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 Wednesday at 15:591 day 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.