As the title of the topic says, a few weeks ago I said Adele would make #1 but it didn't, same for Kelly Rowland but it didn't now we have Nickelback which is getting closer to the #1 spot, to be honest I never would have thought its possible to get that close or that high let alone go to #1... if it does it will make it the slowest track ever to peak at #1.

 

I never expected Basshunter to last no more than 2 weeks at the top, but its exceeded beyond my expectations.

 

I just find the single charts are not that predictable no more... what are your thoughts.

I agree with you. I thought Adele would hit No.1 and who knows if Nickelback will hit No.1?

I think the charts are more interesting now with the addition of downloads. Before,a song entered the charts at No.1 and went out of the charts fairly quickly and you pretty much knew who the number one would be each week. Singles very rarely climbed up the charts a few years back, they entered at their peak. Basically if it didn't enter at the top, it wouldn't hit No.1.

Now singles do climb so it's harder to predict their peak. Singles are also having a better chart life. Look at "Chasing Cars" for example. I Know it's down to downloads but i think an unpredictable chart is much more interesting.

 

Yes. Every week there will be about 5-8 new songs to the top 40 and a good 40% will be stuff that was released months ago!

Yeah they are quite predictable. You know which songs will chart and which will flop thanks to I-Tunes. And the charts are BORING, same old songs every week.

Agree with Octy to a certain extent. both the entry and peak position of a song are no longer predictable.

this surely twists an artist's chart run in an interesting way. just one thought, what about westlife not releasing the once canonic 4 singles off an album for fear of ruining their chart run?

 

whatever, it does not overcome the fact that activity inside the top 40 has become painstakingly stale.

 

having said that, at this stage i too would love nickelback to claim the top spot.

I don't think they are.

As the title of the topic says, a few weeks ago I said Adele would make #1 but it didn't, same for Kelly Rowland but it didn't now we have Nickelback which is getting closer to the #1 spot, to be honest I never would have thought its possible to get that close or that high let alone go to #1... if it does it will make it the slowest track ever to peak at #1.

 

I never expected Basshunter to last no more than 2 weeks at the top, but its exceeded beyond my expectations.

 

I just find the single charts are not that predictable no more... what are your thoughts.

 

IMO they are more predictable now than when only the first week mattered, and much better for it.

 

I remember how the charts were in the early 80's, with a low entry position not being an immediate death sentence - I much prefer the current situation.

 

As to certain songs hanging around for ages - we surely just have to accept that, as a consequence of having a chart more reflective of the sustained popularity of ibig hits, than it ever has been before.

Agree with Octy to a certain extent. both the entry and peak position of a song are no longer predictable.

this surely twists an artist's chart run in an interesting way. just one thought, what about westlife not releasing the once canonic 4 singles off an album for fear of ruining their chart run?

 

whatever, it does not overcome the fact that activity inside the top 40 has become painstakingly stale.

 

having said that, at this stage i too would love nickelback to claim the top spot.

 

Part of the pereceived slowness is due to pre-release download sales spreading out what used to be a concentrated sales burst on the week of physical release. ISTM that that on its own, will add an average of 2-3 weeks to the length of a chart run.

 

As I see it though, the download market is till maturing, and who knows what pace the charts will move at in 2-3 years time? Quite possibly sales will become concentrated towards the date of download release, thereby speeding up the charts again...

Yeah they are quite predictable. You know which songs will chart and which will flop thanks to I-Tunes. And the charts are BORING, same old songs every week.

 

I agree 100%...for those who don't have iTunes the chart must look completely random but for those of us that do, its obvious what will be a hit and a flop...

 

I find iTunes top 100 more surprising sometimes than the Official chart

In some respects they are... in terms of if a song is shown on a show, you know that the song will then rise on the next weeks chart. However there are songs like Nikelback and quite a few others that make the chart quite unpredictable.

 

So in response to the question I would have to go for Yes and No :)

They're not and I thought that would be a good thing........its not. Being unpredictable is fine but I think the charts in the last 6 months have been awful. Overplayed, overrated tripe is what seems to stick near the top and a lot of good songs are now missing the top 40.

i agree.. i know Headlines was poor in comparrison with their other tracks, but i thought the spice girls would have made the top 10, as they have a hge fanbase, look at how many people bought tickets.

i think the good thing is, westlife wont be getting anymore number ones now! haha

 

I'm split 50/50 some songs we predict get to that area and other good song that we predicted would go top 10 or should make top 40 don't happen no more so mostly no its a prediction get correct chart anymore

I just find the single charts are not that predictable no more... what are your thoughts.

 

This is much to the good. I prefer them not being predictable as it makes them interesting, unlike the period from mid-1995 to 2006 when they were completely boring

Now downloads are stronger than physicals I'd say it's 50/50. You can easily predict what'll be big just by looking at iTunes but there are some surprises. Songs reaching a new peak weeks after being released, longer runs at the top so we don't have 40 odd #1s in a year. The only thing I don't like though is how billboard 100 it's got in the sense that hardly any new songs make the top 40 anymore and there's still songs in the top 20 that are 4 months old. :/

I don't think they are predictable, compared to like 10 years ago I could have predicted what songs would defo go to number 1, its harder now

I voted yes, as most of the time they are predictable, x-factor releases, Wetlife, McFly are usually up in the top end, same goes for the usual flood of Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Christmas rush released albums and singles. January and February are always very slow for hearing new music from the 'bigger artists', so you're always going to get surprises and long stayers, for pretty much what I consider to be not very great songs. I don't think Basshunter, Adele, David Jordan, Nickelback and Hot Chip etc, would be selling as well on a stronger release schedule.

They're not and I thought that would be a good thing........its not. Being unpredictable is fine but I think the charts in the last 6 months have been awful. Overplayed, overrated tripe is what seems to stick near the top and a lot of good songs are now missing the top 40.

 

How 'good' can they be, if they can't see enough to go top 40?

 

I assume what you meant is 'a lot of songs I like are missing the top 40'...

 

Many good songs dont get radio or video support but are good enough to go top40. And a few years ago there would be loads of new entries from unknown artists at the bottom of the chart, but now most of them chart at the bottom of the top100.

How 'good' can they be, if they can't see enough to go top 40?

 

I assume what you meant is 'a lot of songs I like are missing the top 40'...

They don't sell because radio etc. don't pick them up. It's a matter that one poster brought up the other week too. Most of the songs I like seem to miss the entire top 75 these days.

 

IMO the charts are unbelievably stale at the moment. I hope it's just a warming up period and the charts will speed up soon... I didn't even listen to the chart show last week because I knew I would be hearing c**p like Hey There Dullilah, Umbrella, She's So Lovely for what seems like the 500th week. If it carries on like this then soon I'll probably just be checking the top 75 on here after 7pm every week.

 

However, I guess the charts have become somewhat unpredictable in the way that some songs do worse/better than people were expecting, such as Hot Chip, Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue, Melua/Cassidy etc. However, with iTunes and midweeks you always know what's going to be where by Sunday anyway.