2023 Christmas No.1

The issue for me surrounds “sales”. The comparison of streaming “sales equivalent units” and actual old school sales is just nonsense and one they’ve never addressed. The OCC is still wanting to say “MILLION SELLER!” and I feel that’s why they won’t make the charts relevant only for actively selected streams- because there probably isn’t enough of them for that to work.

I keep saying it until I’m blue in the face- everyone knows the system is a farce and it has been that way for years and years now. What I just can’t get my head around is why no one seems to be doing a thing about it. It cannot be good for the record industry itself to effectively close down to most new music in December. It used to be their biggest month!
 
True. Look at album sales - absolutely in the gutter compared to even 10 years ago, never mind 20 or 30. All that's left is the streaming 'market' and its an utter shambles. The streaming system for album sales is an absolute joke and is actively throttling the market. It's no wonder albums have no staying power when they plummet 40 places on the main chart in week 2 but remain in the top 10 on sales.
 
I think it highlights the fact that many things are being measured and it’s all combined into one ‘chart’ that does try to somehow include it all but really it just doesn’t make sense.

Essentially this week is ‘which playlist is Joe Public putting on’ vs ‘how many people are using Alexa for their Xmas parties’, with good old Cher likely topping the paid for sales chart (outside that weird Influencer song) on a figure far too small to be representative.

Chuck in some ACR for good measure and an Americanisation of the UK playlists and we have a nice fat hot mess.

Just put Taylor at #1 and be done with it. She’s probably still the most listened to artist this week or something.
 
Spotify Monday 18th December

01 Wham! 733k
02 Mariah Carey 679k
03 Brenda Lee 620k
04 Noah Kahan 499k
05 The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl 484k
06 Ariana Grande 482k
07 Michael Bublé 471k
08 Bobby Helms 442k
09 Andy Williams 427k
10 Dean Martin 418k

11 Jack Harlow 400k

31 Leona Lewis 236k
41 Cher 190k
 
Spotify Tuesday 19th December

01 Wham! 783k
02 Mariah Carey 723k
03 Brenda Lee 665k
04 Noah Kahan 517k
05 The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl 515k
06 Ariana Grande 513k
07 Michael Bublé 511k
08 Bobby Helms 458k
09 Dean Martin 445k
10 Andy Williams 439k

12 Jack Harlow 410k

29 Leona Lewis 253k
38 Cher 206k
 
BUT WE'RE NUMBER ONE ON ITUNES!!!!!!!

Somebody please direct him to moopy. The man needs a quick chart education.
 
hallilujah said:
The streams are getting close between Wham and Mariah
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Not really. If you look at the daily charts I've posted:

Friday Mariah had 93% what Wham! did
Saturday 95%
Sunday 95%
Monday 93%
Tuesday 92%

The gap may be smaller as the totals have dropped since the weekend, but she's not really getting any closer.
 
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I think the OCC did a small update to announce that she has ‘joined the race for the Xmas #1’ but I assume that is code for Sam is falling behind and she may nab #2.
 
The gap is bigger in the latest midweeks - looks like Wham has done it.
 
I know this has been asked/discussed before, but do they not cap Spotify accounts in terms of how many "sales" you can rack up of one song from one account? Surely that's the biggest problem here. Otherwise we're saying you can effectively "buy" to infinity, and so the best selling songs of all time will ALL end up being Christmas tracks?!

I've no problem with them being the most streamed of all time eventually, that's inevitable, but if we're trying to keep up any pretence of the charts maintaining some sort of consistency from the old style system to now (for comparison's sake if nothing else), then surely you need to limit "sales" on that front. 95% of people only bought the one copy back in the day of physicals I'd have thought, the remainder were fans buying a few multiples and different versions, but largely the chart was made by singular purchases, albeit of course still manipulated by prices/prominence in stores etc, but still fairer overall

But I suppose they've got no interest in whether it makes sense or not which just feels sad. It would be nice to think the people who run these ships are chart geek type people who might care for accuracy, but even if they are (and most won't be) they're unlikely to be able to influence anything

And that's without going into the playlist problem.
 
Sleighning on Me said:
I know this has been asked/discussed before, but do they not cap Spotify accounts in terms of how many "sales" you can rack up of one song from one account? Surely that's the biggest problem here. Otherwise we're saying you can effectively "buy" to infinity, and so the best selling songs of all time will ALL end up being Christmas tracks?!

I've no problem with them being the most streamed of all time eventually, that's inevitable, but if we're trying to keep up any pretence of the charts maintaining some sort of consistency from the old style system to now (for comparison's sake if nothing else), then surely you need to limit "sales" on that front. 95% of people only bought the one copy back in the day of physicals I'd have thought, the remainder were fans buying a few multiples and different versions, but largely the chart was made by singular purchases, albeit of course still manipulated by prices/prominence in stores etc, but still fairer overall

But I suppose they've got no interest in whether it makes sense or not which just feels sad. It would be nice to think the people who run these ships are chart geek type people who might care for accuracy, but even if they are (and most won't be) they're unlikely to be able to influence anything

And that's without going into the playlist problem.
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There's only a cap in terms of how many counts per day to the chart, as far as I'm aware. I don't think there's a cap in terms of stopping you ever contributing to 'sales' of a song.
 
Do iTunes downloads even count towards the charts? Has that “song” even charted at all?
 
Spotify Wednesday 20th December

01 Wham! 867k
02 Mariah Carey 801k
03 Brenda Lee 753k
04 Ariana Grande 586k
05 The Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl 573k
06 Michael Bublé 553k
07 Noah Kahan 534k
08 Bobby Helms 512k
09 Dean Martin 510k
10 Andy Williams 495k

16 Jack Harlow 416k

28 Leona Lewis 282k
35 Cher 241k
 
If it were just Spotify streams, I’d guess Noah Kahan would be number one.
 
Step Into Soldi said:
Do iTunes downloads even count towards the charts? Has that “song” even charted at all?
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Yes and they're massively weighted up versus streaming, but the sales are so pitiful it doesn't really matter.

Only very few artists sell enough downloads to really make a difference - Kylie being one of them.
 
A Lolly Dolly Christmas said:
Spotify Wednesday 20th December

01 Wham! 867k
02 Mariah Carey 801k
03 Brenda Lee 753k
04 Ariana Grande 586k
05 The Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl 573k
06 Michael Bublé 553k
07 Noah Kahan 534k
08 Bobby Helms 512k
09 Dean Martin 510k
10 Andy Williams 495k

16 Jack Harlow 416k

28 Leona Lewis 282k
35 Cher 241k
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Where's Sam Ryder in all of this? Is it still 10 streams to a unit, so if he's close ish to Wham on sales units he must be on about 80k streams?
 
Sam Ryder's figures aren't included because he's not available on Spotify.

If he's close to Wham!, he's presumably streaming nearly half as much on Amazon as they are across all platforms, as he's not on ACR and they are. Always excluding downloads (in his case I believe only from Amazon again), and whatever they are both selling physically.
 
Not going to watch but I'm still intrigued by the mention of "The Nursery Nurse" in that article about the song.
 
Is that for charity? What’s the point in doing a shit cover of a 70s hit for charity? Not very creative for the “Creator Universe”. Write your own song.
 
Much-loved festive hitmaker The Nursery Nurse to be added to the Christmas banner please.
 
Spotify Thursday 21st December

01 Wham! 988k
02 Mariah Carey 900k
03 Brenda Lee 865k
04 The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl 671k
05 Ariana Grande 665k
06 Michael Bublé 634k
07 Dean Martin 588k
08 Bobby Helms 582k
09 Andy Williams 569k
10 Noah Kahan 562k

19 Jack Harlow 420k

27 Leona Lewis 327k
33 Cher 279k
 
No room at the Finn said:
"If you want a song about the Climate Crisis to be number one on the Christmas charts -"

I'll just stop you there then hun
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Oh, I WONDERED why that was suddenly flinging along every few seconds on Bandcamp the other night. She did good business there and the site is chart eligible. Still, didn;t help the Krackpots.
 
No room at the Finn said:
UPDATE: I've just watched the TikTokers on YouTube and they're all QUITE A LOT OLDER than I'd expect, and deeply deeply cringe?

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That is absolutely shit! :D I made it to the first chorus and then fucked it off for the brilliant original.
 
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