AcerBen

In the 70s/early 80s they had a second Christmas special which was usually the #1s of the year, but it would usually be like the 27th or something. Then it was 2008 I think they started doing the New Years ones - mostly on NYE but one was on the 1st and one was on the 29th.

Same. One of my favourite records of the year actually.

Mmm again I think it's because it's mostly downloads. It only spent the first 6 weeks of the year inside the top 10.

There might be a bit of radio in there, but considering songs with barely any airplay or streams like Paul Harvey and Baccara went number 2 or 3 it must be mostly sales. And Midnight Sky spent 7 weeks at number 1 on Big Top 40 - compared to 4 weeks at 1 on official downloads and 5 weeks at 2. The difference there could just be explained by it being only iTunes sales and/or because the chart week is different.

It's not ideal that they removed The Kunts rather than skipped it, and that there's a lack of transparency in the compilation methodology - but I think my above analysis does suggest it is more or less based on real figures rather than "made up". Since the OCC chart is no longer (understandably) based on pure data, you could argue that that is "made up" too. And whilst I agree by not including streaming data it's not giving us the full picture, it's not meaningless either. We wouldn't bother with an iTunes thread if we considered downloads totally irrelevant. I think it's at least better now than when it was just the top 10 based on the live chart, and 11-40 based on the weekly sales & airplay. Or going back further when it was the official top 10 with 11-40 mostly airplay with a bit of sales.

WAP and Say So both reached number 6 on sales so might have only just missed out? Stupid Love does feel a little high.. but it was still a number 1 on sales and a Big Top 40 number 1? This end of year chart may well be points based. I wouldn't completely rule out them making "editorial choices" on certain records but I don't think the weekly chart is made up, and I can't see much evidence of it reflecting airplay. Going back to a recent chart before the Christmas songs came back, this was the Big Top 40 from 1st November, compared with the Official Download Chart for the same week (don't forget they cover slightly different periods, and Big Top 40 is only iTunes sales). Seems pretty close. 1 KSI & Craig David (1) 2 Paul Harvey & BBC Philharmonic (3) 3 Little Mix (2) 4 Miley Cyrus (6) 5 Sigala & James Arthur (5) 6 Joel Corry & MNEK (7) 7 Ariana Grande (4) 8 Wes Nelson & Hardy Caprio (10) 9 Keith Urban & Pink (11) 10 Tate McRae (9)

Obviously weighting the chart towards downloads is a deliberate choice in order to make the chart reflect their playlist more - but I wouldn't accuse them of making it up. A lot of those grime/hip-hop tracks that did well on streaming did virtually nothing on sales. E.g. Internet Money's "Lemonade" only peaked at number 24 on sales, Pop Smoke's "What You Know About Love" number 46.

Good point.. I guess the end of the year chart might be points-based then. Certainly all of those were #1 on the weekly Big Top 40. I said in the other thread I'd be interested to see a year-end chart that totalled up all the weekly sales for singles only whilst they were in the top 20 (or 40 maybe), just to try to make it feel like comparing like with like.

It did reach #1 on the sales chart and spent 10 weeks in the sales top 10 though, so that's how. Plus in The Olden Days songs had most of their lifetime sales in a shorter window, which meant the end of the year chart felt more reflective of the most popular songs of the year. P.S. I'm not really saying this is more "accurate" than the OCC chart - it's just interesting to compare and see what the chart might have looked like if streaming wasn't a thing. The Big Top 40 almost feels like the equivalent of Billboard's "Pop Songs" chart compared to the Hot 100, with more emphasis on mainstream pop.

No, like I said, their chart appears to be mostly based on iTunes downloads.

Officially the Big Top 40 is based on iTunes downloads, Apple Music streams and commercial radio airplay, but it always seems heavily weighted towards downloads. Of course to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it kind of makes more sense as a year-end chart than the top 10 we saw on TOTP on Christmas Day. The problem with the OCC one now of course is that songs available from the start of the year have a huge advantage. This chart really shows how less grimey/rappy the chart would be if it wasn't for streams! 01 The Weeknd - Blinding Lights 02 Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky 03 Joel Corry & MNEK - Head & Heart 04 Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande - Rain On Me 05 Jason Derulo & Jawsh 685 - Savage Love 06 Lady Gaga - Stupid Love 07 Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go 08 Dua Lipa - Physical 09 Little Mix - Break Up Song 10 Sigala & James Arthur - Lasting Lover 11 Tones & I - Dance Monkey 12 Saint John - Roses 13 Billie Eilish - No Time To Die 14 Topic & A7S - Breaking Me 15 Little Mix - Sweet Melody 16 Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar 17 KSI & Craig David - Really Love 18 Paul Woolford - Looking For Me 19 Nathan Dawes & KSI - Lighter 20 Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber - Stuck With You 21 Roddy Ricch - Rockstar 22 Regard & Raye - Secrets 23 Jubel - Dancing In The Moonlight 24 Harry Styles - Adore You 25 Joel Corry - Lonely 26 24Goldn - Mood 27 Dua Lipa - Break My Heart 28 Harry Styles - Falling 29 Clean Bandit & Mabel - Tick Tock 30 Jax Jones & Ella Henderson - This Is Real 31 Powfu - Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head) 32 Becky Hill - Better Off Without You 33 220 Kid & Gracey - Don't Need Love 34 Tate McRae - You Broke Me First 35 Keith Urban & Pink - One Too Many 36 Becky Hill & Sigala - Heaven On My Mind 37 Maroon 5 - Memories 38 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You 39 Sam Fischer - This City 40 BTS - Dynamite P.S. Apols for incomplete/incorrect credits, cba to check them Listen again - https://www.globalplayer.com/catchup/capital/uk/b8G4tyh/

Is that the main reason it's suddenly become so popular? My little nephew even sang it in his school nativity this year and my family were like "what the hell are they singing?"

Maybe not weekly with the chart as slow as it is. perhaps monthly?

If you missed it, she performed Space on CBBC's Crackerjack the other day

PJ & Duncan's Eternal Love references Christmas Eve :) It also sprang to mind as it was on TOTP the first week of January '95 but it did actually peak in December. I also thought of when Fairytale Of New York was on TOTP in January '92 but that reissue actually peaked on the chart revealed 29th December What about Band Aid 30? Does that count since it spent 1 week at number 1 from 29 Nov 2014?

Same. I wouldn't want Mariah there every year.

I'm really pleased for the sausage roll family :D Say what you like about the songs, but at least they're doing it for the right reasons - not just to be anti-X Factor or to make a political statement. It's about a fun song in aid of a good cause, and seeing how much it means to them makes it impossible to feel anything but joy for them. Watch this if you're not convinced..

They're singing throughout the verses too? It would've been nice if they had some lines to themselves though

Any risk of one of the new Eminem tracks doing well on streams?

Have you got a link.. can't find it. :heart:

Yes I think he did for the 2nd one but the 1st. Just listening to the song now (with VPN) and it's.. as good as the previous two. Should be in with a shot.

Ah yes that's it. More difficult but not impossible though? Their own website is able to automatically update the number of weeks a song and artist has spent in each section of the chart. I do think it's over simplifying saying YouTube makes TOTP not possible. It makes it less of a must-watch, appointment to view, but that doesn't mean nobody would dream of watching a show of live music. I think the way the chart has changed in the last 5 years is a much bigger problem.

I used to understand why they scrapped the top 200 and it made sense at the time, but I can't remember what it was now. Something to do with the way the rules work.

As I keep saying, the chart isn't just there for us. It's paid for by the music industry and used as a promotional tool. They didn't just introduce ACR etc because it made the charts boring to chart watchers. It was more that a slow chart is bad for the industry. And now that we've started mixing streaming & sales and coming up with different weightings then as far as keeping the chart as a list strictly based on pure numbers is concerned, the ship has sailed. Is a song that has been streamed the most times *always* the most popular song in the country? Maybe the number 2 song has been listened to by more individuals. Maybe the number 3 song has been the one most-searched for but has been let down by fewer "passive plays" because it's on fewer playlists. Maybe the number 4 song is only there because it's been released in 10 different remixes or 5 different physical formats. So I see no issue with tweaking the rules to make the chart fit for purpose - especially as there is already a pure streams chart available for those who just want to know which songs technically got the most streams.

The top 200 doesn't exist anymore. There is an alternative chart generated that does go way beyond 100 into the thousands, but it doesn't have ACR rules or maximum of 3 songs per artist etc, and it's not available to the public.