Robbie

My copy of "The Official Singles Charts: The Eighties" arrived today. It's well worth every penny. One chart per page is much better than previous books of a similar nature which have had two or more charts per page. The book is well laid out with clear print and as all the charts are in chronological order it's easy to navigate. In addition I notice today that the book has been reduced in price, from £20 (which is what I paid) to £17.82. The other two 80s chart books in the series are still £20.

Depending on my finances and how often the books are published I intend to buy every one of them. I've bought The Official Singles Charts: The Eighties today and that book should be with me on Thursday so I'll report back how good the book is. I'm expecting it to be good though. Even though the charts are now all available on the OCC website it's still good to have them in printed form. If you like the idea of the books and have the money please consider buying at least some of the books. They are printed on demand and I'm sure if there's enough interest in what is available to buy it will encourage Graham and the OCC to make more books available.

Hope kingofskiffle doesn't mind me posting this here. This is a copy and paste of a thread he has started at ukmix ******************************************************************************** The Official Charts Company has started publishing proper chart books once again, and I really mean proper. They have gone to Graham Betts, who some of you may remember published his own Singles and Albums books about 12 years ago or so. I'm going to give information about this new book series but not review, as I have had the ability to check these in advance and offer corrections, which Graham has been receptive to. As such, I feel I can't review them. The Official Charts Company is producing these via Amazon Print On Demand, which reduce their costs, but does increase the price a little. Around 20 volumes are being produced over the course of the next 12-18 months (time scale varies) and they will cover the Official Singles, Albums and Compilation Albums charts from 1952 through to today in decade form. The first three volumes have just been released and they are all about 500 pages each, and retail for £20 in the UK. Links are below, with some images. They have decided to begin with the 1980's, so I'll talk later about what is happening with other decades. The Official Singles Charts: The Eighties www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Singles-Charts-Eighties/dp/1724491857 This volume details the weekly Top 75 Singles charts from January 1980 through December 1989, one per page. These are the as published charts, with last week positions, weeks on chart so far, artist, title, label and catalogue number. An image is below from the copy I now own www.dropbox.com/s/d6i70avutu6y9x2/IMG_1032.jpeg?dl=0 Charts larger than a Top 40 have never been officially published, and the chart size was only Top 75 during the 1980's (Bubblers are excluded as far as this listing goes). The charts here reflect what was printed at the time, with errors in printing at the time removed (so correct week counts, etc are present from the start in 1952). The Official Albums Charts: The Eighties www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Albums-Charts-Eighties/dp/1724487086/ This volume is the same as the Singles, only for Album Charts which have never had their own volume of printed weekly charts before. These cover the Top 75 (later Top 100 in this volume) from 1980-1989 www.dropbox.com/s/dhgusa0vfub7r9s/IMG_1030.jpeg?dl=0 , together with the Top 20 Compilation Album charts from 1989 (presented at the rear). www.dropbox.com/s/h4wp4381i83fxhg/IMG_1031.jpeg?dl=0 The Official Eighties Hits Book www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Eighties-Hits-Book/dp/1727147022/ Lastly, we have the Guiness Hits style listing book for the decade. This is the book I wanted when I started collecting charts as not only does it list all Singles and Albums (And Compilation Albums) to make the charts during the decade, it lists all EP and Album tracks. www.dropbox.com/s/7m5c1wrlrp8e7wp/IMG_1027.jpeg?dl=0 www.dropbox.com/s/bcm8gttmda9or3r/IMG_1028.jpeg?dl=0 I've added some images to show pages above. Each artist has a biography, which is up-to-date to April 2019 with Births and deaths, etc. Some information is never before been published and lists the correct information as to artist credits (Graham has contacted the manager of some artists to get the proper lineup). The books are a brilliant series, and will, when all released complete a set focusing on all the charts from the 1950's to today. The plan is for the next volume to be the 1960's (2 books, one for charts one for the Hits listing), with volumes for the 1950's (one combined volume for charts and Hits), the 1970's (3 volume as for the 1980's), the 1990's (4 volumes, as compilations get their own book), the 2000's (again 4 volumes) and finally in very early 2020 the 2010's (4 volume). Please note this is all subject to change. These are planned as the definitive collection for each decade, and the feel of the books from the quality of the paper to the care taken to produce them, in my opinion, shows this. I have been fortunate to see the manuscripts before release and offer corrections (and more for the 1960's volumes but thats for when that is issued). The Official Charts Company are planning a proper press release, but as the books are available on Amazon, I thought I'd share with you all here. I hope you buy a copy - they are also available in other countries Amazon stores (Notable America for $25.17 www.amazon.com/Official-Eighties-Hits-Book/dp/1727147022

Can you clarify: when you say going to ACR next week do you mean from Friday 26 April? In other words the week starting from this Friday could potentially be the third week of decline in streaming sales?

Nicole followed up her number 1 hit, the Eurovision 1982 winning 'A Little Peace' with 'Give Me More Time' which reached number 75. In 1984 Nena reached number 1 with '99 Red Balloons'. The follow up, 'Just A Dream', peaked at number 70.

Singles sales were very strong in the first third of 1999: in the top 75 above there were 7 singles that had been certified Platinum (Britney was 2 x Platinum). Quarter 1 sales (January to March) 1999 were the highest Q1 sales since Q1 1982. Indeed, sales held up well for all of 1999 then when the millennium arrived singles sales suddenly went into a sharp decline. In 1999 cassette singles sales still accounted for 25% of all sales, within 3 years this was down to 10%. I always found it surprising how quickly singles sales fell away at the start of the 00s. Some people say it was down to Napster and illegal downloads but I'm sure most people were still on dial-up internet back then. I certainly was - I was on AOL until 2004! The number 1 artist album this week in 1999 was an album that was returning to the top for the first time since October 1992 - 'Gold - Greatest Hits' by Abba. Its weekly sale was 26,000 which Alan Jones reported was the lowest for a number 1 album since the previous July (1998). The overall best selling album of the week was Now 42 which topped the Compilations Chart on sales of 132,000, down from its first week sale of 220,000 the previous week.

209k

That means 'Sweet But Psycho' will now be a million seller (or a "millionaire") and will have passed the total on Monday.

I wonder how Des'ree is doing these days. Back in 2003 she had a website / blog which was meant to help promote her 2003 comeback but which ended up reflecting an obvious depression she was falling into when her comeback didn't work out (her 'Dream Soldier' album peaked at number 178 while the single, 'It's Okay' fizzled out at number 69). It was actually quite sad to read, her obvious enthusiasm for the comeback project turned to despair when it didn't work out and her last entry was to inform everyone that the label had cancelled all future promotion activity on her album and that she had parted company with them. She also posted that she felt directionless and lost and didn't know what the future held for her. Then she stopped posting and the website disappeared a few months later. Update: I should have read her wikipedia article. Apparently she was supposed to be working on a new album back in 2015 and her keyboardist Tim Atack (the uncle of Emily, from I'm A Celebrity and one time member along with brother Keith of Child who The Stranglers once attempted to beat up during a Top Of The Pops recording in 1978! It got The stranglers forcibly removed from the TOTP studios and they were also banned from the programme for about a year) has said she's recorded some new material.

Top 10 sales SINGLES 102576 Britney Spears 78666 DJ Casper 69685 Peter Andre 41508 George Michael 39812 Kylie Minogue 31033 Jamelia 25700 Beenie Man 18045 Blink 182 12016 Outkast 11718 Westlife ALBUMS 70027 Katie Melua 52530 Norah Jones 36904 Zero 7 34693 Jamelia 30031 Jamie Cullum 22422 Black Eyed Peas 21482 No Doubt 20483 Outkast 19060 Duran Duran 18901 Will Young 11501 Hundred Reasons (20) 9068 Dusty Springfield (25) 5500 Kylie Minogue (41) BUDGET ALBUMS 29517 Peter Andre Peter Andre's album was eligible for the Budget Albums chart due to its low price. It's one of the biggest (possibly the biggest?) sale recorded by an album on that chart.

Both 'Naked' and 'Woman In Me' did go Platinum though those certifications were awarded under the old system of the record company applying for a certification based on shipments rather than the automatic certification system that exists now. That said, there is a problem in the BPI certification database as 'Naked' is only showing as Gold and the certification is showing as being awarded on 22 July 2013, the day the automatic certification scheme was introduced (the Silver award that shows is from 1996). However the album was definitely Platinum in 1996 (it went from Gold to Platinum in December 1996).

As far as I am aware they aren't on any!

'Dreadlock Holiday' had already been awarded both Silver and Gold certifications (then for 250,000 and 500,000 sales respectively) back in 1978 but those awards are missing from the BPI database which is why it has been able to be awarded a silver certification this time around. Music Week showed a Silver certification award in the issue dated 09/09/78 and a Gold certification in the issue dated 23/09/78, the week it reached number 1.

'Hollywood' is still a great track and it's 9 years ago this week since it entered the charts. However I always think Marina never quite lived up to the promise that she showed back then.

Airplay analysis: Sam Smith and Normani nick No.1 by Alan Jones No.1 on the radio airplay chart for the last four weeks, Mark Ronson’s Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (feat. Miley Cyrus) now dips to No.2, losing the closest battle on the chart in the 2010s by a 0.02% margin to Sam Smith & Normani’s Dancing With A Stranger. Smith’s fifth No.1 and Normani’s first, Dancing With A Stranger saw plays jump 27.62% week-on-week from 4,968 to 6,340. Its audience was up just 1.43% from 85.21m to 86.43m – but that was enough to give it an audience of 20,000 more than Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’s 86.41m. It is, of course, entirely possible that Nothing Breaks Like A Heart was heard by more people – Radio Monitor applies past audience estimates from RAJAR data to determine radio airplay rankings, so it is far from being an absolute science. Support for Smith & Normani was down marginally at Radio 1 and Radio 2, with their joint contribution to its audience dipping from 48.40% to 44.70%. Its biggest growth area was on the Capital Network, whose 13 stations tallied 917 plays, up 14.77% from the previous frame’s 799, driving a 21.43% increase in its Network audience from 11.43m to 13.88m. After three straight weeks at No.5, Ava Max’s Sweet But Psycho climbs to No.4 while there are two new arrivals in the Top 10, with Dua Lipa’s Swan Song catapulting 226-5, and Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings climbing 14-10. Becoming Dua Lipa’s sixth Top 10 radio airplay hit, Swan Song racked up 60.04m audience impressions from 2,134 plays on its first full week of availability, having dropped a day before the end of the previous tracking week. Meanwhile, 7 Rings becomes Grande’s eighth Top 10 entry, propelled by a 67.75% jump in plays from 1,255 to 2,273, generating a 23.50% increase in audience from 35.15m to 43.41m. Radio 1 has had the same No.1 with the same number of plays for the last three weeks, airing Post Malone’s Wow 34 times in each period. Support for the track elsewhere is much less enthusiastic, and it has moved 26-27-25 on the radio airplay chart over the same timeframe. On their first full week on TV, Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings and Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man’s Giant surge 48-6 and 80-9 respectively, while Ava Max’s Sweet But Psycho is No.1 for the fourth time, with plays up from 552 to 565. from Music Week

I preferred 'This Love'...

Michelle beat Maroon 5 by two weeks! This was her third week at the top...

I can actually remember listening to the new top 40 the Sunday (25 January) this chart was announced and hearing 'Comfortably Numb' being a new entry at number 10. It was the first time I'd heard the Scissor Sisters version and I remember thing "WTF is this!". At the time I thought it was awful and thought was some sort of pisstake... a few months later I bought their album! As well as Maroon 5's album, I bought both albums on the same day. I still like both albums though I'll admit it's a while since I listened to either album.

I thought the OCC would have made more of Outkast's climb to number 4. For the era it had one of the strangest chart runs, entering the charts at number 6 almost three months earlier before falling as low as number 22 before climbing back up the charts with an eventual peak of number 3 two weeks after this chart. If I recall sales of the single didn't fall that far away when it fell 6-8-10-13-22 and didn't increase that much when the single rallied and moved from number 22 to 16-13-14-9-9-4. Sales of the top 10 singles and albums for this week in 2004 were: SINGLES 35,040 MICHELLE 26.983 KELIS 16,052 BOOGIE PIMPS 15,968 OUTKAST 14,149 GARY JULES 13,454 2PLAY 12,249 FRANZ FERDINAND 12,233 OZZY & KELLY OSBOURNE 11,770 SEAN PAUL FT SASHA 10,065 SCISSOR SISTERS ALBUMS 35,680 KATIE MELUA 26,256 DIDO 21,934 BLACK EYED PEAS 20,502 WILL YOUNG 19,083 EVANESCENCE 17,782 TEARS FOR FEARS 17,064 NO DOUBT 15,356 OUTKAST 14,486 MICHAEL JACKSON 13,650 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

I don't know about that but I do know that the album charts are clogged up with old albums that will seemingly never go away thanks to constant streaming. Introducing ACR to the albums chart would be a nightmare to implement though.

Monday releases were becoming more common then but some singles still did get released towards the end of the week. However a Monday release date back then was the day when records were dispatched from the pressing plants to record shops so some stores wouldn't get the record until later in the week. It was only in the 90s when singles started being sent to record shops in advance of a Monday release date. According to the BPI Certfied database both singles were released on Monday 2 February 1987 but very high new entries were still the exception rather than norm in early 1987.

All were massive sellers too, Boney M, the Village People and Blondie singles all sold over a million and Ian Dury sold over 900,000. Then we had more massive sellers from The Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor and Art Garfunkel (another million seller) in the next couple of months. Singles sales reached a then all time high in 1978 and 1979 with the period of July 1978 to April 1979 having overall sales at a level which had never been seen before. What makes it more interesting is that sales in early 1979 were absolutely phenomenal at a time when the whole country was hit by a very snowy winter with heavy snowfall. Think of December 2010, that's what it was like for three months. I can even remember it snowing in mid May! It was amazing that record shops were able to get enough stock given how bad the weather was.

And both 'Stand By Me' by Ben E King and 'When A Man Loves A Woman' by Percy Sledge were inside the top 40 too and would climb to numbers 1 and 2, something that annoyed the lead singer of Curiosity Killed The Cat as 'Down To Earth' ended up stalling at number 3 because of those two old singles.

I think age definitely has something to do with how you view music. I grew up listening to music and the charts in the 1970s and 1980s so naturally I think the music from back then sounds like pure gold. I'm sure there are many teens today who think current music is brilliant but I find the charts to be bland because most of the tracks in the charts sound the same! There seems to be little variety. Another thing: I can barely remember most of the chart hits from this decade. I'm sure if I heard them I would recognise them but there are many number 1s that I can't remember by just looking at the title. Yet I've just looked at the chart from this week in 1979 and I recognise nearly every single in the top 75 from just the title alone. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singl.../19790121/7501/ And what a brilliant number 1 we had this week in 1979... a brilliant top 3 in fact. The Top Of The Pops edition from the following week (I can't find the one for 25/01/79) is at https://archive.org/details/BBC_Top_of_the_Pops_1979_02_01 for anyone who wants to hear some of the songs in the chart from back then. The performance by Two Man Sound of the long forgotten single 'Que Tal America' (at 20 minutes in) is hilarious largely because the bongo player is crackers. The lead singer is standing on one leg only as well. Awful song though.

I can't see the album selling another million this year unless streaming sales for the album either hold up or increase dramatically. Its paid for sales are going to fall below 10,000 a week at some point in the near future...