Dircadirca

^ Tend to agree. "Divide" used to feel like a permanent top 20 fixture until it wasn't. He's slipped down the general streaming pecking order over the last couple of years. 2 years ago he was #1 on Spotify listeners, currently he's #18 @1546532865780989952 (tweet is 8 months after his album btw, so no particular recency bias)

actually on time this time +30 Tyler, The Creator (feat. Kali Uchis) - See You Again +29 Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses +28 Kendrick Lamar - Humble. +27 Rita Ora - Anywhere +26 MGMT - Little Dark Age +25 Drake - Passionfruit +24 Dua Lipa - Be The One +23 Lorde - Green Light +22 Calvin Harris (feat. Frank Ocean & Migos) - Slide +21 Killers - The Man +20 Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut To The Feeling +19 Queens of the Stone Age - The Evil Has Landed +18 Lorde - Perfect Places +17 Big Shaq - Man's Not Hot +16 alt-J - 3WW +15 Kesha - Praying +14 French Montana (feat. Swae Lee) - Unforgettable +13 London Grammar - Rooting For You +12 J Balvin & Willy William - Mi Gente +11 Post Malone (feat. 21 Savage) - Rockstar +10 MUNA - I Know a Place +9 Louis Tomlinson (feat. Bebe Rexha & Digital Farm Animals) - Back to You +8 BROCKHAMPTON - JUNKY +7 Paramore - Hard Times +6 Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still +5 Camila Cabello – Crying In The Club +4 Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love +3 Kygo & Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me +2 Calvin Harris (feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean) - Feels +1 Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee - Despacito (Original / Justin Bieber Remix)

Feel like I have to get it out there again, "End Of Beginning" was not a super obscure song prior to 2024. I remember hearing quite a bit of buzz about him when the singles & album came out in 2022. I even saved a couple back then (including "End Of Beginning"), and while I don't have the numbers on hand, I remember thinking at the time 'wow, this guy's got a lot of streams'. Note: I did not know he was in Stranger Things at the time. Something interesting I think is that we're inclined to clown on labels for fumbling the bag but in general they often know way more than they let on. There was a phenom I noticed years ago on the Australian chart, where some songs from big album releases would just end up missing on that week's chart. This still happens as recently as this week, but what I remember thinking at the time is that the songs they left off were disproportionately the ones that would end up being big hits down the line. Stuff like The Kid LAROI's "WITHOUT YOU" and Pop Smoke's "What You Know Bout Love". Our charts have had a history of labels holding back chart debuts so they can enter higher up and look like more of a success (it sounds a lot better that "WITHOUT YOU" debuted in the top 10, rather than below the top 50, regardless of the context. Oh look, it's even the first sentence in the 'Chart Performance' section on Wikipedia). It also probably helps give whatever platforms they're promoting to an easier time spotting out 'the hit' when it's not crowded around a bunch of other songs from that album. Point I'm making with this is that in these cases, though the shorthand is often to say 'wow, it went viral on TikTok, that's crazy', in reality I think it's often way more planned and anticipated than it seems. Whether that means astroturfing or just a really keen ear for these things, I can't say (probably case by case anyway), but I do suspect that a lot of hits aren't necessarily the flukes they're made to look like.

02/09/2024 Singles 01 NE 01 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 02 08 12 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 03 05 20 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 04 01 15 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 05 10 02 05 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 06 02 20 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 07 04 20 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 08 03 16 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 09 06 32 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 10 07 04 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 11 NE 01 11 BED CHEM Sabrina Carpenter 12 NE 01 12 GOOD GRACES Sabrina Carpenter 13 09 05 09 BIG DAWGS Hanumankind, Kalmi 14 12 25 10 AUSTIN Dasha 15 15 41 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 16 13 23 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 17 14 16 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 18 11 18 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 19 NE 01 19 JUNO Sabrina Carpenter 20 NE 01 20 SHARPEST TOOL Sabrina Carpenter 21 16 17 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 22 17 45 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 23 18 04 18 APPLE Charli XCX 24 NE 01 24 SLIM PICKINS Sabrina Carpenter 25 22 33 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 26 24 111 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 27 19 53 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 28 25 10 25 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 29 23 10 23 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 30 20 14 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 31 27 22 01 BYE BYE BYE *NSYNC 32 26 23 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 33 NE 01 33 DUMB & POETIC Sabrina Carpenter 34 21 13 01 HOUDINI Eminem 35 31 11 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 36 29 75 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 37 32 211 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 38 NE 01 38 LIE TO GIRLS Sabrina Carpenter 39 28 19 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 40 36 03 36 BACKBONE Chase & Status, Stormzy 41 34 09 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 42 59 04 42 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose 43 35 12 24 360 Charli XCX 44 33 15 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 45 37 82 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 46 40 29 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 47 39 25 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 48 52 07 48 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 49 49 05 45 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 50 41 28 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo Bubbling Under 20 (20) WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish Albums 01 NE 001 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 02 NE 001 02 MAJORDOMO Teenage Dads 03 NE 001 03 WAS HERE Stand Atlantic 04 03 015 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 05 02 002 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 06 NE 001 06 ROMANCE Fontaines D.C. 07 05 020 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 08 04 019 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 09 NE 001 09 DAYS BEFORE RODEO Travis Scott 10 06 186 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 11 01 002 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 12 09 078 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 13 08 012 03 BRAT Charli XCX 14 10 071 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 15 13 051 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 16 11 171 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 17 14 090 01 SOS SZA 18 15 010 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 19 NE 001 19 WHIRLWIND Lainey Wilson 20 12 214 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 21 19 262 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 22 27 013 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 23 17 377 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 24 20 064 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 25 22 337 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 26 21 044 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 27 18 355 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 28 26 100 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 29 30 020 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 30 29 449 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 31 28 057 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 32 31 494 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 33 24 007 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 34 33 265 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 35 32 432 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 36 35 003 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 37 16 005 30 DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Soundtrack 38 34 094 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 39 07 002 07 POPULAR MONSTER Falling In Reverse 40 42 096 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 41 37 325 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 42 NE 001 42 OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER Lily Grace 43 38 021 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 44 39 053 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 45 NE 001 45 LIVE Louis Tomlinson 46 36 008 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 47 58 031 27 EMAILS I CAN'T SEND Sabrina Carpenter 48 43 306 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen 49 45 116 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 50 41 283 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish I am sleepy, here is your chart. I will just note the notables, which is that the unexplainables are back, "Coincidence" and "Don't Smile" are missing from the chart, and would probably be in the top 40. Also for the first time in many months, we have a Bubbling Under chart again. It's not much right now but expect it to grow in the coming weeks.

That's also one that's hard to define, some songs just get radio airplay on random whims. In the case of Led Zeppelin, the image on the song's Wikipedia article is literally a sleeve sent to radio stations by Atlantic Records. Discogs tells me that this was put out in 1972 (the album was Nov 1971). I'd say that's sufficient enough to call it radio promo.

For what it's worth, "'Till I Collapse" is the most streamed non-single on Spotify.* But defining singles is tricky, especially nowadays where you're less likely to get definitive physical releases. Like if we're being strict, "Last Night" by Morgan Wallen was never released as a single. It doesn't have artwork, or a music video. It was released before the album, but part of a "3 Songs At A Time Sampler" (which still didn't have its own artwork). The only thing it has going for it to define it as a single is that it got promoted to radio, but then so did "Stairway To Heaven". A lot of the time it feels like a technicality as to what is and isn't a single, and very rarely do I see it consistently followed. *At least that's what Wikipedia says, but then I think it should be "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys? I can't see anything that makes it a single

*The Gotye stan from 2007 has logged on* While I'll concede that I doubt anyone anticipated the degree of success, it was coming off a (locally) big deal album, was released on a major label, had a high effort/concept music video (it was actually newsworthy in Australia when it got leaked early by accident), and it was on the iTunes front page immediately on release. Alongside Kimbra being poised for a big breakout year on a major label (again locally, but it did happen), my hunch is that it *is* a song that everyone involved in it expected big things from. His previous album was that accidental hit.

Never said it was a sole factor. But even that being said, the gap between top 10 & top 200 is not anywhere near as big as it sounds.

Could also be worth considering that streaming services *are* discovery platforms. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if you spend any amount of time being influenced by them, it'll probably shift your taste in music a bit, making those little differences between the charts grow over time.

Yeah sorry, I think I'm used to these being Sunday night deadlines? That's why I missed last week +30 Röyksopp (feat. Susanne Sundfør) - Never Ever +29 Solange - Cranes in the Sky +28 Childish Gambino - Redbone +27 Rihanna – Kiss It Better +26 xx – On Hold +25 Rihanna (feat. Drake) – Work +24 Adele – When We Were Young +23 Ariana Grande – Into You +22 Bruno Mars – 24k Magic +21 Kungs vs. Cookin On 3 Burners – This Girl +20 Jorja Smith – Blue Lights +19 Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Live +18 Travis Scott (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - Goosebumps +17 Rae Sremmurd (feat. Gucci Mane) - Black Beatles +16 Rihanna – Desperado +15 Weeknd (feat. Daft Punk) – Starboy +14 Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom +13 1975 – Somebody Else +12 Clean Bandit (feat. Louisa Johnson) – Tears +11 Christine And The Queens – Tilted / Christine +10 Fifth Harmony – That's My Girl +9 Sia – Cheap Thrills +8 Alan Walker (feat. Iselin Solheim) - Sing Me To Sleep +7 Dua Lipa - Last Dance +6 Chainsmokers (feat. ROZES) - Roses +5 All Saints - One Strike +4 Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza (Seeb Remix) +3 MØ – Final Song +2 Zara Larsson – Lush Life +1 Major Lazer (feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG) - Light It Up

oh let me jump in quickly!

I belatedly finished watching it just now, have been avoiding this thread for ages :lol: Feel like US Mole needs to work better with the editing to make it properly suspenseful. They do so many tricks that unravel themselves once you're used to them. Wish I could remember better what happened in season 1, but they went this whole season never eliminating the first person called after the quiz (or have it be the very last person, I think). I'm used to the possibility on Australian & Dutch Mole where they're called in a genuinely random order and it's way better for the viewer, even if it can muck with the pacing. They also just can't help putting in countdown timers at the end of challenges to show that they barely got through in time, but the host & contestants never seem to relay it so it just seems deliberately fake and just tells you the challenge is about to end, but that they were never in danger of running out of time. The confessionals is the biggest problem though I think. I was kinda geared towards Ryan & Sean by process of elimination halfway in (though I thought if it was Ryan, she's really bad at lying and strategising with the fortune cookie challenge), because they spent the whole season showing and telling us that Michael is purposely sabotaging, and Muna only stopped doing it when she figured out who the Mole was and realised she should be getting some more money. Hannah was so confident that she was always going to lose a quiz, and then all you've got left is Sean blending into the background. They only gave up the conceit on the last episode because they both knew it and Muna kept saying 'Sean is the Mole' so many times they couldn't get around it, so they had to can it quickly and put more suspense on who won :lol: But I think the biggest problem they've got is that they need to axe these possibilities to drain the entire pot. They did it twice this season, and all I can think of from a Mole perspective is that Sean knows what challenges are coming up, he knows the Prisoner's Dilemma and the way people act. He should be working his butt off in the early challenges to succeed and look like a hero because at the end of the day, all that money is probably gonna be lost anyway. It's a classic Mole strategy of not sabotaging, but putting in work where the net result goes nowhere. And as a viewer, if you know the Mole knows this is gonna happen, then there's no point in speculating because your suspicions, like the money, basically have to be reset. I wanna be double, triple, quadruple bluffed and go away from the last episode thinking I've been played. It's all very professionally edited, slick and fun to watch, but as a game it falls a little short.

The just about year long streak of only white people at #1 over, finally. Think it's an under-analysed issue with rating aggregation +5 Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER +4 Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile +3 Chappell Roan - HOT TO GO! +2 Chase & Status & Stormzy - BACKBONE +1 Charli XCX - Apple -1 Jordan Adetunji - KEHLANI -2 Charli XCX - Guess -3 BL3SS & CamrinWatsin - Kisses -4 Dasha - Austin -5 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!

26/08/2024 Singles 01 01 14 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 02 02 19 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 03 05 15 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 04 04 19 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 05 06 19 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 06 07 31 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 07 03 03 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 08 08 11 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 09 09 04 09 BIG DAWGS Hanumankind, Kalmi 10 NE 01 10 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 11 12 17 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 12 13 24 10 AUSTIN Dasha 13 14 22 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 14 15 15 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 15 11 40 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 16 10 16 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 17 16 44 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 18 18 03 18 APPLE Charli XCX 19 19 52 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 20 22 13 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 21 17 12 01 HOUDINI Eminem 22 21 32 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 23 23 09 23 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 24 24 110 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 25 32 09 25 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 26 25 22 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 27 20 21 01 BYE BYE BYE *NSYNC 28 26 18 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 29 28 74 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 30 35 04 18 GUY FOR THAT Post Malone feat. Luke Combs 31 27 10 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 32 31 210 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 33 29 14 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 34 30 08 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 35 34 11 24 360 Charli XCX 36 41 02 36 BACKBONE Chase & Status, Stormzy 37 37 81 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 38 36 22 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 39 39 24 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 40 38 28 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 41 43 27 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 42 42 161 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 43 33 22 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 44 47 217 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 45 40 10 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 46 RE 08 33 POUR ME A DRINK Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton 47 53 44 15 UNWRITTEN Natasha Bedingfield 48 46 14 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 49 45 04 45 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 50 44 10 36 MISSES Dominic Fike Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 NE 001 01 50 YEARS - THE BEST OF Cold Chisel 02 NE 001 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 03 02 014 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 04 04 018 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 05 05 019 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 09 185 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 07 NE 001 07 POPULAR MONSTER Falling In Reverse 08 07 011 03 BRAT Charli XCX 09 11 077 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 10 13 070 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 11 14 170 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 12 16 213 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 13 15 050 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 14 17 089 01 SOS SZA 15 18 009 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 16 41 004 30 DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Soundtrack 17 23 376 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 18 26 354 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 19 20 261 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 20 24 063 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 21 22 043 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 22 28 336 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 23 NE 001 23 TIME IS A FLOWER Telenova 24 19 006 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 25 01 002 01 SUNDAY SADNESS Amy Shark 26 29 099 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 27 21 012 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 28 25 056 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 29 31 448 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 30 32 019 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 31 33 493 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 32 34 431 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 33 37 264 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 34 36 093 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 35 30 002 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 36 35 007 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 37 40 324 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 38 44 020 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 39 39 052 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 40 45 189 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 41 42 282 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 42 43 095 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 43 48 305 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen 44 65 003 01 BEAUTIFULLY ORDINARY Tones And I 45 47 115 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 46 50 321 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 47 49 290 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 48 NE 001 48 D.I.Y. The Southern River Band 49 46 024 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 50 58 145 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" is #1 for a 2nd week in a row. I do not think it will be #1 next week but I can't say for sure what will replace it. I suspect it could be any of three songs by a certain Saffron City gym leader with a penchant for woodwork. This week's chart gives a good argument to say that it could be "Taste" though because arriving in the top 10 this week is Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, who spent the first two days of the week at #76 and #43 on Spotify, adding to my recent feeling that something has changed in the system to help debuts get a better impression than they once did (it may be YouTube). I neglected to mention last week but isn't it interesting that 7 of the top 8 have gone to #1? Also isn't it interesting that "Apple" definitely debuted at #18, and has spent its entire chart run at that position. She's got a long way to go to match the funny chart run moments of LunchMoney Lewis or Mumford & Sons. Not much else to note except for Mark Ambor being on fraud watch. We have gotten very close to returning the classic Bubbling Under segment though. "WILDFLOWER" is #20 on the New Music chart this week leaving very little space to hide, and perhaps next week's chart shake up could get us there. Cold Chisel score their 6th #1 album this week with a compilation. I will never stop my tradition of blurting out 🚨🚨 AUSTRALIAN #1 ALBUM ALERT 🚨🚨 until maybe next week probably. It gives me the opportunity to point out that when I say Jimmy Barnes has more #1 albums than anyone else, I'm not even including these 6 albums in the tally, and it also gives me the opportunity to say yes, that Jimmy Barnes, the cowboy screaming in the clouds guy. It means that once again, Post Malone is denied a #1 album, still only having two to his name from the 2010s. If you take a shot at the king, you best not miss. Also entering this week is Melbourne trio Telenova. They've been putting out some pleasantly catchy singles for several years now (big fan of and myself). I am less familiar with The Southern River Band despite the fact that they're from the same city as me in Perth, but they also sneak through to get their first ever entry.

I dunno I think it's a bigger mockery if the song that's supposed to go to #1 misses out because of an arbitrary reset ratio.

Oh, didn't mean it to be confusing. Jan 1st is just me saying that I check it once a year, as an all-time list. The only hint of bias there is that Christmas music will have just peaked but will be declining again for another 10 months. So, when I got this list, Mariah had just snuck into the top 100, but quickly fell back out again. I assume she'll make the cut again for 2025, but if I'd been taking these snapshots in June, she'd have missed both times.

The album sure is a good as heck collection of songs that are good as heck.

Whole album top 60 in Australia ("Taste" #9) which seems pretty respectable.

That's what I always find interesting about this, the fact that it's always developing. Every single stream or download ticking over a new paradigm. Also any excuse to re-post my graphs This is data I took from Spotify's top 100 most streamed songs list on January 1st of each year (thanks Wikipedia!). The 'x' on each of the boxplots represents the mean release date. It was stuck in 2015 for ages but last year it actually jumped back. Despite the inclusion of newer songs, the average release year is now older than it was 7 years ago. You could also say that the average song in 2018 was 2-3 years old, now it's 10-11 years old(!) Suspect it'll still be trending back this way when I update it in January.

Simple version is the notion that once upon a time, due to lack of options & avenues, mostly everyone engaged with the same media. Back in the 1950s, there was a point where more than half of people who owned a TV were all watching "I Love Lucy" when it aired. In the US, the finale of M*A*S*H had over 100 million viewers at the time. Now that there's way more to do, see & hear, nothing comes close to this level of cultural penetration, and so even the biggest things going around can completely slip you by, without being a negative reflection upon it or you.

+5 Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER +4 JADE - Angel Of My Dreams +3 Chase & Status - BACKBONE +2 Charli XCX - Guess +1 BL3SS - Kisses -1 Myles Smith - Stargazing -2 Jordan Adetunji - KEHLANI -3 Charli XCX - Apple -4 Dasha - Austin -5 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!

I reckon the numbers are legitimate in the sense that the songs were listened to (a lot of the odd behaviour shows up on last.fm stats and they're not faking that). But it feels like the differential of agency for the streams is less important than ever. The chart gives off the impression that there are a lot of people who pick and choose their current faves to listen to, or have current hits playlists they cycle through, but it's too farfetched on a greater level. I don't entirely doubt that these songs got popular in the first place from user input & curiosity, but at some point they just get taken over by the reaper of algorithmic stream allocation. Makes it hard to get invested in the month to month movement when it doesn't seem to mean as much. The biggest bummer of it all though is the way it just guts the local flavour. The Australian festival circuit is falling apart at the moment. A lot of people are blaming bad line ups, but it feels like they're just being steered away from local artists on discovery platforms, so there's no value to get from reinforcing line ups beyond headliners anymore. I fear the flow-on effects will only get worse.

The number I highlighted is the day-by-day change for the 7-day rolling total. In simpler terms, it's how many streams it got compared to 7 days prior. Tends to be a better measure of momentum than just the daily change since different days of the week tend to fluctuate and miss the bigger picture.

See numbers like this and it makes me wanna re-evaluate the whole chart run, as well as a lot of other hits. Is the Marcagi snap to reality coming next? (still on Hot Hits UK & Today's Top Hits) Also noticed some very odd behaviour on Spotify's monthly listener stats. Two days in a row (almost) every artist was down, and now they're all back up, but way over-compensating for that, and with seemingly no logic to who's been boosted the most. All the while, nothing drastic on the Global chart. Re-calibration I guess?

To be fair, 'organic' is kind of nebulous. It just means that it's been better disguised.