GreyAsh

Also most were at times when downloading was the main contributor to the chart.

It will be interesting to see! I don’t think Mariah‘s physicals made that much of an impact last time they were released. But people are more into buying physical singles now than 5 years ago.

From my past experience, 50% of the time Alexa starts with Wham!, and 50% of the time she starts with Mariah.

But how many people buy physicals apart from by their favourite artists? Even the Pogues last year didn’t get a massive number of physicals.

Last year he threw his hat behind AC/DC then switched to Pogues. When Wham! reached number 1 he tried to take the credit despite giving up on them after Christmas chart 2017. I’ll keep my personal opinion of him to myself. … needless to say, he’s blocked me on Facebook.

The question is, what do you mean by first week? This week or next week? I voted based on this week as its release date was yesterday. So far it is not showing on Apple, but the Band Aid 30 version from the Band Aid 40 EP is showing, but has not climbed since it debuted. Possibly some kind of error.

Regarding the EP - This has happened in the past With Band-Aid, and it is only the primary artist that counts. So for example I think Band Aid 30 also had the others on it. But only Band Aid 30 counted. The difference is, this EP is credited to just Band Aid (and the tracks on it are credited to: Band Aid, Band Aid 20, Band Aid 30 and Band Aid). In other words Band Aid 40 does not exist as a group, the new version is credited to Band Aid so could theoretically be combined with the original, but NOT the other versions.

Theoretically. But OCC sets the rules so it can break them, and it’s been indicated elsewhere that they might.

I was just going to say this. It’s just out on streaming platforms now, and purchases from Friday, but from the way it has been billed (Band Aid), it could easily be classed as a remix and combined for the chart with the original - but probably not with the others as they are technically by different artists (Band Aid 20, Band Aid 30)

It’s just out on streaming platforms now, and purchases from Friday, but from the way it has been billed (Band Aid), it could easily be classed as a remix and combined for the chart with the original.

Woah! Apple is fluctuating so much. 1 Wham! 2 Defying Gravity 3 Gracie Abrams 4-7 Kendrick 10 Mariah 12 Rosé 16 Gigi Perez

Interesting to see Mr Brightside and Last Christmas certified in the same week. I can’t remember the exact 80s sales of last Christmas, but it was over 1.5 million, so just 300,000 more sales (or rather 150,000 chart sales as it’s on ACR) more than Mr Brightside to overtake it again. Last year Last Christmas won the battle between them, but I think it will be Mr. Brightside this year - so they will continue to leapfrog each other each year.

Do you think ‘Defying Gravity’ will chart higher than ‘Popular’? It’s so strange seeing Ariana releasing Popular as a single - as it was interpolated into her 2nd single, ‘Popular Song’ with Mika back in 2013 and that was the first I had ever heard of her.

Ahhh! Thank you.

Because there are different rules for the singles start and the albums chart. Singles have a maximum of three physical formats. I don’t think there is a limit for albums.

If it was there then, it seems to have left now and been replaced by the original.

From what I recall, Mariah’s physicals didn’t make much impact last time around. Then again, what we saw from the reissue of Careless Whisper is that there is a lot of demand for George Michael physical products. In a way, it’s not surprising that they are released in different weeks as they are on the same record label. Thanks Jay for summarising all of this data!

Oooh! Please explain the quirk?

I don’t see Band Aid 30 in there right now - just the original.

Of course! I knew there must be a reason. Someone mentioned it earlier, but I didn’t really pay much attention.

‘Last Christmas’ has just shot to Number 1 on Amazon Music Unlimited with Mariah at 3. And in the past hour ‘Last Christmas’ has climbed from 11 to 4 on Apple - with Mariah at 15 (up from 24 I think). I wonder if the sudden change on Apple is because of different versions being combined. Update - Mariah is also 78 on Apple.

In a shock turn of events, ‘Last Christmas’ is currently the only Christmas song in the Billboard hot 100!

I’ve found the rule now: The first 3 formats released will be included unless elected by the record company prior to release. Again, as always, a little ambiguity as it doesn’t say whether it means prior to the initial release, or prior to the release of that specific physical format. I assume, with the wiggle room there, that they will be included.

The potential problem is that they’ve already had their limit of 3 variants in the past 5 years. Will they be allowed to discount the previous variants and instead include the new variants? I asked this and someone appeared to answer but it was ambiguous as to whether they understood my question or thought I was talking about SCR/ACR.

Amazon Music Unlimited: 1 Mariah 2 Benson Boone, BT 3 KSI 4 Wham! 5 Gigi Perez