Mateja

Isn't Geri pregnant? I don't know how far along she is, but I've seen some pictures of her with a prominent baby bump.

It's not just the UK radio though. In the US, I think only "Work" made it into TOP 10 on the pop radio. That said, that song was still a huge success, it spent like 9 weeks at #1 on HOT 100. Pop radio is always hungry for new Rihanna. But they are not willing to play just anything from her - she needs to deliver the pop hits. It's always been like that with Rihanna.

Rihanna's star is as bright as ever, but she needs to release some better, more pop friendly material. I know that "Work" was a huge hit, but I find the whole ANTI album a real step back.

I think "Glory Days" is their best album so far. There is no doubt it had to be done rather quickly while promoting and touring "Get Weird", but it all can be done when you are the priority for your label and management. The girls also had some luck with collaborators, songs that were submitted to them and they had loads of inspiration themselves. When all that clicks, you can make a great album in a short period of time. If nothing really clicks, you can work on an album for a long time and still end up with mediocre product.

The chart needs some sensible recurrency rules. That's the only thing that I can think of that would make sense. Tweaking the chart to decrease the impact of streaming and increase the impact of iTunes downloads doesn't make sense as streaming is growing and downloading is declining.

Oh I agree - but OOC had to find a solution that wouldn't be too complicated for a regular person to understand. Buying and streaming are two different ways of music consumption and I believe there is no perfect way to compare them. I would personally prefer if they kept the sales and streaming charts separate and simply declare the streaming chart to be the official UK singles chart and the sales chart only a side chart. But that would piss off the non streamers even more than the current solution.

Downloads are losing the importance because more and more people that used to buy singles now stream. I mean, just looking at the "sales" numbers every week and looking at the breakdown between real sales and streaming tells the story. The number of people that still download is getting smaller and smaller. Making the downloads count more would be just an attempt to hide the fact that downloads are being phased out. Making the downloads count more wouldn't suddenly convince people to go back to buying singles on iTunes. Non-streaming music fans aren't being wiped out, they are being converted into streamers. Some people adopted streaming really fast and some are changing their habits slowly. And then there are some that want to continue buying and those sales still contribute to the charts. I understand that you don't like your preferred method of music consumption becoming more and more irrelevant, but it's time to accept it. Also, the streaming revolution did make the charts stale, but the charts simply reflect what people want to listen to - they like to listen to what is familiar to them.

Nah, the current, 100'-1 ratio is easy to use. Streaming is taking over, there is no point in changing the ratio to support the dying format.

I think 100-1 ratio is good and easy to apply. No matter what, digital downloads are in decline and changing the ratio in favor of downloads won't change that.

I only stream music on my desktop computer. It's either streaming (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer) or my own iTunes library. I have an iPod Touch and I can stream at home where I have wifi. But otherwise I use iPod to listen to my own music. I wouldn't stream from my cell phone even if I could. I wouldn't want to waste my phone battery on music.

I don't know what their contract is like. But Republic Records gets all non-country winners. The first two winners flopped, #5 had "a quiet release" (in her own words), #6 didn't release anything and briefly appeared in theater production. #8 released an EP (he is a folk singer/songwriter) and now #9 seems most fitting for a career in christian contemporary music, which sells very little. Country winners go to Big Machine Label Group. Big Machine released debut albums of two female winners (#3 and #4) and had a little bit of success with Cassadee. The third country winner, (#7, guy over 30 years old) asked to be let go from his contract before he released anything.

They haven't. Biggest success is one platinum single by season 3 winner Cassadee Pope. Most of their winners don't even get to release an album because they are not marketable and Republic Records couldn't care less. They don't have a SYCO behind them. The Voice is just a game show for 4 celebrity coaches and the contestants are their pawns. The blind auditions are the most interesting and they try to finish the live shows as soon as possible which results in the viewers not connecting with the contestants.

You should consider making a "Changes in top 40 weeks due to sales" thread instead since apparently streaming is now the main/biggest source of "chart sales". It's only going to get worse for actual sales.

It doesn't really matter who won the X Factor and who didn't. Ben won and got to release a winner's single. I think Syco put effort into both albums, but we must take into account that Ben and Fleur are two different artists. Ben is a 30 years old pop/rock singer that is just starting out. it's no wonder the hit stations like BBC Radio 1 and Capital ignored him. And since the hit stations help drive the single sales, it's not surprised the single didn't sell that well. Fleur was lucky to get a song placed in the ASDA commercial. Plus her sound is much more appealing to the hit radio stations. Ultimately, I think Ben easily won the X Factor because of who he is: male, 30 years old, pop/rock singer, very appealing to female audience of all ages, but especially middle aged women. Fleur had no chance against him. Now the tables have turned. X Factor's voters =/= music buyers

Apparently Grimmy talked about the duets on the radio. Looks like duets with the mentor were scrapped. Leona will likely sing with Louisa, since she is her idol.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...erformance.html

They start their 2 year break in March 2016. They will also take a break during the holidays.

Olly started out significantly younger. He was 25 when he was on the X Factor. Also, his music is way more poppy.

Guetta is a DJ, not a singer. He usually has much younger guest vocalists featured.

The problem is the voting audience. On all these singing shows all around the world the audience heavily favors male contestants. Male singers, over 20, possibly even over 25 years old, adult contemporary, pop rockers. Females of all ages, but especially those middle aged and older women heavily gravitate towards those types. Ben Haenow totally fits in. I knew he would be dangerous when he made it to the live shows and it soon became clear that he had it in the bag. When they showed his female fans on the finale from his homecoming, it was very clear that he was unstoppable. So guys of that type easily win these shows, but later on they struggle to stay relevant in the music business. Ben turned 30 in January. Hit radio stations (Capital, BBC Radio 1) think he is too old for their target audience and that he is too uncool. And the support of Capital ans BBC Radio 1 are crucial for post show success.

To be honest, keeping up with this is becoming more and more pointless with every passing week. Streaming is taking over, the end.

Did anyone really expect Bieber to beat 1D on their home turf? Plus they have the X Factor performance on Sunday.

New peak for "Love Me Like You"? Sweet!

TOP 20 isn't really a crap peak anymore.

Skrillex and Diplo - Where Are U Now Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean Justin Bieber - Sorry Adele - Hello Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth - See You Again 5SOS - She's Kinda Hot 5SOS - Hey Everybody! Rihanna - 45Seconds Rihanna - BBHMM Sam Smith - Writing On The Wall