Using radio though would be such a fix, it's not what people are choosing to listen to and allows whoever decides what plays in radio to push what they want to do well in the charts

Good article few years go

https://metro.co.uk/2024/11/30/uk-charts-broken-worst-since-1950s-22003660/

Removing older tracks or album tracks wouldn't help. It would just mean songs already out would stay around longer. I'm sure this is impossible to do but is there any way to measure how output is affected by this? Are labels just not putting out as many tracks knowing they'll hang around for months? The only thing I can think of to speed up the chart is more popular music or acts.

When I was growing up the Pop formula was pretty clear. A summer bop, a Q4 album and a big ballad for Christmas. Indie/Rock would take 3 years between albums but not pop stars. They were a constant presence in our culture. they were on Top of the Pops, Live and Kicking, SMTV and CD:UK. Now, pop stars take themselves more seriously. They too are artists like the Indie bands, why shouldn't they take years to make a record? Your target audience has gone from 12-15, are you going with them? I'd gone from Steps to Linkin Park in that time!

Now don't get me wrong. I think pop music now is better than it was 20 years ago because there is less of a production line but this does filter through to the charts and how slow they are.

Edited February 18Feb 18 by Paramore

By removing older hits you allow more chance for new music to break into the chart though, which is one part of the issue I would say. I think another factor which I thought of the other day aside from the compilation of the chart itself, is there’s no platform to promote music from, like we had in previous generations. Ok there’s tik tok but I don’t think it’s something you can bank on for breaking out a song.

In some ways I feel we’ve gone back to that 70/80s format of where songs climb gradually over a few weeks and artists take at least a couple of eras to breakout into mainstream success (Olivia/Sabrina/Sam) but unlike then there’s nowhere for anyone to get strong consistent promo. I think we need something of a cross between TOTP and the X Factor live shows (but not so cheesy and full of lip syncing) to help give songs/artists a push as if it’s done in the right way I think it would work.

On 18/02/2026 at 18:54, Supercell said:

By removing older hits you allow more chance for new music to break into the chart though, which is one part of the issue I would say. I think another factor which I thought of the other day aside from the compilation of the chart itself, is there’s no platform to promote music from, like we had in previous generations. Ok there’s tik tok but I don’t think it’s something you can bank on for breaking out a song.

In some ways I feel we’ve gone back to that 70/80s format of where songs climb gradually over a few weeks and artists take at least a couple of eras to breakout into mainstream success (Olivia/Sabrina/Sam) but unlike then there’s nowhere for anyone to get strong consistent promo. I think we need something of a cross between TOTP and the X Factor live shows (but not so cheesy and full of lip syncing) to help give songs/artists a push as if it’s done in the right way I think it would work.

I completely agree. Allowing the same songs to remain on the charts for an excessively long time, without safeguards like a recurrent chart or significantly reduced weighting for older tracks, risks making the charts feel outdated and less relevant over time.

You could equally argue that distorting the charts by adding all these rules to exclude songs meaning the actual published list is not representative of what is actually popular and thus makes the chart less relevant.

Just now, Maestro said:

You could equally argue that distorting the charts by adding all these rules to exclude songs meaning the actual published list is not representative of what is actually popular and thus makes the chart less relevant.

Isn’t that already the state of the current chart with ACR?

There’s no fixing the charts I’m afraid. They can now only be boring, distorted or, like the pretty much are, both.

Measuring music consumption rather than just sales seemed like a noble thing to do but the fact is the vast majority of people who stream are pretty boring in their listening habits. People who stream because they genuinely love the music they’re choosing to listen to don’t properly represented because it’s all drowned out by people who want background music.

But there’s no going back. What’s done is done.