GreyAsh

‘I Want A Hippopotamus’ is a classic! Brilliant track. Amazon deliberately removes Christmas songs from its chart on a certain date, but misses a few.

Did anyone finally receive any answers about this? I e-mailed the OCC and got no response. However, I did look through all sets of figures provided (including YouTube’s data) and calculated that in the Official Chart, correct data would have narrowed Ellie Goulding’s lead from 1000s to 100s, but wouldn’t have changed the number 1 position. I don’t think any of us were hugely excited by the streaming record set that week (and didn’t someone, maybe Ariana Grande? beat it since)?

Good point. Comparing with last year, Mariah has closed on Wham! slightly - she had a great start on November 1st - and this was evident in the fact that she reached number 1 in the OC at a point when Wham! were ahead last year. But compared with years 2020 and before, she has lost her shine compared with Wham! On many days, if you compared 2022 with 2020, Wham! are up and Mariah down. The majority of her 500k year on year increase in streaming appears to be a result of increased (Christmas) streaming on Spotify in general. It’s notable that in the Official Christmas Chart, Wham!’s lead over Mariah has increased from 2,000 to 3,000 from last year. But the fact that Mariah has dropped 57,000 to 51,000 year on year could be a number of factors - including the potential fact that streaming sales from Amazon may have dropped significantly. The main point is that for many years it was assumed that Mariah has, and probably would always have the top classic Christmas song. That situation has clearly changed though the media doesn’t seem to have noticed. And I don’t think many of us thought we’d see the day that Brenda Lee would overtake Mariah. That said, Brenda may well overtake Wham! on Spotify next year.

Interesting thoughts - but the media and OCC portray AIWFCIY as the UK’s favourite Christmas song constantly, ignoring Last Christmas completely, and therefore are surprised each time Last Christmas performs better than AIWFCIY - despite the fact that it has done so two years in a row now. As for sexism - have you checked the OCC website? They adore female singers, and Mariah in particular.

Yes! Very close! In reality it wouldn’t be quite so close as there at least 2 other versions of ‘Last Christmas’ including the popular Pudding Mix. It’s difficult to work out how many streams they get each day. Regardless - it’s fascinating to see Brenda ahead of Mariah and so close to Wham! - showing the impact of US streaming habits on Spotify in the UK. She is lower down on Apple, but could one day become UK number 1. Interesting to see Mariah is the US number 1 despite being so far behind Brenda Lee on Spotify.

Sorry to break it to you, but on Spotify, Mariah is the one in decline - typically below previous years. At one point this morning, Wham! were number 1 on Spotify, Amazon Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited. They were also number 1 last week on both Audio and Video streaming charts last week. Spotify usually buoys US artists more than UK artists.

I haven’t personally compared directly, but MOST Christmas songs seem to be down (though I wouldn’t be surprised if Brenda Lee is up) Well we will be able to tell this week. Lizzo and Stormzy are up to 3 and 4 on Amazon Prime but 11 and 7 on Amazon Music Unlimited. If Amazon counts just as much this year, they will both be massively high. I’m sure on previous Christmas Days, Amazon has accounted for more than 50% of streaming. And Amazon is counting Stormzy as a non-Christmas track, so he features in ALL of their playlists. Remember Lizzo is so high because she is not on ACR unlike all other Christmas songs other than Ed and Elton.

Is that the same for other songs as well? I think generally non-Spotify Christmas streaming is down - possibly due to the changes at Amazon suggested above. One other possible reason is that last year Alexa marginally preferred Wham! This year she marginally prefers Mariah.

Regarding ‘Food Aid’ it is likely to be higher than expected this week, as a result of being one of few new releases added to Spotify Christmas playlists. It has now belatedly entered the Spotify chart (at number 200). But as most of the songs above it are on ACR it should still remain in the top 100 I think.

Remind me - what do we know about the iTunes algorithm? The only algorithm I believe I have cracked so far is Apple Music where I believe they count the number of streams in the past 24 hours. I believe Amazon downloads give credit to both songs with high downloads over a long period, and those with a sudden increase. Those with a sudden increase climb fast, then slump fast. But tracks like LadBaby stay high in the chart, even once nobody is downloading them anymore. But how does iTunes work, roughly?

I’ve mentioned this in other threads, but it’s worth mentioning here as well. I use Amazon over the winter period and I have noticed this year that Amazon Prime force feeds you different tracks, and won’t play the track that you have requested. This is not the same on Amazon Music Unlimited. I have a hunch therefore that streaming on Amazon Prime would no longer count towards the chart - only Amazon Music Unlimited. The Amazon chart that is included in this thread is the Amazon Prime Chart. This theory would explain lower overall streaming figures, and also the fact that the Amazon exclusives don’t chart quite as high as before. I would be interested to know anyone else’s thoughts about this.

Does anyone know why there exist two different streaming charts from Amazon? The one published here has thousands of places, has several versions/locations of many songs, has Mariah at number 1, Wham! at number 2, and no sign of RAYE. The one published on Amazon Music Unlimited has 100 places, only one version of each song (apart from different mixes, like Stormzy) has Wham! at number 1, Mariah at number 2, and RAYE in the top 10. My feeling is that the former is the chart for Amazon Prime, and the latter is the chart for Amazon Music Unlimited. I feel that if this is the case, then the former would be more influenced by Alexa and would explain why Mariah is number 1. If you ask Alexa to play Christmas music twice, the first time she starts with Mariah; the second time she starts with Wham! and alternates between the two. And it would imply that RAYE is not available on Amazon Prime, meaning you have to upgrade in order to listen to her song. Can anyone clarify any of these theories?

Very interesting comment. Whereas Mariah had a Co-writer on her track, George Michael wrote and produced ‘Last Christmas’ solo. Nonetheless, well done to Mariah for reaching number 1 again.

I think so. The highest version of Mariah is neck and neck with Shaky - so can’t be anything like as far ahead as Wham! and Mariah on Spotify. Comparing the 2 Wham! positions and the 2 Mariah positions with the streams of those equivalent positions on Spotify would put Wham! in a clear lead. However, Amazon, playlisting is really favouring Mariah this year - whereas last year they favoured Wham! Last year I believe that Wham! was number one on Amazon for most of December.

I think there’s a good chance that Wham! could be above Mariah on Apple, with two positions in the top 15.

It’s possible. As we get closer to Christmas, Amazon has more of an impact. And Ed & Elton seem to be close enough to Wham! and Mariah there to have more than half their streams. On Apple I’d say they appear close to half (just behind the two versions of ‘Last Christmas’ though on Spotify they appear far behind.