Dircadirca

+5 The Pogues - Fairytale of New York +4 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree +3 Kelly Clarkson - Underneath The Tree +2 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock +1 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You -1 Tom Grennan - It Can't Be Christmas -2 Elton John - Step Into Christmas -3 Wham! - Last Christmas -4 Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me -5 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

The way I've been seeing it for a while is that most big hits nowadays have a lifespan of about 3 years before their daily streams recede into steady points that you shouldn't expect to drop down. In that respect, a year just isn't long enough to capture it. The measure of a hit I feel is less about how high it can get in these lists, but just how many of them it can make. "Someone You Loved" was released in November 2018, terrible for making that year's list, but it's made it in 6 years in a row now, so it's all about the long game. Something though that I think sometimes gets overlooked with this is that though there's an 'advantage' for hits around the start of the year, not all recurrent hits are made equal. Even accounting for ACR, I was looking through this year's EOY chart and was constantly surprised at just how much similar-sized hits early in the year seemed to drastically change their pecking order after they were out of the charts. I think a lot of chart fans disregard songs that are past their peak/out of the charts, but they are being listened to by real people all the same who might not know or care that the song in question is no longer 'in vogue'. I love that the EOY charts/all-time data recognises this. In some regards it's more accurate than ever.

(Hopefully the first version of this post stays in buzzjack down jail) There's a couple of reasons for that. Think of the charts as a triangle where the higher you are, the higher your sales are. You need to have a 4 times bigger triangle to double the height while maintaining the same ratio In general, America is a lot larger and the population is more spread out. It means for a lot more difference in collective interest, and it's a lot harder to quickly proliferate a hit song (or anything) across the whole population. No single station in America has the same proportional reach as the BBC does. As for the OP question, I find it really difficult to figure out because when I look at these things in hindsight, I see a lot of failed hits that don't sound like they ever could have been hits. If I can notice it, I'm sure the artist and/or label can too. Not every song is designed to be a #1 smash, they can represent artistic freedom, make a statement, or be something other than an attempt to interest as many people as possible. Is "Perfect Illusion" by Lady Gaga a flop? Maybe, but it is Platinum in Australia and on its way there in the US, that's a pretty good innings for a song that sounds like that, even if it's not so good for a Lady Gaga lead single. It gets more complicated in the streaming age because we're not really witnessing the apparent idea of people hearing a song and deciding whether or not to buy it. It's just a question of if they heard it or not. All the songs that are infamous duds of late are just songs that most people haven't heard, and haven't weighed in on or not. You can imagine a song with a lot of reach not getting bought and then it's a flop that no one likes, but now it's just a song that isn't getting heard and that doesn't say anything about how good it is, just how well it was marketed. I also think about songs like "About Damn Time" by Lizzo, which plummeted down in the early days of its release but then got a second wind and soared back up. Does the early performance suggest that the song was destined to be a flop in a fair system and that it was bailed out by good marketing and luck, or was the song just an obvious smash that needed time to get going? If that's the case, then there are other flop songs that just never got that chance, and that can't be held against them. It feels like there are a small group of early tastemakers who decide these things and most people aren't really in a position to challenge it so they just go along with it. It's like on Reddit where whether or not a comment's first vote is up or down can decide where everyone else goes with it. Your sense of whether or not it's a good comment is influenced so strongly by what's already been decided that you just follow suit. Those new Lil Nas X songs can't be good because otherwise they'd have taken off by now, runs on the same logic.

+5 The Pogues - Fairytale of New York +4 ROSE - APT. +3 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree +2 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock +1 Lola Young - Messy -1 Tom Grennan - It Can't Be Christmas -2 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You -3 Wham! - Last Christmas -4 Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me -5 Gracie Abrams - That's So True

23/12/2024 Singles 01 01 09 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 02 09 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 03 08 69 01 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU Mariah Carey 04 04 18 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 05 03 31 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 06 18 03 06 MESSY Lola Young 07 10 60 02 LAST CHRISTMAS Wham! 08 05 36 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 09 06 48 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 10 16 24 02 ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE Brenda Lee 11 09 17 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 12 07 36 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 13 12 32 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 14 22 22 06 JINGLE BELL ROCK Bobby Helms 15 11 04 03 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 16 13 18 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 17 14 36 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 18 24 30 05 SANTA TELL ME Ariana Grande 19 15 57 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 20 17 12 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 21 19 41 10 AUSTIN Dasha 22 20 39 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 23 25 21 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 24 23 28 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 25 26 32 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 26 45 29 03 IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 27 44 20 09 UNDERNEATH THE TREE Kelly Clarkson 28 21 61 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 29 27 127 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 30 53 19 08 IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR Andy Williams 31 28 04 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 32 41 227 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 33 29 69 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 34 35 23 31 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 35 64 17 11 SNOWMAN Sia 36 62 21 07 HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 37 43 20 31 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 38 39 31 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 39 32 49 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 40 33 234 19 MR BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 41 36 91 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 42 40 232 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 43 66 13 13 LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! Dean Martin 44 42 178 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 45 37 34 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 46 38 27 20 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 47 49 26 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 48 46 17 10 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 49 50 30 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 50 30 04 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar Bubbling Under 7 (8) TOXIC TILL THE END Rosé 8 (10) BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 9 (NE) INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 10 (11) DEFYING GRAVITY Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande 11 (18) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 12 (NE) THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 13 (21) LIKE HIM Tyler, The Creator 14 (17) LOVE SOMEBODY Morgan Wallen 15 (12) MA MEILLEURE ENNEMIE Stromae, Pomme 16 (13) 2 HANDS Tate McRae 17 (14) IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 18 (NE) PUSH 2 START Tyla 19 (19) WHAT IS THIS FEELING? Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 20 (20) POPULAR Ariana Grande Albums 01 01 035 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 02 03 017 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 04 004 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 04 NE 001 04 HOP Stray Kids 05 07 036 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 06 031 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 07 08 026 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 08 05 004 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 09 13 109 01 CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 10 02 002 02 ROSIE Rosé 11 09 004 09 ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SEASON 2 Soundtrack 12 11 202 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 13 10 028 01 BRAT Charli XCX 14 59 002 14 FRUITCAKE Sabrina Carpenter 15 12 106 01 SOS SZA 16 14 012 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 17 15 067 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 18 17 060 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 19 19 018 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 20 20 116 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 21 16 187 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 22 18 094 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 23 32 338 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 24 21 230 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 25 27 510 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 26 22 278 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 27 NE 001 27 MISSIONARY Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre 28 25 353 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 29 23 087 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 30 24 008 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 31 29 036 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 32 30 371 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 33 31 465 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 34 26 073 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 35 34 393 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 36 33 080 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 37 36 018 02 F-1 TRILLION Post 38 39 299 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 39 42 189 03 IGOR Tyler, The Creator 40 38 307 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 41 37 448 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 42 35 005 01 FROM ZERO Linkin Park 43 50 133 03 HOZIER Hozier 44 52 112 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 45 45 162 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 46 44 281 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 47 66 213 01 BORN TO DIE Lana Del Rey 48 40 038 31 REBEL DIAMONDS The Killers 49 53 423 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars 50 43 110 02 GRADUATION Kanye West "APT." is #1 for a 7th week. It's Christmas in a couple of hours so I'm not gonna put a lot of time into this. Unless the machinations of Christmas cause an unexpected shift by way of Wham!, then get ready for Mariah Carey to go to #1 next week for the 7th year in a row. I also apologise to Tate McRae, her album (which drops out this week) is not actually called "Thick Later", those letters aren't even close on the keyboard I have no excuse.

To its credit, here's "...Snowman"'s last.fm stats of late Obviously not breaking the bank but the end of year climb isn't nothing either. I think the limit of how much of the Christmas canon we can witness on the chart (ie top 200 on Spotify) can hide those smaller stories that definitely do still exist. Maybe more credit could even be given as it's probably(?) not driven by corporate playlists. Not everyone's Christmas staple, but it is for a lot of people.

We're still doomering on releases within days even though the result is more pertinent months down the track, or even years in some cases?

+5 The Pogues - Fairytale of New York +4 ROSE - APT. +3 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree +2 Kelly Clarkson - Underneath The Tree +1 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock -1 Tom Grennan - It Can't Be Christmas -2 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You -3 Wham! - Last CHristmas -4 Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me -5 Gracie Abrams - That's So True

I feel more inclined to trust the overall chart rather than chart fans who piece it together with less information and cry foul the moment it doesn't suit their perspective. Spotify is the holy bible until it doesn't look right and then suddenly those streams are fake/illegitimate/meaningless as well.

I feel like populism is an unrewarding trend in award ceremonies. If we want to know what's sold, streamed etc. the best, then we have that. Limiting the scope of what can be considered the best to the rare few that pass a necessary threshold diminishes the qualification of being the best because it's no longer competing with the whole field. To say nothing of how much marketing plays a part in deciding who is and isn't in that upper tier. What's the end purpose? To be a time-stamp of the (vaguely curated) sound of the times, to get the tick of approval of the majority and skate by paycheck-to-paycheck on conditional admiration, or to be looked back upon as a trusted tastemaker who can use their broad resources and experience to shine a light on the greater music world? I see so many publications confirming year after year that the pinnacle of music was successfully harvested by TikTok teens and it just seems so discouraging to music as a whole. That's not to say teenagers can't appreciate good music, but every year? I've spent far too long watching the sausage get made to have unwavering trust in the process. But if this is about the GRAMMY awards, they're really not worth taking seriously in any degree.

That being said, I haven't played very many strictly 2024 games this year. I give strong positive endorsements to Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom (if you like '90s 3D platformers) and Leap Year (if you like super short games that make you say 'ooh that's neat'). I also haven't played it yet but UFO 50 is probably the best game of the year, just the sheer audacity of it.

16/12/2024 Singles 01 01 08 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 02 08 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 03 04 30 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 04 05 17 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 05 06 35 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 06 08 47 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 07 12 35 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 08 07 68 01 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU Mariah Carey 09 09 16 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 10 11 59 02 LAST CHRISTMAS Wham! 11 03 03 03 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 12 13 31 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 13 10 17 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 14 18 35 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 15 19 56 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 16 17 23 02 ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE Brenda Lee 17 14 11 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 18 39 02 18 MESSY Lola Young 19 20 40 10 AUSTIN Dasha 20 24 38 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 21 28 60 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 22 25 21 06 JINGLE BELL ROCK Bobby Helms 23 27 27 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 24 22 29 05 SANTA TELL ME Ariana Grande 25 21 20 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 26 26 31 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 27 30 126 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 28 16 03 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 29 37 68 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 30 15 03 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 31 NE 01 31 TOXIC TILL THE END Rosé 32 54 48 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 33 40 233 19 MR BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 34 64 43 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 35 33 22 31 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 36 46 90 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 37 55 33 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 38 29 26 20 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 39 35 30 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 40 36 231 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 41 32 226 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 42 34 177 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 43 38 19 31 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 44 44 19 09 UNDERNEATH THE TREE Kelly Clarkson 45 41 28 03 IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 46 43 16 10 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 47 56 38 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 48 74 40 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 49 48 25 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 50 50 29 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan Bubbling Under 10 (13) BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 11 (10) DEFYING GRAVITY Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande 12 (9) MA MEILLEURE ENNEMIE Stromae, Pomme 13 (11) 2 HANDS Tate McRae 14 (19) IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 15 (16) JUNO Sabrina Carpenter 16 (23) NUMBER ONE GIRL Rosé 17 (18) LOVE SOMEBODY Morgan Wallen 18 (17) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 19 (15) WHAT IS THIS FEELING? Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 20 (14) POPULAR Ariana Grande Albums 01 01 034 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 02 NE 001 02 ROSIE Rosé 03 03 016 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 04 04 003 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 05 02 003 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 06 06 030 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 07 05 035 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 08 07 025 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 09 12 003 09 ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SEASON 2 Soundtrack 10 09 027 01 BRAT Charli XCX 11 08 201 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 12 14 105 01 SOS SZA 13 15 108 01 CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 14 11 011 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 15 10 066 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 16 16 186 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 17 19 059 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 18 25 093 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 19 13 017 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 20 20 115 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 21 22 229 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 22 21 277 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 23 27 086 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 24 18 007 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 25 26 352 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 26 28 072 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 27 24 509 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 28 RE 009 13 UNREAL UNEARTH Hozier 29 31 035 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 30 32 370 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 31 30 464 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 32 29 337 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 33 37 079 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 34 33 392 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 35 23 004 01 FROM ZERO Linkin Park 36 36 017 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 37 38 447 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 38 40 306 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 39 35 298 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 40 71 037 31 REBEL DIAMONDS The Killers 41 50 040 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 42 34 188 03 IGOR Tyler, The Creator 43 44 109 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 44 39 280 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 45 42 161 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 46 NE 001 46 FLOWERS IN THE PAVEMENT Bliss N Eso 47 47 048 02 THICK LATER Tate McRae 48 41 028 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 49 45 198 01 EVERMORE Taylor Swift 50 43 132 03 HOZIER Hozier "APT." is #1 for a 6th week. Everything I said last week has been reversed so we might have a real tussle for #1 next week. We're still in humbug mode and I ain't crying lightning so Mariah won't figure in the race until the week afterwards. In fact this is one of those rare weeks where the chart dates line up in such a way that the Dec 1st effect outweighs the proximity effect, so many Christmas songs have declined this week. Kelly Clarkson stays winning yet again while Wham! manage to climb into the top 10. We're also in Spotify Wrapped week where you're inclined to think that only the biggest of the biggest hits get a rebound, but in reality everything is getting rebounds, just some more than others. Something I always find interesting among this is the performance of "Mr. Brightside", which usually drops down the chart because its listener behaviour is not conducive to a Wrapped effect. You've been deceived this time though because they were just on the eastern side of the country and are rebounding as a result of that. Rosé also manages a top 50 debut but we'll probably have to wait until next year to see if it's got some legs. As expected, Taylor Swift gets a 7th week, and thus keeps vaguely Australian music at bay. We haven't had any vaguely Australian double ups at #1 on both charts since 2022 when Joji & Jimmy Barnes shared the top spot. Despite many of the songs on the soundtrack seeming to decline, the Arcane soundtrack actually climbs into the top 10 this week. The only other debut to note this week is from Bliss N Eso, joining Powderfinger in the role of belatedly getting their debut album to finally debut in the top 50. Also in the world of Christmas L's, Michael Buble is still not in the top 10, so that maximum expected count of 3 now drops to 2.

+5 ROSÉ - APT. +4 Gigi Perez - Sailor Song +3 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The CHristmas Tree +2 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock +1 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You -1 Ed Sheeran & Elton John - Merry Christmas -2 Cynthia Erivo - Defying Gravity -3 Wham! - Last Christmas -4 Gracie Abrams - That's So True -5 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

09/12/2024 Singles 01 01 07 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 02 07 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 03 07 02 03 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 04 03 29 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 05 06 16 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 06 05 34 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 07 RE 67 01 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU Mariah Carey 08 08 46 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 04 15 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 10 10 16 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 11 RE 58 02 LAST CHRISTMAS Wham! 12 11 34 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 13 13 30 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 14 14 10 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 15 09 02 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 16 12 02 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 17 RE 22 02 ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE Brenda Lee 18 15 34 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 19 17 55 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 20 19 39 10 AUSTIN Dasha 21 16 19 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 22 RE 28 05 SANTA TELL ME Ariana Grande 23 71 02 23 MA MEILLEURE ENNEMIE Stromae, Pomme 24 22 37 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 25 RE 20 06 JINGLE BELL ROCK Bobby Helms 26 23 30 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 27 20 26 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 28 27 59 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 29 24 25 20 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 30 28 125 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 31 42 02 31 DEFYING GRAVITY Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande 32 38 225 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 33 34 21 31 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 34 33 176 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 35 30 29 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 36 43 230 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 37 36 67 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 38 39 18 31 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 39 NE 01 39 MESSY Lola Young 40 45 232 19 MR BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 41 RE 27 03 IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 42 21 03 14 2 HANDS Tate McRae 43 31 15 10 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 44 RE 18 09 UNDERNEATH THE TREE Kelly Clarkson 45 40 08 40 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 46 47 89 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 47 32 37 21 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 48 44 24 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 49 RE 17 08 IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR Andy Williams 50 49 28 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan Bubbling Under 14 (21) POPULAR Ariana Grande 15 (23) WHAT IS THIS FEELING? Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 16 (13) JUNO Sabrina Carpenter 17 (15) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 18 (18) LOVE SOMEBODY Morgan Wallen 19 (14) IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 20 (22) LIKE HIM Tyler, The Creator Albums 01 14 033 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 02 01 002 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 03 02 015 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 04 03 002 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 05 05 034 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 06 029 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 07 04 024 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 08 07 200 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 09 11 026 01 BRAT Charli XCX 10 18 065 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 11 09 010 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 12 12 002 12 ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SEASON 2 Soundtrack 13 21 016 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 14 13 104 01 SOS SZA 15 RE 107 01 CHRISTMAS Michael Buble 16 16 185 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 17 NE 001 17 THE PARTY NEVER ENDS Juice WRLD 18 08 006 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 19 23 058 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 20 28 114 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 21 25 276 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 22 30 228 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 23 10 003 01 FROM ZERO Linkin Park 24 31 508 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 25 17 092 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 26 22 351 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 27 20 085 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 28 26 071 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 29 34 336 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 30 32 463 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 31 27 034 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 32 33 369 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 33 24 391 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 34 46 187 03 IGOR Tyler, The Creator 35 40 297 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 36 38 016 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 37 36 078 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 38 37 446 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 39 41 279 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 40 45 305 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 41 35 027 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 42 63 160 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 43 39 131 03 HOZIER Hozier 44 43 108 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 45 83 197 01 EVERMORE Taylor Swift 46 47 265 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 47 42 047 02 THICK LATER Tate McRae 48 50 421 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars 49 62 021 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRACE) Eminem 50 58 039 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande Happy birthday chart to me. "APT." becomes the 4th song to be #1 on the chart dated for my birthday, and is up to 5 weeks itself. Potentially through the album release, Rosé actually got back to #1 on Spotify on Friday, so she's comfortably widening her lead over all non-Christmas contenders right now. On that note, if you're willing to believe the ARIA top 20 theory like I do, then maybe we can retroactively make the assumption that ARIA will now only count Christmas music once Mariah Carey reaches the top 20. Last year, there was a curious decision to not count any of them until 4 weeks before the big week, this year it's taken a week longer, so there's only going to be 4 weeks of Christmas music on the chart this summer. It's hard to properly compare, especially on a leap year, but we're seeing some rather unremarkable showings for the cohort this year, which might be owed to stronger competition. In any case, Kelly Clarkson is probably the one to keep an eye on as "Underneath The Tree" is the only re-entry here that is higher than it was last year. Wham! are also a fair bit closer to Mariah Carey than usual so it's possible we've got a sea change coming too. "luther" gets in quickly before a flood of overtakes to become Kendrick Lamar's highest charting single from this year ("Not Like Us" got to #5). We've got a first ever top 50 hit for Stromae this week. He did chart briefly in 2010 thanks to the Kanye West remix of "Alors on danse" which got to #79. This entry for him is appropriate because we live in a world without Hextech, and this is the song from "Arcane" that plays in a similar alternate universe. Lola Young also makes her debut to the top 50. Technically she nearly made the top 50 via "Like Him" from Tyler, The Creator but there's still no featured artists credited on that album on ARIA so maybe to some, that wouldn't have counted. Taylor Swift returns for a 6th week at #1 thanks to the new vinyl release. I'm led to believe that it only just got put in shops this week so she may well be primed for a 7th week. If we want to further document the poor Christmas showing, we've gotta look directly at "Christmas" itself. The Michael Buble album has managed at least 4 weeks in the top 10 every single year, but short of some surprising post-Boxing Day longevity, won't be able to get any more than 3 this year. I do find myself wondering if he's finally been pigeonholed into people just listening to the two big songs on it rather than sitting down with the whole album now, in which case the album could be in some serious trouble in the future given the way streams are counted. There's also a new posthumous Juice WRLD album and I have to say, that Maroon 5 compilation is remarkably low this week given the lack of new entries.

Thing is that comparing Bryan Adams & Drake is a false equivalence. Not just for the difference in how the chart compiled, and the generation and a half time gap, but the two songs just weren't competing with each other. They were competing with whatever else was popular at that moment. The 16 & 15 week runs they managed says more about those songs than it does each other. If U2 released "The Fly" a few weeks earlier, Bryan's run could've stopped at 13 (I think, I could only find a UKMix thread with panel numbers). Drake spent a good chunk of his reign fending off Kungs & Cookin' On 3 Burners who were at #2, I'm gonna confidently say "One Dance" is a lot more well known than "This Girl". Drake lacking competition isn't a failing of the chart, it's just a quirk of timing and circumstance. That and the chart has always been a measurement of raw consumption numbers (in whatever form they take at the time). I don't believe the chart has ever ranked songs based on the vague metric of 'Have people in my vicinity heard of it?', which is rife of echo chambers and self-affirmation. I think I know more people who vote first for the Greens party, rather than people who vote for the LNP, but the people who actually count the votes on Election Day have a less biased and more accurate perspective. I feel like everyone trusts the charts until they create a narrative that plays outside of what they're willing to accept, and at that point they'll sooner question the raw data rather than just accept that there's a huge population out there and the difference between a song that got streamed 300,000 times yesterday, and a song that got streamed 50,000 times is imperceptible to one person's observation. To the chart, that's the difference between being in the top 5 and probably not charting at all (I think? I haven't done the maths). Drake is also an easy scapegoat for this sort of thing (especially in 2024!). In my first comment in this thread, I postulated if it's the modern change, or rather that this particularly unassuming smash hit that's the cause for concern. If instead the luck of the draw went to a more 'universal' smash like "Uptown Funk", would it get the same scrutiny? That song managed 7 weeks at #1 and a further 6 in the top 5 roughly a year before "One Dance", evidently it's not cutting it for that longevity but I imagine it sounds more like the song to do it than "One Dance" to most. But that's also a symptom of the way hip-hop gets undercut by anyone who isn't especially interested in the genre. This forum has a history of being a bit weird with it (scroll to post 10). The hiphopheads subreddit is nearly twice as big as the popheads one, so it is worth considering that there really is a wealth of folk out there for whom Drake is a much more significant figure in music history than Bryan Adams (for better or worse). I'm sure there was discourse in 1991 to suggest that Bryan too had benefitted from the charts ceasing to function properly, dismissing the credibility of the folk who were buying his single in the latter stages of its reign. There hadn't been a double digit reigning single since 1955 at that point, and by the same token, I don't think "Everything I Do" passes the sniff test on being monumentally bigger than "Bohemian Rhapsody" or pick your favourite '80s hit. He too just had all the right cards to have it happen. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm endlessly ranting in this thread, I just have a strong background in statistical analysis and have been applying it to the music charts for a fairly long time with a perspective I don't often see covered elsewhere.

If you're gonna wheel out the same example, I'll wheel out my same reply The other unsatisfying answer is that these albums are there because the labels clearly don't have a problem with them being there. 'Oh it shouldn't be there because I don't like it and don't think anyone else does' isn't a good reason to base charts around. "Diamonds" still sells better on pure sales every week in Australia than recent albums from Morgan Wallen & Noah Kahan that are charting every week btw. I'm sure its sales aren't close to 0 in the UK.

I feel like the notion of people genuinely sticking the same song on for months on end is another aspect that the chart makes appear to be the case more than it is. What's really going on I think is that these long running songs are continually being discovered every day, and those new listeners are replacing the old ones who moved on. For instance, I'm looking at the Wayback Machine on "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish's last.fm page, and 2 months ago on October 6th, it had 1.298 million listeners. Today it's up to 1.437M. Maybe that's a modest increase of 10%, but considering that last.fm's data comes from the kinds of music fans who make accounts to document their listening, it confirms to me that if you could track the average music listener all up, that 10% would get a lot higher, and all of a sudden the song's 6 month stay in the global Spotify top 5 makes more sense. Streaming creates a false illusion of what the 'average' music listener is, someone who is listening to all of the biggest hits with that sort of very slow, gradual drop off, but I can't seem to ever spot this mythical strawman. Even the least music obsessed people I know are always moving onto new things, and listening to so much stuff that's nowhere near the charts. Similarly I don't think the gap between big & small hits is quite as exaggerated, it's just that the charts make it seem as such. In the '90s, you had million selling singles that smashed those numbers out of the gate largely in a few weeks. You also had top 10 hits that immediately left the top 40, and maybe spent a handful more weeks in the top 100. These songs weren't even 10% as popular as the mega-hits, but they got a nice chart position out of it. Now you can be 10% as popular and you won't even see the chart. I think the average music listener has gotten way more diverse in what they're listening to, paradoxically, it makes the chart seem less interesting, but I don't think that means the charts are broken.

Not entirely the same, radio doesn't have a skip function. Obviously people can change the station but that kind of specific action isn't captured when calculating audience impressions on the radio. As a matter of fact, the ability to skip songs on streaming playlists does serve as a demonstration that most kinds of quick-fixes wouldn't really satisfy everyone, or might only briefly satiate before descending into a similar equilibrium. Here we have one such function that's always been there, and yet it doesn't solve anyone's preconceptions of what the chart should be like. Much like the chart itself, once you have everyone's collective skips piling together, cancelling each other out, you're going to be left with a final tally that's probably at odds with everyone's individual experience. The OCC could probably announce that they've diminished passive streaming (whatever that means) and I'd sooner expect that people will want it back after seeing what it's done, than I'd imagine people would finally be content with streaming as a chart influence. And hey, some of us will readily take Andy Williams and Perry Como over most other Christmas options.

+5 Kendrick Lamar - tv off +4 Kendrick Lamar - squabble up +3 Kendrick Lamar - luther +2 ROSE - APT. +1 Gigi Perez - Sailor Song -1 Teddy Swims - The Door -2 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You -3 Cynthia Erivo - Defying Gravity (admittedly out of my depth on this one) -4 Wham! - Last Christmas -5 Gracie Abrams - That's So True

Alright I'll give it a go. Is the problem that it's this particular song or that it's a modern song at all? If you're going to use immediate touchstones a la weeks at #1 as your basis for what's the biggest of all time, then it's inevitably going to be something that hasn't yet stood the test of time, and if you're not willing to give new music a fair chance, you're probably not going to be happy about it. The article is about the way the charts are compiled rather than the flow of popularity in general, but they don't mention ACR at all. Looking at polyhex, there's a dip from 2014-2016, but after ACR comes in, the flow of entries isn't much different to the download era. It's like they don't realise that the 'solution' they want is already there. An arbitrary achievement. If it was a practical goal to be chased in the '50s & '60s it would be, but the shelf life and release schedules of the past weren't designed to facilitate it. Really no point getting worked up that people are comparing Justin Bieber or Sabrina Carpenter to Elvis Presley. In the AFL, the all time leaders in disposals, tackles, inside 50s & hit outs are all current players, but the top 28 goal scorers are all retired. You can acknowledge a changing tide, where some old benchmarks are frivolous and others are unobtainable, without concluding that it must be worse than before. A crazy assertion to me. I feel like I'm constantly seeing artists & projects trivialised through chart performance receipts, and the associated backlash to this perspective of judging music. Yes, younger generations don't listen to the radio as much, but chart discourse is very fervent. Give me some ideas. In all seriousness, this has always felt like a uniquely UK perspective driven by the sheer juxtaposition of the rapid moving '90s charts to now. Those '90s charts to me feel just as askew, with no sense of consistency, and a diminished value of high peaks given the sheer amount of songs that manage it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone ever say that 1999 is the absolute pits of the charts, but in Australia it still stands as the year (after 1948) with the least songs hitting #1: 9 (or 8 if you don't count the '98 incumbent). Even 2019 when "Old Town Road" and "Dance Monkey" held the top spot for 34 weeks between them, had more #1 hits. If you look at arbitrary metrics like this, you're gonna chuck up all kinds of things. The beauty of the charts is that these things just happen, largely through the activity of people who aren't actively thinking about the chart as they do it. If you want something to change, then normalise the idea that new music is great and worth exploring. And really explore it. This article's mere mentioning of the biggest names in current music is only reinforcing their exposure over the artists who aren't famous enough to warrant a mention. Also the top of the article's assertion that the 2020s are better than the 2010s because Taylor Swift has usurped DJ Khaled is an absurd equivalence.

02/12/2024 Singles 01 02 06 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 01 06 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 03 04 28 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 04 03 14 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 05 06 33 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 06 05 15 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 07 NE 01 07 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 08 07 45 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 NE 01 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 10 08 15 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 11 09 33 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 12 NE 01 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 13 10 29 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 14 13 09 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 15 12 33 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 16 11 18 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 17 15 54 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 18 NE 01 18 WACCED OUT MURALS Kendrick Lamar 19 16 38 10 AUSTIN Dasha 20 17 25 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 21 14 02 14 2 HANDS Tate McRae 22 18 36 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 23 19 29 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 24 20 24 20 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 25 NE 01 25 REINCARNATED Kendrick Lamar 26 NE 01 26 HEY NOW Kendrick Lamar 27 23 58 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 28 24 124 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 29 NE 01 29 MAN AT THE GARDEN Kendrick Lamar 30 21 28 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 31 22 14 10 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 32 26 36 21 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 33 29 175 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 34 30 20 31 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 35 NE 01 35 HEART PT. 6 Kendrick Lamar 36 32 66 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 37 NE 01 37 DODGER BLUE Kendrick Lamar 38 25 224 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 39 34 17 31 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 40 43 07 40 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 41 28 50 05 YELLOW Coldplay 42 NE 01 42 DEFYING GRAVITY Cynthia Erivo feat. Ariana Grande 43 38 229 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 44 33 23 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 45 41 231 19 MR BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 46 40 14 19 JUNO Sabrina Carpenter 47 37 88 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 48 NE 01 48 PEEKABOO Kendrick Lamar 49 35 27 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 50 31 129 02 TAKE ME TO CHURCH Hozier Bubbling Under 14 (8) IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 15 (13) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 16 (NE) NUMBER ONE GIRL Rosé 17 (11) DIET PEPSI Addison Rae 18 (12) LOVE SOMEBODY Morgan Wallen 19 (NE) MA MEILLEURE ENNEMIE Stromae, Pomme 20 (15) CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren Albums 01 NE 001 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 02 02 014 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 NE 001 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 04 05 023 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 05 06 033 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 07 028 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 07 08 199 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 08 03 005 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 09 09 009 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 10 01 002 01 FROM ZERO Linkin Park 11 11 025 01 BRAT Charli XCX 12 NE 001 12 ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SEASON 2 Soundtrack 13 14 103 01 SOS SZA 14 12 032 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 15 NE 001 15 MUTATION RedHook 16 13 184 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 17 15 091 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 18 16 064 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 19 NE 001 19 RAGE AND ALL ITS FRIENDS Alex the Astronaut 20 17 084 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 21 10 015 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 22 19 350 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 23 27 057 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 24 20 390 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 25 26 275 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 26 22 070 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 27 23 033 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 28 37 113 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 29 NE 001 29 THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT Opeth 30 32 227 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 31 34 507 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 32 28 462 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 33 33 368 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 34 36 335 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 35 25 026 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 36 31 077 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 37 35 445 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 38 38 015 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 39 21 130 03 HOZIER Hozier 40 42 296 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 41 41 278 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 42 18 046 02 THICK LATER Tate McRae 43 43 107 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 44 NE 001 44 ONE ASSASSINATION UNDER GOD - CHAPTER 1 Marilyn Manson 45 40 304 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 46 50 186 03 IGOR Tyler, The Creator 47 45 264 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 48 46 016 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 49 49 129 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 50 54 420 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars "APT." returns to #1 for a 4th week. Believe it or not, this is the first time this year that a song has had separate stints at #1. The last song to have its reign interrupted was "Sprinter" when "vampire" debuted at #1 during its time atop. It's surely a close one though so we could see some back & forth action at the top. At least with both songs coming out on the same week, Spotify Wrapped probably won't factor much into it. If you thought it was mundane last week when the whole top 10 stayed the same, this week we've got #1 & #2, #3 & #4, and #5 & #6 swapping places. Kendrick Lamar has a lot of debuts of course, "luther" figures the highest and it looks like it'll stay that way next week as well. The only other debut this week is for "Defying Gravity", which might stick the floating next week too. If you recall last year, ARIA prevented Christmas entries for a couple of weeks (in a way that only really affected Mariah if I'm being honest). They've done it again this year where I suspect "All I Want For Christmas Is You" should have made the top 50 this week. I imagine it'll return to normal next week but it does mean that we'll only have 4 weeks of Christmas music on the charts probably, 1 week less than last year. Kendrick Lamar gets a 3rd #1 album this week. If you've ever admired the amusing coincidence that it's been two of his most dense and uncompromising albums ("To Pimp A Butterfly" and "Mr. Morale") that have been the ones to go to #1, then that pattern has been revoked as "GNX" makes it party time at #1. This makes 4 weeks in a row that Sabrina Carpenter has been kept at #2 by 4 different albums. The "Wicked" soundtrack also has a strong showing. Perhaps Arcane does too, but I do not endorse League of Legends, I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness etc etc. Australian pop punk band RedHook score their first ever entry at #15, while behind them, Alex The Astronaut bucks the trend and improves to score her highest ever charting album. I'm obliged to point out that she's a rare case of a publicly autistic musician and we don't have enough of those. Then we get some real throwbacks as Opeth and that unpleasant guy are back.

+5 Billie Eilish - WILDFLOWER +4 Gigi Perez - Sailor Song +3 ROSE - APT. +2 Teddy Swims - The Door +1 Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams -1 Sam Fender - People Watching -2 Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine -3 Tate McRae - 2 hands -4 Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem -5 Gracie Abrams - That's So True

25/11/2024 Singles 01 01 05 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 02 02 05 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 03 13 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 04 04 27 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 05 05 14 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 06 06 32 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 07 07 44 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 08 08 14 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 09 09 32 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 10 10 28 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 11 12 17 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 12 11 32 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 13 13 08 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 14 NE 01 14 2 HANDS Tate McRae 15 15 53 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 16 17 37 10 AUSTIN Dasha 17 18 24 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 18 16 35 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 19 19 28 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 20 25 23 20 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 21 23 27 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 22 24 13 10 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 23 22 57 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 24 21 123 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 25 35 223 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 26 30 35 21 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 27 52 10 14 IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 28 14 49 05 YELLOW Coldplay 29 27 174 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 30 31 19 31 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 31 28 128 02 TAKE ME TO CHURCH Hozier 32 26 65 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 33 33 22 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 34 36 16 31 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 35 32 26 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 36 38 62 02 GREEDY Tate McRae 37 42 87 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 38 41 228 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 39 44 45 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 40 47 13 19 JUNO Sabrina Carpenter 41 37 230 19 MR BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 42 46 35 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 43 54 06 43 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 44 45 30 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 45 29 72 02 SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS The Chainsmokers & Coldplay 46 50 94 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 47 43 16 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 48 58 99 25 WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS Luke Combs 49 65 26 28 SEE YOU AGAIN Tyler, The Creator 50 51 86 02 FAST CAR Luke Combs Bubbling Under 11 (11) DIET PEPSI Addison Rae 12 (9) LOVE SOMEBODY Morgan Wallen 13 (15) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 14 (8) ST. CHROMA Tyler, The Creator 15 (20) CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren feat. Ella Henderson 16 (31) THE EMPTINESS MACHINE Linkin Park 17 (18) THICK OF IT KSI feat. Trippie Redd 18 (NE) LIKE HIM Tyler, The Creator 19 (22) BABY I'M BACK The Kid Laroi 20 (17) EMBRACE IT Ndotz Albums 01 NE 001 01 FROM ZERO Linkin Park 02 02 013 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 03 004 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 04 NE 001 04 GOOD LIFE Illy 05 04 022 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 06 05 032 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 07 06 027 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 08 07 198 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 09 08 008 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 10 10 014 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 11 11 024 01 BRAT Charli XCX 12 13 031 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 13 12 183 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 14 16 102 01 SOS SZA 15 15 090 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 16 14 063 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 17 17 083 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 18 19 045 02 THICK LATER Tate McRae 19 22 349 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 20 21 389 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 21 18 129 03 HOZIER Hozier 22 20 069 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 23 23 032 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 24 NE 001 24 SHAWN Shawn Mendes 25 31 025 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 26 29 274 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 27 26 056 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 28 28 461 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 29 NE 001 29 MM..FOOD (20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) MF DOOM 30 09 003 05 SONGS OF A LOST WORLD The Cure 31 24 076 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 32 30 226 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 33 35 367 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 34 34 506 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 35 32 444 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 36 40 334 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 37 36 112 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 38 33 014 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 39 01 007 01 MOON MUSIC Coldplay 40 39 303 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 41 37 277 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 42 42 295 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 43 41 106 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 44 58 008 13 UNREAL UNEARTH Hozier 45 43 263 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 46 44 015 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 47 45 337 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 48 RE 193 11 TEN Pearl Jam 49 48 128 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 50 53 185 03 IGOR Tyler, The Creator If you're at all interested in seeing me write at length about modern music, then good news because I have a new blog. It's going through and ranking all 1,000 songs that appeared in triple j's Hottest 100 from 2013 to 2022. This cross section of youth culture means that Billie Eilish & Lorde both appear over a dozen times, but then so do bands like Lime Cordiale and Bring Me The Horizon. I'm currently right at the bottom of the list so it's a lot of me finding kind ways to talk about songs I'm not very fond of. On an unrelated note, we have the same #1 single as last week. Actually we have the same #2 single, and #3, and #4, and #5, and #6, and #7, and #8, and #9, and #10. As if to make the chart even more seamless, Coldplay crash down but Tate McRae manages to debut at exactly the position that "Yellow" has been holding for the last 2 weeks. With a song that also evokes the same era as it shares its name with a 1999 Heath Ledger film. Australians will remember it as the movie where they first heard Powderfinger's "These Days". Speaking of Australians, The Kid LAROI has been doing a local tour lately, and manages to finally get "NIGHTS LIKE THIS" into the top 20. Its partner in the act of sitting eternally in the middle of the chart, "Slow It Down" is still trying to figure that step out. It would've looked a decent chance next week if not for the letters GNX. Teddy Swims also gets a 3rd top 50 hit. I found it mildly amusing that this first 2024 song that sounded a little bit like that one Cutting Crew song has managed to replace Morgan Wallen's song that also sounds a little bit like that one Cutting Crew song. Linkin Park score their 4th #1 album. In the past they've had a track record of picking very bad weeks to release their albums, often being beaten out by blockbuster Australian releases. "Meteora" debuted at #2 because it was released on the same week as Delta Goodrem's "Innocent Eyes", the highest selling album of the decade ("Meteora" was #98 for the 2000s). They slightly improved their record a few years ago when the re-release of "Hybrid Theory" belatedly got it to the #1 spot, but this is their first new album to hit the top since "A Thousand Suns" did so in 2010. They're joined on the debut front by Illy, an artist who will appear on my blog 9 times. His last two albums both debuted at #1 but this one comes years later with very little buzz that I've seen, so colour me impressed he's managed to score a top 5 debut. I cannot say the same for Shawn Mendes, who after three straight top 3 albums has scored his lowest debut to date, lower than "Wonder" was in its 3rd week. I normally try to re-produce all crediting and spelling the way they're listed on the ARIA Chart. I've taken an exception to this rule just this one week because I believe in an important rule with regards to MF DOOM which is ALL CAPS when you spell the man name. Prior to this, the only time MF DOOM ever charted before was as a featured artist on The Avalanches' song "Frankie Sinatra". By sheer coincidence, that song also debuted alongside Shawn Mendes. Thanks to the vinyl re-release, "MM..FOOD" posthumously becomes his first ever charting album in Australia.

MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRDDDDD

+5 Billie Eilish - WILDFLOWER +4 ROSE & Bruno Mars - APT. +3 Teddy Swims - The Door +2 Gigi Perez - Sailor Song +1 Chappell Roan - HOT TO GO! -1 Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams -2 Sabrina Carpenter - Taste -3 KSI - Thick Of It -4 Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem -5 Gracie Abrams - That's So True