diditagain

I didn’t know that, thanks for the information. Glad Billboard changed the rule — can’t wait to see if Murder keeps rising in the US like in the UK.

Murder never charted on the US Hot 100 before, so it is not considered a recurrent/catalogue song and is eligible to enter at any position. The recurrent rules are still in effect, as we saw with the December charts, where a Christmas song had to reach #50 before re-entering (or the more strict #25 for a song that has already charted over 52 weeks).

Please elaborate on the DVD glitches. The main issue I have seen in forums so far is that an alternate version of Got To Be Certain is used as the main video (however, the actual "final video" appears as a bonus). Also, one person said the audio seemed slightly out of sync with the video, but others said they played perfectly.

I thought 287k seemed low as well, but Teenage Dream debuted at #1 in the US in 2010 with 192k, so Prism actually improved on its predecessor's first-week performance by about 50 percent.

Probably not the biggest sales gap between #1 & #2 ever. For example, back in 2000, *NSYNC's No Strings Attached debuted at #1 with first-week sales of 2.4 million, and the #2 album was probably at least 1.5 million (or more) below that.

britster, the Hits Daily Double chart is created by gathering weekly sales reports from a variety of sources. The percentage refers to the percentage of reports that have been processed for that week's chart. Hits Daily Double usually has a brief report on Wednesdays about "one-day sales" that contains estimates for full-week sales for new releases.

Just because the streaming chart Top 20 is "dominated by R&B and hip-hop" this week, that won't necessarily be the case in the future. And the suggestion that Billboard is doing this on purpose (again) to "block the dominance of UK pop and dance acts" is ridiculous (data from one week doesn't prove a theory). Billboard is adjusting its chart methodology to better incorporate how Americans are listening to their favorite songs, not because Billboard executives had a meeting and decided that a specific group of artists was surging in popularity and needed to be stopped. In the late 1998, Billboard decided to allow "airplay-only" songs to chart on the Hot 100. Until that time, a song had to be available in at least one physical format as a single in order to qualify for the Hot 100. From around 1993/4 to 1998, some artists would not release a physical single of their latest hit to force people to buy the album. This resulted in some very popular songs never appearing on the Hot 100 (for example, "Don't Speak" by No Doubt spent 4 months at #1 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, but never appeared on the official Hot 100 because no physical single was released). Billboard changed its policy in late 1998 (several years too late, in my opinion) so that the Hot 100 would better reflect what songs were most popular. In 1991, Billboard started using Soundscan to collect more accurate airplay data (previously, radio stations would send Billboard a ranked list of their most popular songs every week), which meant the airplay component better reflected what a radio station played (and who was listening when it was played). Was this also done to spite UK pop and dance acts??? Billboard has adjusted its methodology for creating its various music charts several times in the 100+ years the magazine has existed. The 1960s British Invasion didn't lead to chart changes that lessened the impact of The Beatles and Herman's Hermits on the Hot 100, nor did the surge of UK acts that hit the Hot 100 in the 1980s. Specifically regarding the Spice Girls, while the three singles from the first album had great airplay and sales in the first half of 1997 (and all peaked in the Top 5), the three singles from Spiceworld had good sales but only decent airplay (and all peaked in the Top 20) because some of the novelty had worn off. In the spring of 1998, "Stop" reached #16, a far cry from the 5 weeks at #1 by "Wannabe" in early 1997. Musical tastes, and the ways people listen to and purchases music, are continually changing, and Billboard is doing its best to accurately reflect those changes. For your one piece of evidence supporting your theory, there is a mountain of evidence showing that Billboard, over the past 100+ years, doesn't make changes to chart methodology just to punish a specific type of music from a specific part of the world.

The cast of Glee performed "Glad You Came" on this week's show, and as of noon Thursday, the original by The Wanted is #5 on iTunes US (the Glee version is #31). I'd guess The Wanted will rise into the Top 20 next Thursday.

Yes, I did read the rest of the thread, so your sarcasm is completely unnecessary. My previous post was in response to jkac's comment "I personally don't understand how Whitney charted at 7 off one days sales." I responded that the one-day sales were so high (195,000 copies) that, when combined with the one-day airplay, IWALY was #7 for the week.

From Saturday evening Feb. 11 until late Sunday Feb. 12, I Will Always Love You sold 195,000 copies, enough to make it #3 on the sales chart for the week. This, combined with some airplay of the song during the same time period, gave it enough total points to reach #7.

The old rule for the Hot 100 was that only in "special circumstances" was a recurrent song allowed to re-chart. For example, after 9/11, Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" and Whitney Houston's "The Star-Spangled Banner" had a resurgence in airplay and were re-released as CD singles, so Billboard let them re-chart. At the time of Michael Jackson's death, I don't think Billboard considered allowing his songs and albums to re-chart because they weren't being re-released (as in the 9/11 examples above). Billboard changed the rule after lots of complaints. The week after his death, Michael Jackson would have had several singles re-enter the Top 50, probably a few even in the Top 10. And the most glaring non-event was that the album Thriller sold the most copies that week, but was nowhere to be found on the Billboard 200 because it was a "catalog" album. While it's unfortunate for Michael Jackson's chart history, at least Billboard had enough sense to adjust the rules so the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 -- the two "big" US charts people focus on -- better reflect the true sales and airplay of the week they are tracking.

While I understand Billboard's reasons for implementing recurrent rules on the Hot 100 (giving new songs/artists a better chance to have a hit on a chart that isn't "clogged" by older songs), it does create a chart that doesn't provide a 100% representation of what people are listening to and buying. At least now any "recurrent" that would chart at #50 or above is allowed to re-enter the Hot 100, so it's nice that the most recent Hot 100 has I Will Always Love You at #7, a true representation of the sales/airplay it received in the 24 hours after her death (in the US, the chart week ends on Sunday night). IWALY is still sitting at #2 on iTunes, so with a full week of sales (and some airplay), it might even climb a bit next week.

A post in the UKMix Forum says Alex Day has dropped out of the Top 100!

The fact that Take That came back in the 2000s doesn't negate the success they've had since then, nor does the "media push" that you apparently think only applies to Take That (Westlife received tons of "media push" over the years -- it's not the media's fault that people are buying fewer Westlife records). Charis, it's great that you like Westlife, but you're doing yourself a disservice by letting your emotions get in the way of actual statistics. The sales clearly show that as of today, Take That has sold more albums than Westlife. When lists of top-selling acts are made (for things like the Virgin album/single books), the lists aren't filled with qualifications. This statistic doesn't mean that Take That are "better" than Westlife (that's a subjective point that fans of both bands will surely be fighting about forever), but it does mean that Take That have sold more albums than Westlife. Based on the total sales both Westlife and Take That have had "extraordinary success" over their musical careers. I have songs from both bands on my iPod, and I personally don't understand why there is a need to pit these bands against one another like it's some kind of "to the death" boxing match.

According to a post at UKMIX, the album dropped from #33 to #124 and suffered a 76.6 percent drop in sales, which makes the two-week track: Week 1 - #33 - 6,143 copies Week 2 - #124 - 1,137 copies

Pete Hammond's remix was definitely intended "retro" PWL remix circa 1989/1990, which is exactly what it sounds like! While it might not be the most revolutionary dance mix out there, Pete Hammond's remix is enjoyable (and definitely takes me back 20+ years when I listen to it). It's a shame that the true Pete Hammond Radio Edit (runtime about 3:37) is an Australian exclusive -- why that means anything in this digital age I'll never know. I'll buy the Pete Hammond Remix Edit (runtime about 4:37) when it is released in the US tomorrow, but I've already "found" the Radio Edit online, which I think it more concise and to the point.

The Miranda/JLS sketch was very funny. I loved the Heather Small cameo, which probably would have been very gimmicky had it been done in an actual episode of Miranda, but for Comic Relief seemed perfect. And Miranda's comment "No, I drive a Peugeot" (or something like that) after Aston and Marvin from JLS introduced themselves! Uptown Downstairs Abbey was brilliant -- Jennifer Saunders doing her best Dame Maggie Smith, Joanna Lumley complaining that she would fit in better upstairs, Kim Cattrall ("but who will inherit Uptown...and my Sex and the City millions!"), Simon Callow as Julian Fellowes ("I don't know how I do it!"), and on and on. I'd love to see a 15-minute spoof after every season of Downton Abbey! And I might be in the minority, but I thought the Susan Boyle/Geraldine McQueen duet was hilarious (and the Freemasons Remix of the song is a sublime "remix parody" -- the name of the remix on Amazon UK is perfect and truly reflective of what you'll hear).

So Sophie went on UK television yesterday and stated that the album would be out in May and she just approved the final album artwork? Did I miss the part where a record label signed her and agreed to release the album??

I wonder if this will be a 2-CD Greatest Hits with all singles from the beginning. According to the Wikipedia discography, Westlife have had only 11 singles releases since early 2003 (the end of the Greatest Hits, Volume 1 era)! During the period from 1999-2003, there were 16 singles (I included both songs of the two double-A side singles -- I Have A Dream / Seasons In The Sun, Tonight / Miss You Nights). So Syco could release a 2-CD set with all 27 single songs plus several album favorites and/or new songs, then put 15 or 16 songs on each CD. Or if Simon Cowell is pissed at Westlife, it could just be the 11 2003-2010 singles! In case anyone was wondering, these are the only official Westlife UK/Ireland singles from 2003 to the present: Hey Whatever (#4, 2003) Mandy (#1, 2003) Obvious (#3, 2004) You Raise Me Up (#1, 2005) When You Tell Me That You Love Me (#2, 2005) Amazing (#4, 2006) The Rose (#1, 2006) Home (#3, 2007) Us Against The World (#8, 2008) What About Now (#2, 2009) Safe (#10, 2010) Also, were Westlife really shocked that "Beautiful Tonight" wasn't the second single from Gravity? They've only had one "second single" from an album since 2006!

I saw this on SayHey as well. All evidence leads to this being fake. The tracklist is the same one that has been floating around for months, that website link doesn't work, but even when you revise the link to go to the website's home page, I could not find any new posting about the album (the most recent Sophie-related post was about Not Giving Up On Love). Also, the cover shown is fan-made.

Regarding album sales, the key question for Fascination at the moment is how a new Sophie album of all originals will sell compared to a Sophie greatest hits album that contains several original tracks. It wouldn't surprise me if the number-crunchers at Fascination believe that an all-originals album will be bought by only die-hard Sophie fans (based on the low levels of sales and airplay for recent singles), while a greatest hits + new tracks album will appeal to both die-hard fans (who'll be upset at not getting a full album, but still buy a greatest hits for the new tracks and to support Sophie) AND casual music buyers (who are more apt to buy a greatest hits album during the holiday season because they probably don't have Sophie's individual albums). While I want an all-originals album, I fully understand why a greatest hits + new tracks album might be on the table, and I'll gladly buy whatever is released this fall.

The Not Giving Up On Love EP is available to pre-order on iTunes UK with an expected release of 20 August 2010. The label copyright is "Armin Audio B.V. under exclusive license to Armada Music B.V.," not Fascination, so it looks like this is being treated as an "Armin featuring Sophie" release. Also, iTunes UK has only the first four tracks in their bundle (no Glenn Morrison or Mischa Daniels remixes). However, the bundle is available for just 1.79 pounds. The Armada Music website also lists the times for each mix in the digital bundle, in case anyone was wondering: 1. Not Giving Up On Love (Album Version) (02:53) 2. Not Giving Up On Love (Extended Version) (06:52) 3. Not Giving Up On Love (Dash Berlin 4AM Mix) (07:06) 4. Not Giving Up On Love (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) (06:54) So, God only knows if the new Sophie album will ever happen, but at least we'll be able to purchase a new Sophie single soon. I'll be treating it as "the next single from the new Sophie album that will probably never be released!"

TheSkeptic, I just went to iTunes UK, and since the album isn't released yet, you can only pre-order the full album (I don't think I've seen iTunes ever allow customers to pre-order select tracks from an album). Only when an album is officially released do the individual songs get individual prices and individual "Buy Song" buttons. So, unless the record company made a deal with iTunes that The Very Best of Enya could only be downloaded as a full album, you should be able to buy individual tracks for 79p or 99p on Nov. 23.

Regardless of what you think about John & Edward, their song choice for this Saturday is pure genius from an entertainment standpoint. And as opposed to the sappy, drippy ballads we're sure to get, the upbeat, energetic performance of John & Edward is sure to get the audience involved! Are the song choices ever "officially confirmed" before Saturday? Is any information about the choices before Saturday considered a spoiler?

And this first batch of sales for "What About Now" is coming before radio and video exposure, which means the single could hang around in the Top 10/Top 20 for a few weeks (from what I remember, previous singles have had 3-5 weeks of radio and video plays before release).