Robbie

It looks like you might be right about the cut-off date. The last three times December 27 has fallen on a Saturday (1997, 2003 and 2008) it has been the sales cut-off point for the chart year (with the charts being dated 3 January). It does mean that 4 days worth of sales from 2014 will fall into the 2015 chart year, which will (or should) run 28 December 2014 to 2 January 2016. I assume that next year will be one of those 53 week chart years that we sometimes get.

To posters mentioning that the EOY chart will be a top 100 - that would just me in my earlier post assuming (well, hoping!) it will be a top 100. The actual size of the chart has yet to be announced. I imagine it will be a top 100 though as spreading just a top 40 through over 9 hours of programming would be unlikely.

Radio 1 are counting down a year end chart. It's on New Year's Eve and is spread out over the course of the day time schedules, from 6.30am to 4.00pm New Year's Eve 4:00am Jordan North 6:30am Scott Mills - official chart of year part 1 10:00am Gemma Cairney official chart of year part 2 1:00pm Matt Edmondson official chart of year part 3 4:00pm The Nixtape part 1 7:00pm The Nixtape part 2. 10pm The Nixtape part 3 until 1am http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2028008 I'm assuming it will be a top 100 with hopefully a proper top 40 countdown from 1pm to 4pm. It most likely will be a provisional end of year chart though as the actual chart year doesn't (or shouldn't) end until Saturday 3 January 2015.

A couple from 1984: Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid 750,000 Last Christmas - Wham! 450,000 These were first week sales and both managed it in the same week in December 1984!

If Digital Sales Data has estimated sales correctly then Band Aid 30 has sold another 91k on iTunes today. With Amazon sales on top it would make sales at about 110,000 to 120,000 copies today, meaning sales in the midweeks tomorrow will be about 320k to 330k. We shall see!

I think the OCC class it as a re-recording rather than a remix but it's essentially the same thing under the chart rules as both re-recordings and remixes can have sales combined with the original version so long as the remix or re-recording is similar to the original. I've never agreed with the approach of the OCC with regards to Three Lions but they make the rules...

I notice that 'Three Lions' is missing from the list. I know the OCC now combine sales of both versions but to me they are different songs that just happen to have the same artists performing both tracks.

Does anyone still follow the estimated sales for iTunes at http://digitalsalesdata.com/diydsd.php?Region=143444 ? The "statistical model" referred to is based on a very similar % sales ratio as shown on kworb. The "sales" at Digital Sales Data are often fairly accurate though can sometimes be quite inaccurate. Yesterday the site showed the Band Aid 30 single as having sold an estimated 165,000 on iTunes by 8pm so it was a good call. The figures showing at this moment are based on a 24 hour rolling basis so will continue to fall as the day progresses but by midnight tonight will give a rough estimate of what the single has sold today. I estimate it has sold (until 16:30) about 40k to 50k since midnight. The site used to be linked to a few years ago here at Buzzjack when it was supposed to display actual sales but I've not seen it mentioned in recent times (apologies if it has already been mentioned in this thread, I don't always follow the iTunes threads).

Plus each of those three versions are million sellers!

By 2004 standards in general it was pretty good but in the context of a single in the immediate run up to Christmas it would have been seen as a low sale for a number 1. As it turns out, sales of the number 1 in the same week in 2005 and 2006 were worse.

In a way it's probably just as well all three were beaten by Band Aid 20 as each single recorded very poor sales while at number 2. Had it not been for BA20, the Christmas number 1 in 2004 would have been 'Father And Son' by Ronan Keating and Yusuf on 27,992 sales, which would probably have been the lowest ever weekly sale for a Christmas number 1. Band Aid 20 sold 231,492 copies that week. The weekly sales for the number 2 behind Band Aid 20: 11/12/04: Ice Cube: 20,953 (BA20: 292,594) 18/12/04: Kylie Minogue: 39,321 (BA20: 287,849) 25/12/04: Ronan / Yusuf: 27,992 (BA20: 231,492) 01/01/05: Steve Brookstein: 127,370 (BA20: 231,929)

I think variations of "Feed the World", "Feel The World" and "Heal The World" are sung (or at least were on the lyrics sheet published on a number of media outlets on Saturday) but you're right, it's mainly "Heal The World".

The track just needs a subtle remix, to slightly speed up the first part of the song and to make the track flow more easily. The "Feed The World" second part of the track is fine as it is.

And yet strangely a number of the original Band Aid line up are still recording and touring, albeit with less success than they had in the 1980s. And given the lifestyle at the time of some of the participants in the original Band Aid only one of them is no longer with us - Stuart Adamson, of Big Country, or two if we include Paula Yates who was in the studio and who appears on the video but she doesn't sing on the record.

It sounds a bit like the singer Marilyn back in 1984. He wasn't included in the line-up but decided to just turn up on the day regardless as he didn't want to miss out, not least for publicity purposes. For anyone wondering who he is, he appears at 2 mins 32 secs in the video, he's wearing a rather garish yellow and blue outfit with a long white coat. WesKXdaWBq0

Did they give a reason why they are no longer involved?

Thanks for the info Mike. So it looks like it wasn't really The Network Chart / Pepsi Chart that led to listeners deserting the Radio 1 Top 40 in their millions, though of course some listeners would have switched over to listening to the former. It reads more like a general decline in interest in chart shows amongst mainstream listeners setting in from the mid to late 80s onwards.

Do you have any listening figures for the Network Top 40 from 1984 onwards? It would be interesting to compare listening figures for the Radio 1 top 40 with the Network Chart from when the latter started in late 1984.

There's no limit on the amount of different digital (one track) variants of a featured song that can count towards a chart place but for physical singles and digital bundles there is a limit of three versions which is still in place. A digital bundle is a digital single release that contains more than one track. It's essentially the digital equivalent of what would have been a physical single (i.e.e with track 1, track 2 etc). For singles, the chart rules on combining sales are: 4.1 Criteria for Combining Sales a Sales of different formats and variants of a single are combined for chart purposes where each format contains the featured song(s), and not the featured song(s) from any other chart single. b For chart purposes, the sales of different formats are combined where they can reasonably be held to be variants or alternative formats of the same piece of product. The criteria for combining sales are detailed below. c i) The featured song of a Top 40 single cannot be released as a B-side or extra track on a subsequent chart eligible single until the former has dropped out of the Top 40, subject to c ii) and c iii). ii) If a song that has fallen out of Top 40 is then used as a B-side or extra title on a new release and the original song re-enters the Top 40, the new release will remain chart eligible. iii) Labels may include previously unreleased remixes or alternative versions of a current Top 40 single on a new release providing the version used has not previously appeared on a chart eligible release. d A maximum of three physical formats for each title is eligible for the singles chart. The first 3 formats to be domestically released will feature in the Chart unless the record company elects a different combination before release. 4th and subsequent physical formats of a single will not be eligible for a chart position. e A maximum of three digital bundle formats for each title is eligible for the singles chart. The first 3 formats to be domestically released will feature in the Chart unless the record company elects a different combination before release. 4th and subsequent digital bundle formats of a single will not be eligible for a chart position. f In addition to 3 physical formats and 3 digital bundles, an unlimited number of digital variants of the featured song may be combined for a chart position. Note: The featured song across all formats of a single need not be identical for their sales to be combined, but should be substantially the same - that is, an identical OR extended OR remixed OR live OR alternative version of the basic song. For duets, the OCC seem to be quite flexible these days in how alternative versions are interpreted. I think it comes down to how the "duet" is billed. My understanding is that if, as an example, Artist A releases a track as a solo artist and then the track is also released in a version billed as "Artist A featuring Artist B" then sales of both versions can be combined for chart purposes. However if the credit on the second version is "Artist A AND Artist B" (ie no "featuring" credit, making it what I'd call a proper duet) then it is not an alternative version to the original by Artist A and sales won't be combined. Or at least that is my interpretation, which could be wrong of course.

A final blooper... Reggie had an annoying habit when saying how many weeks a single had been on the charts of constantly taking one week off the chart run. So, for example, if a record was on its second week on the chart he would say it had "1 week on the chart", for a record in its third week it was "2 weeks on the chart" etc. I don't know if he was reading the weeks on chart from the script of his computer or whether he was sitting down and working out the weeks himself. But either way, he was usually wrong.

Every day!

Tommy Vance was well known for liking a drink or two on a Sunday afternoon before he presented the Top 40. This was back in the days when pubs were only allowed to open from noon to 2pm and 7pm to 10.30pm on a Sunday. He found a pub near Radio 1 that did lock-ins on a Sunday afternoon and would often make it to the studio just in time to do the top 40. Sometimes he would be slightly the worse for wear... as he was on an edition of the top 40 he hosted one Sunday afternoon in May 1982. Back then the DJ would line up the singles themselves on the turntable and the records they had to play would be stacked up near the the twin turntables. While playing 'I Love Rock 'N' Roll' by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, Vance, in a slightly inebriated state, managed to knock over the pile of records near the turntable that was playing the Joan Jett single. The pile of records crashed onto the record player, sent the needle flying across the record (there was a glorious scratching and banging sound live on air when this happened!). This was followed by a few seconds of silence before Vance sheepishly came on air to announce he didn't know what had happened and he then proceeded to put the needle back on the record and play a little bit more of the Joan Jett single, After it had finished for a second time - this time without incident - he said there had been a problem with the needle! He then quickly moved on to playing the next single which was, if I recall, the appropriately named 'I Won't Let You Down'... I still have this wonderful incident on tape!

Mark Goodier getting his timing so far out on the top 40 he presented on Sunday 27 August 1989 and as a result of running late he had to skip playing the number 2 single - 'Ride On Time' by Black Box - so that he could fit in both the rundown of the Top 40 and play the number 1 before 7pm. Black Box were on their way up the chart at the time and climbed to number 1 the following week.

If we include all weeks inside the top 100 then 'The Power Of Love' by Jennifer Rush also reached number 1 on its 17th week as the single entered the top 100 at number 97 a week before entering the Top 75 at number 65 the following week. I've always followed the Guinness Hit Singles approach, which is to consider the Top 75 as the "official" part of the chart. But either way, if Ed Sheeran does make number 1 this week then he will have the clear record for the longest (or slowest!) climb to the top.

About two months after you would have taken that photograph, Woolworths announced it was to stop selling CD singles except for X-Factor type releases http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technolo...000/7421035.stm That really did hasten the end of the CD single. From the above link I don't think Woolies ever got the chance to stock the next X Factor single as the retail chain went into administration a month before the winning single ('Hallelujah' by Alexandra Burke) was released and all stores closed down the week the single went to number 1! When Woolworths stopped selling CD singles in mid 2008, many of its stores had reduced their singles section to being a tacky yellow cardboard display box which housed the "top 20" singles from Woolies made up chart. It all looked so sad and was an inglorious end to the retail chain's proud history of being the biggest singles retailer in the UK.