I wouldnt be surprised if they are anti vaccine mandates - there is a religious led movement at the moment calling on the Government to drop plans for a vaccine passport
Hardly āirrelevantā when youāre starring in the top rating television show at the moment and release music that still tops the charts. It does seem like heās fence sitting by supporting the initiative but then backing away from it when some criticised his support of it.
He has been criticised by people from all walks of life now. He might have annoyed a few people initially but now heās annoyed a lot more by taking this stance.
2 Likes
Isnāt that also exactly what he did earlier this year when he became the poster boy for the government!s financial package to the music industry, only to back away from it when people started to criticise his involvement?
2 Likes
This probably wonāt happen, but getting the vaccine needs to be made compulsory for everyone whoās eligible (including kids once weāve approved shots for them) with the only exceptions being legitimate medical reasons.
For the most part I donāt really care what religion people follow, but elements (such as being against vaccinations) of any faith that are likely to put the broader populationās health & safety at risk should be condemned.
Exactly, Guy Sebastian is still reasonably popular with the public if those figures are anything to go by.
So Drake has 20 āsinglesā from his new album in the Top 50 this week and Kanye has 4 remaining there from 19 last week.
Just call me Nostradamus!
Iām guessing that streams are skewing the chart data too much?
A couple of potential solutions
-
Weight CD sales and downloads more heavily (so say 1,000 streams equals 1 download)
-
As others have suggested, an artist can only nominate 1 new song per month from their latest studio album to be included in the chart data. Greatest Hits or compilation album releases are not included unless a song hasnāt been released previously. This would more closely mirror the traditional releases of singles.
As a very long time music and chart enthusiast I was resistant to the changes in the charts when downloading first came around, because it didnāt feel like a true reflection of the charts I was used to because you werenāt buying the product anymore. Now I feel that the main problem with the Singles Chart is itās name, I donāt know what you would call it, probably the Top 50 Songs Chart - just doesnāt have the same ring to it.
Sales and downloads are so irrelevant nowadays.
My old memory was a bit off - it seems 100 paid streams equals 1 download and 625 free streams equals 1 download.
While I donāt like basically whole albums invading the charts, they usually only last a week and they help to flush out some of the older tracks that last up to a year in the chart.
It is nice to think that the old charts reflected what was popular because you had to like the song to buy it, but the charts were manipulated in the past, with singles being deleted to encourage you buying the album such as (Everything I Do) I Do It For You or My Heart Will Go On, or in limited numbers to get people to rush buy it like About A Girl by Nirvana and Everytime by Britney Spears. Remixes singles and multiple versions of one single would exist, discounts particularly with Australian artists.
At least with streaming the charts reflect what is popular over time because it means the songs are being continually played, the sale method meant you could buy two singles play one 100 times in a week and the other once and never listen to it again and they both carried the same weight, whereas one is clearly more popular.
I love the idea of a nominated āsingleā and then not able to do another one for x-amount of time, but it will never happen unfortunately.
2 Likes
Iām still confused by the Gold and Platinum status of Singles and Albums these days. I assume they still only count sales of CDs, Vinyl and Downloads.
I see songs go Gold and Platinum and they donāt even make the Top 10 on the Singles charts. Thatās really perplexing.
Its no wonder radio countdown shows like Take 40 Australia no longer exist.
I used to listen to the entire Take 40 countdown every week in the first few years when it started back in 1984.
Wish I still had my collection of Top 40-50 charts from back then!
2NUR FM here in Newcastle air old Casey Kasem American Top 40 countdowns on Sundays. Iād love to see a station do the same thing with early Take 40 countdowns.
1 Like
I used look forward to listening to Take 40 every week.
ARIA Charts posts clips on Instagram from classic Top 10 Singles Charts from the past all the way back to the 1980s. Itās amazing how most of the time these charts feature songs where every single song is a memorable hit. I donāt think anyone will be saying that about these charts today.
1 Like
The problem of comparing Gold and Platinum in the streaming era vs sales or downloads, is again the one and done mentality of the physical product. People listen to a song they like multiple times, even on CD or download, but the āsaleā is counted once and that is it. Someone may listen to that song 20 times in a given week, others wonāt but some may even listen to it 20 times in a day.
In the physical era, certifications were based off how many units were shipped to stores, not how many they actually sold. The current system reflects how many plays the song actually gets. Those song plays may be multiple in a week by multiple people and the numbers are quite large. Just yesterday on Spotify alone, Stay by Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber was streamed 336,933 times (data) and 2,367,836 times in the last week, and that is just Spotify.
To just pick a random song - July by Noah Cyrus was played 248,145 times on Spotify last week, it was released in July 2019, it spent 14 weeks in the ARIA Top 50, peaking at no 40, but has spent two years just bubbling away never being a real āhitā but getting steady streams which add up over time to mean that it was the #42 on the ARIA Chart for 2020 and has reached 3x Platinum.
The Nosebleed Section by Hilltop Hoods is another example - the song never charted higher than the about #90 on the ARIA charts until this year when it reached #75. It is one of their best known songs but has been played enough to reach 6x platinum over the last 17 years. Mr Brightside by The Killers is 11x platinum but never went past #29, people just keep listening to it even now after 18 years.
One other thing to remember is that the cost of a monthly music subscription is $10-12, when I started buying CD singles they were $9-10 each. So people are able to experience more with their money rather than being selective and only buying what they absolutely loved or could afford.
So a song in the 90s such as I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston which was one of the biggest of the era was only accredited 4x platinum at the time which was huge. Back then you were more likely to buy the album because if you liked that song you would like others and it would be more economical, so if we add the other 5x platinum sales for the Bodyguard Soundtrack it looks a lot more similar to the big hits of today.
Sadly the boom in single tracks becoming huge and having massive streaming numbers is the way that the album charts have died as a consequence, but that is a different rant. Sorry for the long winded reply.
4 Likes
Thanks for that. I learnt something there.
I didnāt realise that streaming contributes towards Gold and Platinum status. That makes a lot of sense now. I see so many singles at the bottom of the Top 50 which have never reached the Top 20 yet have massive sales.
1 Like
NFL Super Bowl LVI will be shown in Australia on Seven and ESPN on February 14 next year.
Four Corners: The Sony Music scandal - Monday 11 October
1 Like
1 Like
The music video of Adeleās Easy on Me has more than 59 million views (and counting) as of today.
Rolling In The Deep is one of the great pop songs of the 21st century, and Iād add that Someone Like You is not far behind (although whether youād classify it as pop is unclear).
2 Likes