So would all of you who think the chart is boring go back to when we had 30 to 40+ #1s per year?

 

Where bands would promote their tracks for up to 6 weeks before release, then rush release the single at first week discounted costs (£1.99 CD single), before plummeting down the charts in the following weeks as the single was priced at £3.99, before they slashed the price when it was about to or had fallen out of the Top 75 to 99p to sell off the copies that remained unsold.

 

Looking back 10 years ago I guess those of you would rather see a typical chart run like:

 

Madonna's Frozen: 1-3-5-6-13-13-18-22-34-44-60-64-68-X

 

When on a regular basis half the Top 10 would be new entries, and there would rarely be half a dozen climbers in the Top 40 chart, where well over half the Top 75 were fallers. Now that was boring.

NOT AT ALL!! In fact, that was the magic of the UK chart, something that distinguished it from all the other countries. I fell in love with it back then and still I feel the strong sentiment for the British market in spite of it losing its brand and originality. Right now the chart is much more predictable than ever. Songs hang around for ages, even following midweeks gets boring because 90% of the chart shape is totally expected thanks to i-Tunes charts. 10 years ago the market used to be dynamic and seemed like a battle field for record companies that promoted their stuff with every possible tool (double sided singles, discounts, different formats etc.). A huge number of records released and hyped every week was given to have a variety of styles and artists to choose from. Anyone could be picked up by the consumers and suddenly be discovered (even thanks to 0,99 pounds single's price which drove the song to upper reaches of the chart and then subsequently people were discovering and liking it). Right now the stabilisation and boredom has gotten hold of the market. Nobody cares about promoting new artists, chart battles have lost their excitement factor and the chart is almost as slow as the biggest c**p on the planet namely Billboard Hot 100. Tracks stand plenty of chances of getting to #1. Let's take the example of "4 Minutes" - the top after 5 weeks??? That's ridiculous! 10 years ago "Frozen" had its unique chance and either it succeds or it's lost as there are loads of other good contestants. That's why the battles were so impressive. There were bets on who wins, marketing strategies had to be implemented to help the singles, it was all about the UK chart back then! Other countries tried to follow the British example of releasing singles in their momentum to obtain a high debut. Now the debut doesn't matter a thing which is sad. All the magic has disappeared. The actual chart is most definitely boring and hardly interesting anymore.

 

 

entertainment aspect aside, the most depressing thing about the current top 40 is that it mirrors how culturally impoverished the industry and this country have become.

the abundance of new entries to the charts did not only result in more vivacious radio/TV shows, to me it also represented a healthy attitude towards musical diversity from the public and the industry people alike. a willingness to take a chance on new acts and new genres, to accidentally and often unvoluntarily nourish the sound of the underground and encourage it to enrich the mainstream.

 

in this regard i can understand who regrets the loss of such uniqueness in the british charts as for decades the uk top 40 has been looked up to in the world as a model and a measure of progress.

i wonder what the rest of the world makes of the UK top 40 these days.

 

probably the very idea of the charts has past its sell by date in the current climate, but this is another topic.

 

what should alarm us the most is the ever diminishing offer of new releases per week.

ultimately it's already our loss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with Thisispop in the respect that radio are to blame for the 'boring' aspect of the chart...this morning whilst eating my breakfast I heard 'America', 'Chasing Cars', 'Cupid's Chokehold' and 'Maneater'...not exactly fresh songs are they!?! However, I do find it more interesting that songs don't enter at their peak any more and therefore are not absolutely guaranteed to freefall the week after their physical release...I think as soon as a song has been on a radio playlist for say 12 weeks, it should be removed to give new acts/songs a chance...

Midweeks do spoil the charts, who would have seen Madonna's rise to #1 without them? Perhaps we are all finding them less interesting because we are all getting older, because older people can influence charts with downloads more or simply because there is a dirth of talent? <_<

I find the charts interesting nowadays and not only. They always have been (are) interesting no matter what year it is.

It's the really interesting year for me about charts cause 2(such a shame Estelle didn't make it) songs having 5 weeks at No.1. I think it's much more interesting to watch little amount of number ones (about 15 imo) than 52 in a year -_-

 

And yeah Madonna's current chart run would have been hard to predict :lol:

Edited April 25, 200817 yr by Pavel

I hated it 4 years ago when half the chart would vanish the next week due to a hundred new entries but I feel it movs too slowly now. Who wants Soulja Boy in the top 40 for 5 months FFS? I think we had a happy medium around 2006 but its gone to the opposite extreme. Some great new songs are missing the top 40 because radio is overplaying boring old songs like Chasing Cars, Valerie, Umbrella and Hey There Delilah.

Edited April 25, 200817 yr by T Boy

The entire top 200 is soooo boring lately :unsure: Filled up with classics, and with a lousy radio 1 presentation (only the top 40). :arrr:

A goos solution would be to add the airplay just like in US? :mellow: Maybe like this, the chart won't be so stable and predictable each week ^_^ xox.

The entire top 200 is soooo boring lately :unsure: Filled up with classics, and with a lousy radio 1 presentation (only the top 40). :arrr:

A goos solution would be to add the airplay just like in US? :mellow: Maybe like this, the chart won't be so stable and predictable each week ^_^ xox.

It would be manipulated by the radios like the US chart and it would stay still slow moving.

I hated the charts when they were so quick (and so many number 1s), but now they have swung to the other end of the spectrum.

 

I would hope in a couple of years we may get to a happy medium :D

 

^ I agree. I used to hate the charts when they were moving quicker than a jet powered car driven by Richard Hammond. Now it's going slower than parapalegic turtles with broken legs.

It would be manipulated by the radios like the US chart and it would stay still slow moving.

 

Exactly. Radio stations still continue to force songs like Valerie, Apologise, Mercy and No One on us and adding airplay will just ensure that they stay in the chart longer.

 

i dunno sometimes its very boring and other times its interesting plus i've gone back to hit 40 uk because fearne and reggie do chatter alot and its really boring plus not many movements either instead their is more c**p song doing well and great tunes flopping or just not having an honest chart position no more

So would all of you who think the chart is boring go back to when we had 30 to 40+ #1s per year?

 

Where bands would promote their tracks for up to 6 weeks before release, then rush release the single at first week discounted costs (£1.99 CD single), before plummeting down the charts in the following weeks as the single was priced at £3.99, before they slashed the price when it was about to or had fallen out of the Top 75 to 99p to sell off the copies that remained unsold.

 

Looking back 10 years ago I guess those of you would rather see a typical chart run like:

 

Madonna's Frozen: 1-3-5-6-13-13-18-22-34-44-60-64-68-X

 

When on a regular basis half the Top 10 would be new entries, and there would rarely be half a dozen climbers in the Top 40 chart, where well over half the Top 75 were fallers. Now that was boring.

No, definitely not. I'd just rather not be looking in the midweeks to see 2 or 3 new entries every week and seeing 6 month old songs going up again. I don't want loads of movement, just SOME movement. I'd love 5 of next weeks releases in the top 10, what could actually be better than people buying fresh and new music instaed of the likes of Duffy, Nickelback and Alphabeat who've all been out for weeks/months and have been played to death?!