Brélican

It's only ahead by about 40k on Spotify today and I'd expect it's likely to drop behind it pretty quickly. (And I'm sure it was posted already that the vinyl release is a very limited one so shouldn't be a factor really).

Video streams contribute very little to the chart overall, let alone the tiny minority of streams that may come from people not skipping ads within 30 seconds (if those even count at all).

'stupid song' will probably be the only charting new track unless another song holds up very well over the week to stay ahead of 'drop dead'.

I can probably be there for a listenthrough today

Why is 'Go' back in the chart?

I feel the 'return to her roots' thing is being greatly exaggerated / overemphasised with this Taylor song. Maybe it'd feel more like a departure if she did the fake country accent again but to me this song just sounds like any number of mediocre album tracks from her last few albums just with some harmonicas slapped on (which tbf is the best part of the song lol). I've heard it on the radio about 4 times and I'm already bored of it, hope it doesn't stick around too long. I'd forgotten that Mac Miller had never had a top 40 before even as a feature - came so close with his very first chart entry peaking at #41 but finally got there now! I've still not heard it oops (fallen behind with listening to top 100 entries, need to catch up with my polls again ) but intrigued by the length of it x 'Blue World' should have been a big hit for him <3

Just noticing Q-Tip is now credited on 'Go' on Spotify - I was sure I remembered him being credited when the song first came out but couldn't find any evidence that wasn't just me Mandela effecting myself, better late than never though!

'the cure' would be by far my favourite #1 of the year so far if it can pull it off so initiating prayer circle x (Looking back at the list of #1s I'd say my current favourite is probably still RAYE but close with Dave, Ariana, Olivia's 'drop dead' and Harry's 'American Girls' - all songs that I like a decent amount but wouldn't consider them massive highlights of the year, RAYE being a bit dulled by overplay in particular). Meanwhile Taylor is about to have a monopoly on the 2 worst #1s of the year for me ('I Knew It, I Knew You' is a lot better than 'Opalite' but still firmly mid oop)

re: @jimwatts in the previous streaming thread - that Kyla song is just the original that was sampled in 'One Dance', and indeed also in her only other top 40 hit with ArrDee. The original peaked at #48, would be nice if it can finally become more of a hit in its own right (but ofc who knows if anything will come of it entering now or if it's just a fleeting appearance).

@WhoOdyssey your country name just keeps being (presumably) autocorrected to 'Whole' in the spreadsheets lol x

Suede stole my number I'll settle for 43 then x

As far as I'm aware it'll be the normal contest format, the graphic with the country names over the World Cup groups is just for fun. (Will be quite a lengthy spinoff if everyone does confirm, I wasn't expecting all 48 countries to actually be taken lol)

I'm pretty sure the rules in 2023 were the same as they are now, the Tom Petty song just did not reach a hypothetical chart position high enough for the OCC to notice to give it a reset. (It would have been a very fleeting minor chart entry at best anyway)

Triple A-Seed of Jerd, Meekul and mer representing North Africa bloc (and Julian being our 4th A-Seed x)

It's been "doing a Man I Need" since literally before Man I Need was even released lol

Scenes when the top 2 is a Robert Smith collab and a song titled 'the cure' (Not happening x (probably))

Taylor's third day Spotify numbers are lower than Ariana's were now - I do expect she'll get the #1 still (especially if they do bring CDs forward ofc) but might be close.

Lol when I voted it was only me and one other person voting to keep them in vs. iirc 12 to exclude them, at least it's a little more even now I do understand the argument for excluding but I would have preferred keeping them for completeness (and 'Kiss Kiss' is still a banger shh xx).

Phresh #1

I liked Alyssa Grace's previous top 100 hit - I can see why people find her voice offputting but I thought it worked well with that style of song (similar to Bella Kay). Withholding judgement on if it's the same on the new song x Interesting that Taylor has a (very) marginally lower opening day worldwide than Ariana had last week but a solidly higher opening day in the UK specifically (and the US) - does Ariana have more non-Anglophone appeal than Taylor?

Malcolm Todd has had a song in the top 40 for the last 2 months x

I think this rule has just been copied over from previous editions and hasn't actually always been enforced - I'd be happy to be more lenient on that rule, as long as it's not an artist with only a tenuous link to the country (especially for the smaller countries). I'm fairly sure we even once had an artist sent for Jamaica who wasn't even tenuously Jamaican lol

No thanks @ Audrey Hobert, I'd rather keep the staleness.

Welcome to Vaskla from Persephonia too (if also maybe just for Worldvision)

But let's hope not x (I believe Algeria is actually institutionally opposed to the French language due to colonial history lol (although it is still widely spoken there))