Robbie

And the cassette single too which went from having consistent sales from 1994 to 1999 (shipping about 18-20 million a year) to being an almost dormant format by 2003 (sales under a million). It was very strange how overall sales suddenly went into sharp decline in 2000 after holding up well in 1998 and 1999. I doubt it was to do with illegal downloading as in 2000 most people on the internet were on dial-up. 2000 was also the first year since 1993 that the year end best seller didn't sell over a million copies during the calendar year.

Probably Michael Buble.

Whoever gets the Christmas number 1 it will be interesting to see what sales the track gets. Last year 'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran had fairly decent sales of 85,397 although historically this is still one of the lowest sales for the Christmas number 1. But in 2016 'Rockabye' by Clean Bandit recorded the lowest sale for a Christmas number 1 since at least 1960 when it sold a paltry 57,361. The days of six figure sales of the Christmas number 1 seem to be over.

I was looking for something from 10 years ago this week over at Haven and chanced across this... the top 20 Albums of the year so far from this time 10 years ago this week. At least both number 1 albums have / had sold over a million. 1 Rockferry - Duffy 1,333,000 2 Viva la Vida or Death and all his Friends - Coldplay 961,000 3 Good Girl Gone Bad - Rihanna 611,000 4 Only by the Night - Kings of Leon 568,000 5 All the Right Reasons - Nickelback 545,000 6 Scouting for Girls - Scouting for Girls 512,000 7 Back to Black (Deluxe Edition) - Amy Winehouse 501,000 8 19 - Adele 433,000 9 Spirit - Leona Lewis 417,000 10 This is the Life - Amy MacDonald 368,000 11 Home Before Dark - Neil Diamond 349,000 12 Life in Cartoon Motion - Mika 339,000 13 Gold - Greatest Hits - Abba 337,000 14 We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings 330,000 15 Dig Out Your Soul - Oasis 328,000 16 Call me Irresponsible (Special Edition) - Michael Bublé 322,000 17 Hard Candy - Madonna 312,000 18 Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss 303,000 19 Beautiful World - Take That 273,000 20 Exclusive - Chris Brown 272,000 and just to show that while album sales may be down, singles sales are up compared back to then 1 1 Duffy Mercy 511000 2 12 X Factor Finalists Hero 502844 3 2 Nickelback Rockstar 456000 4 3 Estelle feat Kanye West American boy 444700 5 4 Basshunter feat DJ Mental Now you're gone 434000 6 5 Madonna 4 minutes 422950 7 6 Katy Perry I kissed a girl 422115 8 7 Sam Sparro Black and gold 412800 9 8 Flo Rida feat T Pain Low 380750 10 9 Dizzee Rascal Dance wiv me 363750 11 10 Ne-Yo Closer 342850 12 15 Kings of Leon Sex on fire 324905 13 11 Kid Rock All summer lomg 319950 14 13 Rihanna Take a bow 314400 15 14 Jordin Sparks feat Chris Brown No air 304030 16 16 Rihanna Don’t stop the music 290100 17 18 Rihanna Disturbia 289960 18 17 Ting Tings That's not my name 285900 19 19 Adele Chasing pavements 278700 20 20 Gabriella Cilmi Sweet about me 272145 While we're on what happened 10 years ago, it's 10 years ago this week that Woolworths announced it was closing.

The albums that I own / have owned: 2 21 ADELE ADELE 2011 1 23 5,11M UK FEMALE 3 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS OASIS 1995 1 10 4,94M UK BAND 5 THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON 1982 1 8 4,47M US MALE 8 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC FLEETWOOD MAC 1977 1 1 4,09M UK / US BAND 9 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE AMY WINEHOUSE 2006 1 6 3,93M UK FEMALE 10 25 ADELE ADELE 2015 1 13 3,50M UK FEMALE 11 STARS SIMPLY RED SIMPLY RED 1991 1 12 3,45M UK BAND 26 A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD COLDPLAY COLDPLAY 2002 1 3 2,96M UK BAND 32 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS JEFF WAYNE JEFF WAYNE 1978 5 0 2,80M UK MALE 33 X&Y COLDPLAY COLDPLAY 2005 1 4 2,79M UK BAND 34 JAGGED LITTLE PILL ALANIS MORISSETTE ALANIS MORISSETTE 1995 1 11 2,78M CAN FEMALE 35 SCISSOR SISTERS SCISSOR SISTERS SCISSOR SISTERS 2004 1 4 2,76M US BAND 40 PARACHUTES COLDPLAY COLDPLAY 2000 1 1 2,71M UK BAND Not as many as I thought I might have owned. Of the above the only two I still listen to are 'Rumours' (which I own on vinyl, cassette, CD and mp3 as well as having the album saved on Spotify!) and 'Back To Black'.

It's going to be a lot harder from this Christmas as tracks more than 3 years old can only revert from ACR back to SCR if the track is being actively promoted. I feel that this rule has been introduced with Christmas hits in mind. While Christmas tracks will still chart having their streaming downweighted will help prevent them from dominating the upper reaches of the charts like they have done in recent years. When The Box was in its prime and viewers phoned in to select videos (do they still do this? I've not watched the channel for well over a decade) a number of viewers requests were actually made by people working for record labels such as pluggers etc etc. What was telling was how often a new video would be featured in high rotation but then when the record was released and the new chart was announced if the single in question hadn't performed well the video would usually never be seen again. In the era when records peaked at their entry position labels knew that if the record hadn't sold well there was no point in requesting the video any more.

I've checked and they are still going though they've not released anything for 4 yeears. Their peak time in the UK was 2002 to 2004 when they had a few minor hit singles and a semi successful album. In fact I'd forgotten all about them until I saw their name in that decade old issue of Music Week!

I came to the conclusion that my days of following chart music were over years ago. It's strange that I can look at any chart from 1975 to 1985 and know just about every song in those charts but from about the early 00s I barely recall more than a quarter of the tracks in the charts and the amount of tracks I know gets less and less each year. I know it sounds cliched but a lot of the songs in the chart just merge into one for me so even when I get to hear them I just don't remember them. That's not to say I don't listen to new music though. As a subscriber to Music Week I pick up on a number of new acts and tracks from the various regular features the magazine does and I look up the acts / tracks on Spotify. Most of them never get anywhere near the top 40 though. Indeed most of the featured "breaking" acts vanish without trace! I've just had a look through Music Week from 10 years ago today (issue dated 13/09/08) and wonder whatever happened to: Hockey, The Virgins, Bless Beats, Duncan Lloyd going solo, Peter and the Wolf, Rizz MC, Eugene McGuinness, Breezy, Portico Quartet, Andrea McEwan, Kaela, School Of Seven Bells, Los Campesinos, Psapp, Mugison, Marti, Five O'Clock Heroes, White Denim, Michelle Williams, The Datsuns, Late Of The Pier, Same Difference, Rhydian Roberts, George Sampson and a whole host more who either had fleeting success or simply never made it.

If Sounds Like Friday Night was to make a return then it would most likely be in the second or third week of October, assuming it was to be for a 6 week run. That would match up with when promo for Quarter 4 albums starts to kick in. If we hear nothing in the next fortnight then I think we can assume the programme won't be making a return. Personally I'll be surprised if it does make a return but stranger things have happened. As a programme it just never attracted enough decent viewing figures. But you never know... but it would require the music industry to get behind the programme by getting the biggest artists and acts on board but whether they they will... we'll have to see.

^ The only thing I've really liked since he came back from his haitus in 2009 is 'Love The Way You Lie' with Rihanna, from 2010.

Yes, that's a great track. The EP from which the track is taken (Everything I Could Never Say) is available to buy from iTunes for 79p which is great value for a 6 track EP especially as buying this one track by itself would cost 99p. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/everythin...y-ep/1282657568 (click on the "Also Available in iTunes" link)

Some sales data: SINGLES 40978 Natasha Bedingfield 34300 3 Of A Kind 26765 The 411 26759 Maroon 5 11600 Sugababes (8) 10900 Mousse T (9) 10000+ Dizzee Rascal (10) 4300 Faithless (22) 2300 Kane (38) 1900 Gretchen Wilson (42) 850 Deepest Blue (57) ALBUMS 64286 Prodigy 59346 Maroon 5 (total sales now 546,391) 18120 Finn Brothers (8) 16694 R Kelly (11) 16351 Alexander O'Neal (12) 5359 Jeff Buckley (44) COMPILATIONS 48880 Now 58 28821 Cream Classics Downloads (Test Data) 01 01 Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme 02 02 The Streets - Dry Your Eyes 03 05 Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved 04 NE Oasis - Columbia (Live) 05 03 Maroon 5 - This Love 06 04 Scissor Sisters - Laura 07 06 Jeff Buckley - Forget Her 08 11 Anastacia - Sick And Tired 09 09 Keane - Everybody's Changing 10 07 Anastaicia - Left Outside Alone Number 1's Dance Singles: Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall R&B Singles: The 411 - Dumb Independent Singles: Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall

Sorry to hear that Paul. Fingers crossed that you soon make a full recovery.

^ I once read that Warners refused to release 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World' which is why it appeared on a different label and was independently distributed.

From the era of the Official Charts: Burundi Steiphenson Black - Burundi Black Chart run: (1972) 50-37-{31}-39-33-31-31-38-32-35-40-39-43-46 So 11 weeks spent between numbers 31 to 40. However the part of the chart that Radio 1 counted down was only a top 30 at the time - it didn't become a top 40 until May 1978. For lovers of old music this was the song that Malcolm Mclaren played to Adam Ant went he took over managing Adam & The Ants for a while in 1980 and suggest that Adam change his sound to a more tribal, African, beat Also 11 weeks between 31-40 though over two chart runs: Fleetwood Mac - Need Your Love So Bad (1968) 44-50-42-45-39-32-40-33-33-{31}-38-41-44 (1969) 45-35-37-35-{32}-46-42R(2)-49-45 The 1968 entry was from the Record Retailer (Now Music Week) chart. The 1969 entry is from the Official Chart but again only the top 30 was counted down by Radio 1. Back when Fleetwood Mac were a British blues band and before the band uprooted and moved to the US. Lead singer was Peter Green

Airplay analysis: One Kiss immovable at radio summit by Alan Jones Fifteen weeks after it first topped the radio airplay chart, Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa’s One Kiss is No.1 for the seventh time. The track - which was No.1 for just one week initially and fell as far as No.7 before recovering – has been at the chart apex for the last six weeks. In its latest triumph, it displays mixed signals, with its audience dipping 1.94% from 59.42m to a four-week low of 58.27m, while its plays inch up 1.15% from 6,636 to a best-yet 6,712. When God Is A Woman slid 11-17 last week, it looked as though its bid to become Ariana Grande’s fifth Top 10 hit on the radio airplay chart was over – but it rallies to No.10 this week with a 5.20% increase in plays from 2,981 to 3,136 driving a 12.54% hike in audience from 35.02m to 39.41m. It is indebted to Radio 1, which increased rotation of the track from 17 plays to 26. Youngblood also reverses direction. The track peaked at No.7 for Australian pop/punk band 5 Seconds Of Summer a fortnight ago, and now eclipses that with an 11-5 jump. It is the only track in the Top 10 to secure double-digit increases in both metrics this week, with plays up 10.76% from 3,735 to 4,137, and audience up 12.89% from 38.41m to 43.36m. It too had a great week on Radio 1, where support swelled from 17 plays to 24. Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin’s four-week run atop the TV airplay chart with I Like It is over. The track dips to No.3 on the chart, which is determined by plays. It was aired 673 times last week, nine fewer than Jax Jones’ Ring Ring (feat. Mabel & Rich The Kid) and DJ Khaled’s No Brainer (feat. Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper & Quavo), which jointly rule the chart, with 682 spins. On its first full week, the video for In My Feelings by Drake was aired 597 times, propelling it 25-5 on the TV airplay chart. The track, which ends its four week run atop the OCC singles chart this week, is also enjoying a belated spurt of growth and a new peak on the radio airplay chart, where it improves 18-14. © Music Week

It's the one which gets the highest listening figures on any radio station.

Yup, she's released about 30! Well, 27 that I can count but that doesn't include digital singles... but even so, a top 10 would be choc-a-bloc of big hits. http://www.45cat.com/artist/kate-bush

Radio 2 should also have done a top 20 for Kate Bush who also turned 60 this year (two weeks ago in fact). That would have made for a much better listen IMO!

Nope, it peaked at number 4 in January 2010.

I did once order something from HMV online - and it never turned up! That was my one and only experience of buying from their website. That said, it was a while ago as it was the CD single of 'The Journey Continues' by Mark Brown / Sarah Cracknell so that's early February 2008. I take it the service is better these days..! (to be fair I did get a refund from HMV without any hassle).

The problem there is if you live in a town without a record shop. The population of my town is almost 70,000 yet the last surviving record shop was Music Zone and that closed back in January 2007. Unless the local Asda or Sainsburys stocks a CD the alternative is having to travel to Newcastle or Sunderland which would cost £7 return by bus - as much as the CD I would want to buy. That's why so many people I know use Amazon as it's cheaper and easier.

I don't see anything wrong with the album being on the main album chart. It's not a compilation album, it's an original cast performance soundtrack which falls within the chart rules for what can chart on the Artist Album Chart. The only change has been that the definition has been widened in the past couple of years from meaning only stage cast recordings to also include film cast recordings. Ironcially had The Greatest Showman been classed as a compilation album then it wouldn't have sold anywhere near a million as compilation album sales totals only include physical and download sales with streams not being counted.

I would have thought that Tom Walker would have at least another week on SCR as Music Week showed his track as recording a sales increase last week (the week the new chart rules / the addition of video streams took effect).

After reading the new chart rules I did have a feeling it must have gone back to ACR. Do you know if it is anywhere near the top 40 or has it taken a big fall down the chart? It does of course get two bites at the cherry as the OCC decided (wrongly in my view) to amalgamate sales (and presumably streams) of the 1996 and 1998 versions.