Ongarboy

I think if it is to happen, it should just be given to artists who have hit the top 10 for the first time. Otherwise it'll be a situation where every time Drake releases a fart, he gets a Top 10 award!

What does Breakthrough status mean...re Olivia Dean above?

I think Kate having a bigger overall presence and chart tenure and numerous critically acclaimed albums over a longer period of time from 1978 and throughout the 80s gives her a gravitas and more enduring legacy that Sophie doesn't have. Sophie really only had a 2 year era from Spiller's guest vocals (she wasn't even credited on that) to MOTD and a few follow up hits between 2000 to 2002. That's nothing in legacy terms. It's probably too soon to ask how Sophie can follow up on this. Maybe it will spur a resurgence.

Is that correct about streams already being attributed to the parent album though? I thought where a song appears on multiple albums for an artist (i.e. a studio album and a greatest hits album), it was the album with the most physical and download sales that chart week that streams for that song are then attributed to. Thats definitely the way in the USA and i understood it to be the same in the UK. Happy to be corrected.

It's also not listing the multi platinum number for those songs certified multi platinum as of certification date January 5th.

Ha ha...I suppose I was being a bit tongue in cheek. Sure all these album tracks and singles that failed to chart have collected the streams legitimately and by enough people to receive the platinum certs...but I guess my annoyance is directly at the anomaly that exists for those older smash hits that had to accumulate units from scratch all over again after their original peak chart runs...

That cutoff rule really discriminates against older artists. Surely modern technologies could retrospectively add in pre 1994 sales? It just means every Drake utterance that no-one has ever heard of nd that never made the top 100 gets certified multi platinum but pre 1994 songs that were top 10 smash hits that everyone can sing every word to fail to get the certification recognition they deserve!

Hurray for Whitney 4 times platinum for I Wanna Dance With Somebody!!

James Masterton is alluding to a huge new comeback from a major artist this week that could blow all.the competition out of the water according to his weekly chart watch column but he's not at liberty to say whom yet. Does anyone here have any ideas who he's referring to?

If streams for Thursdays are not counted, how does a week of streams calculate then? Do they take the Friday to Wednesday stream total and divide by 6 and multiply by 7 to get a de facto 7 day average? Why doesn't the chart incorporate Thursday streams into the following week's chart instead for more accurate reflection of the consumption?

Songs released early in the year in the streaming era have an unfair advantage for annual best of lists as such songs have up to 12 months of streaming and downloads that can be incorporated whereas songs released later have less months of accumulation. In the pre streaming (and digital) era, songs could only rely on the 12 or 15 weeks of physical single availability that their labels gave them so summer or even autumn hits had just as much a chance of topping the bestseller list as a song released in January...

Higher Love has just been certified triple platinum by BPI today so it's still a top streamer!!

Surprised So Emotional is not in the top 20!

I like the Miracle of Love by Eurythmics. Whitney Houston had a top 10 hit in 1991 in USA with Miracle. Great song that showcases her vocals beautifully. Could never understand why they didn't release it in UK or Ireland. I remember it getting some radio airplay here at the time...

Goodnight Saigon is absolutely one of Billy Joel's all time classics! Most fans would consider it one of their favourites.

Whitney Houston's Greatest Love Of All has just been certified Gold

I think so. I think the daily streams were down significantly last year compared to the previous years despite Mariah securing the top spot for the first time. I wonder has AIWFC finally reached peak saturation...although I should never underestimate Spotify's target audiences apetities to stream the same thing over and over again indefinitely or to blindly listen to whatever the playlist algorithms tell them to listen to...... Just on Adele's new song...if its like Hello or Skyfall (both which I found underwhelming), I'm not sure it will have an extended run at the top but if it's like her brilliant 21 album chart toppers RITD or SLY, then I would expect a lengthy stay at the top!

I'm also surprised at This Love's low placing. I'd have considered it their signature song as well as their breakthrough hit. It was absolutely huge on radio back in the mid 00s. It's true that some songs resonate better on streaming platforms over time. Some massive chart hits from back in the day have minimal YouTube views or Spotify streams yet lesser known minor hits from the era can gather new legs and gain a new huge life on Spotify, YouTube etc for whatever reason.

Unusually, Whitney Houston has gone against the grain among the legacy pre 2000 diva acts in that her Greatest Hits collection is consistently in the Top 50 albums each week and is made up primarily on streams. She also enjoyed a #2 smash hit single with Higher Love only 18 months ago and which is now double platinum in the UK. Many of her classic hits, particularly I Wanna Dance With Somebody generates large streaming numbers every month. Not sure why she is outperforming her peers in this regard but perhaps Higher Love introduced her to a millennial audience who heretofore were not familiar with her back catalogue.

The last 7 inch vinyl I bought was(don't laugh!!🙈) Saviour's Day by Cliff Richard in December 1990 (that year's Christmas No.1). I'm racking my brain for last cassette single but it could've been More Than Words by Extreme in 1991. I really wasn't a frequent singles buyer. My last CD single was Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston in 2009 (only cos I was/am a huge Whitney fan). I'm probably committing blasphemy on this forum by admitting I've never purchased a digital download single! I do love music and the charts but have no need to purchase such music myself if I can stream it for free.