slot for the Radio 1 chart show. Also, it was longer and had no Newsbeat to break immersion and make auditory juxtaposition. (shakes head)

But I'm not gonna dwell on some nostalgia. I now casually check the charts for new entries and climbers. I partly owe my enjoyment of music discovery to the UK charts after all.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by AllStarBySmashMouth

Personally, I could see some sense in, and indeed welcomed, the coordination of around-the-globe release dates, as it brought about more equality across markets, and didn't make consumers in one country (usually the UK!) wait an extended time for their new favourite single releases to be made available to buy or stream legally. Yes, it helped bring an eventual end to the era of big-selling first-week singles, initially on CD and latterly on download, but given true sales were starting to dwindle as they were rapidly being cannibalised by streaming anyway, this seemed less of an issue than it might've been a few years prior to the date they chose to give effect to this initiative.

What I didn't particularly understand was the choice of a Friday instead of say Monday as the global release date. AcerBen rightly observes above that this was partly to do with getting ahead of any pre-new-week/over-weekend leakages, especially of albums, but otherwise this didn't really chime with me in a largely post-physical, post-shop, not far-off post-sales era. It is true that companies weren't required to adhere to the new day, and while a good number do, in fact a single could be released for streaming on any day of the week, as it suits the artists and label concerned. So the concept of needing to shift the survey frame for the official charts away from the traditional Sunday-to-Saturday week (which broadly coincides with the actual Monday-to-Sunday calendar week around which most of our lives revolve, and so made much more intuitive sense than a 'split' frame across two different calendar weeks) to a Friday-to-Thursday model, just so that most new releases would have a whole seven days' sales/streaming action before their first chart position (if one is attained) is calculated, never really made sense to me. I think the ten years that have elapsed since 5th July 2015 have shown that sticking with the Sun-Sat status quo really wouldn't have been a negative thing, in an era where tracks move up and down the chart more organically (albeit a lot more slowly as a rule thanks to streaming's impact), and maximising the chart position first week out no longer has any real relevance or currency. Some of the biggest hits we now see may well open at No 1 or a similarly lofty position, but equally they may arrive very low-down and take months to realise their peak - some songs being marketed for months before even breaking the Top 100, depending on circumstances.

As a longstanding chart follower and someone who's slightly anally-retentive about trying to keep things as consistent as possible in order to retain as much like-for-like comparability between what's happening now and what occurred in the same context in past decades, I also favoured the long-term adoption of Sun-Sat as it not only roughly aligned with actual calendrical weeks, but also a clear direct reference between one year and another, across what was five-and-a-half decades of recorded popular music and charting its relative commercial fortunes, albeit through a number of different formats and modes of consumption, and via numerous developments in the music itself and its creation. The dates - whether one used the survey week, chart use week, week-commencing or week-ending - would correspond. Suddenly switching to Fri-Thu meddled with that in a way someone like myself instinctively wouldn't like! The chart 'week' is now split across two 'real' weeks. I believe that while global release day had merit, the movement of chart weeks in the UK and US (and presumably several other countries) in 2015 was unmerited and unnecessary. While I do see it's important that we accept/tolerate that change, especially over one decade on from it, and adjust our chart dating system to accord with it, there's a part of me that still quite likes the fact that the US charts nevertheless adhere to the Billboard Saturday issuance date when referring to their charts (albeit that it sits two days after the week in which that chart's use expired on the Thursday)! I believe our very own UKChartsPlus publication also did likewise, if only for continuity and because I think it was easier for KingofSkiffle's database management, although no longer being a subscriber I can't say for sure if that is still the case.

Finally, I completely concur with those who say they preferred the Sunday chart show arrangement. It's not merely nostalgia; it is just an obvious time slot in a week to air a show like a Top 40 countdown. And that's regardless of the dual realities that far fewer people are concerned with the weekly charts than in previous generations, and that those who still are can now hear the broadcast at any time to suit their personal convenience online. I hear the 'First Look' show far more than the actual week-end Friday Top 40 simply because it's a casual listen for me nowadays, and chances are I'll be lounging at home Sun pm listening to the radio, but out 'n' about Fri afternoon.

All this is of course very-much a case of 'it is what it is' now, but if we could turn the charty clock backwards I'd like to have seen them decide to stick to the old model rather than adopt the new, even if they still insisted on Fri as the preferred day of the week on which to set the new release day standard.

I remember back then I never understood why the worldwide release day had to be Friday

Monday makes more sense to me, new week, new music

I think the rationale is that Monday is a busy day for many at work so people wouldn't have time to listen to new music, while on Friday people are already on pre-weekend mode and ready to chill and work less and listen to new music... but not sure if it makes that much sense. Makes sense for movies which have always been released on Fridays, and sure the peak og going to the cinema is the weekend, but not sure for music.

On 06/07/2025 at 09:59, 777666jason said:

Yeah wasn't BTW one of the biggest casualties of this would of been number 1 easy if was a "standard uk release" at the time

Probably, but she moved it two days forward to Friday at the last minute so as far as I'm concerned screwing herself out of an easy #1 was her doing.

12 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

Probably, but she moved it two days forward to Friday at the last minute so as far as I'm concerned screwing herself out of an easy #1 was her doing.

Ah fair enough then the Friday release did seem very random at the time

42 minutes ago, Gambo said:

Personally, I could see some sense in, and indeed welcomed, the coordination of around-the-globe release dates, as it brought about more equality across markets, and didn't make consumers in one country (usually the UK!) wait an extended time for their new favourite single releases to be made available to buy or stream legally. Yes, it helped bring an eventual end to the era of big-selling first-week singles, initially on CD and latterly on download, but given true sales were starting to dwindle as they were rapidly being cannibalised by streaming anyway, this seemed less of an issue than it might've been a few years prior to the date they chose to give effect to this initiative.

What I didn't particularly understand was the choice of a Friday instead of say Monday as the global release date. AcerBen rightly observes above that this was partly to do with getting ahead of any pre-new-week/over-weekend leakages, especially of albums, but otherwise this didn't really chime with me in a largely post-physical, post-shop, not far-off post-sales era. It is true that companies weren't required to adhere to the new day, and while a good number do, in fact a single could be released for streaming on any day of the week, as it suits the artists and label concerned. So the concept of needing to shift the survey frame for the official charts away from the traditional Sunday-to-Saturday week (which broadly coincides with the actual Monday-to-Sunday calendar week around which most of our lives revolve, and so made much more intuitive sense than a 'split' frame across two different calendar weeks) to a Friday-to-Thursday model, just so that most new releases would have a whole seven days' sales/streaming action before their first chart position (if one is attained) is calculated, never really made sense to me. I think the ten years that have elapsed since 5th July 2015 have shown that sticking with the Sun-Sat status quo really wouldn't have been a negative thing, in an era where tracks move up and down the chart more organically (albeit a lot more slowly as a rule thanks to streaming's impact), and maximising the chart position first week out no longer has any real relevance or currency. Some of the biggest hits we now see may well open at No 1 or a similarly lofty position, but equally they may arrive very low-down and take months to realise their peak - some songs being marketed for months before even breaking the Top 100, depending on circumstances.

As a longstanding chart follower and someone who's slightly anally-retentive about trying to keep things as consistent as possible in order to retain as much like-for-like comparability between what's happening now and what occurred in the same context in past decades, I also favoured the long-term adoption of Sun-Sat as it not only roughly aligned with actual calendrical weeks, but also a clear direct reference between one year and another, across what was five-and-a-half decades of recorded popular music and charting its relative commercial fortunes, albeit through a number of different formats and modes of consumption, and via numerous developments in the music itself and its creation. The dates - whether one used the survey week, chart use week, week-commencing or week-ending - would correspond. Suddenly switching to Fri-Thu meddled with that in a way someone like myself instinctively wouldn't like! The chart 'week' is now split across two 'real' weeks. I believe that while global release day had merit, the movement of chart weeks in the UK and US (and presumably several other countries) in 2015 was unmerited and unnecessary. While I do see it's important that we accept/tolerate that change, especially over one decade on from it, and adjust our chart dating system to accord with it, there's a part of me that still quite likes the fact that the US charts nevertheless adhere to the Billboard Saturday issuance date when referring to their charts (albeit that it sits two days after the week in which that chart's use expired on the Thursday)! I believe our very own UKChartsPlus publication also did likewise, if only for continuity and because I think it was easier for KingofSkiffle's database management, although no longer being a subscriber I can't say for sure if that is still the case.

Finally, I completely concur with those who say they preferred the Sunday chart show arrangement. It's not merely nostalgia; it is just an obvious time slot in a week to air a show like a Top 40 countdown. And that's regardless of the dual realities that far fewer people are concerned with the weekly charts than in previous generations, and that those who still are can now hear the broadcast at any time to suit their personal convenience online. I hear the 'First Look' show far more than the actual week-end Friday Top 40 simply because it's a casual listen for me nowadays, and chances are I'll be lounging at home Sun pm listening to the radio, but out 'n' about Fri afternoon.

All this is of course very-much a case of 'it is what it is' now, but if we could turn the charty clock backwards I'd like to have seen them decide to stick to the old model rather than adopt the new, even if they still insisted on Fri as the preferred day of the week on which to set the new release day standard.

I think the idea behind it being Friday was that it's a feel-good day, the start of the weekend, and when people have more time to focus on music.

I remember some physical retailers saying the downside though was that it meant they lost out on there being two spikes in footfall during the week - on the Monday and the Saturday.

The day of the chart reveal wouldn't have been much of a factor in deciding in Friday for most countries, because a lot of countries released the charts on other days and there was no tradition of listening to the top 40 on a Sunday afternoon. It's also understandable that we changed the chart date because then it was still about doing as many units in the first week as possible. Of course the singles market has changed since then, but what about albums? There's no point changing it back now just for the sake of a tradition which is pretty much dead.

Sunday was better for the charts. Big mistake moving it to Fridays and the charts had more listeners on Sundays with people being in work on Fridays. Shame they didn’t have the last Sunday chart on 12th July so that the songs released the week before would’ve had a full week of sales instead of 5 days of sales and Shine would’ve got number 1 instead of House Every Weekend and Black Magic would’ve entered into the lower end of the chart before climbing to number 1 on 17th July

Edited July 8Jul 8 by Hadji

On 06/07/2025 at 12:52, AcerBen said:

The change was more about global album releases coming out the same day of the week, so something coming out on a Friday in some countries wasn't leaked online before it was released on the following Monday/Tuesday in UK/USA.

It didn't mean record companies had to release everything globally at the same time. IIRC we still had some held back single releases, though I think most decided it was time to try "On Air On Sale" again pretty quickly, having abandoned the idea a few years previously.

I believe specifically the success of Beyoncé’s self titled digital drop on December 13, 2013 was a major influence for this decision too.

So it’s 10 Years since I last presented the chart on Buzzjack!

Omg memories. When it comes to 'Ouse Every Weekend! That was the 5 day number 1 between the Sunday to Friday shift. The chart was definitely faster in 2015 than now too! :(

I liked the Sunday chart but I don't mind the Friday one now.

Edited July 8Jul 8 by TheSnake