Top Spot No More? How Music Charts Lost Their Shine

A rosy, nostalgic haze may hang over your memories of the Top 40 chart: having an emotional investment when your favourite act broke into the Top 10, or was caught up in a battle with their nemesis (like Blur v Oasis in 1995); listening to the countdown with eager fingers hovering over the “record” button on your cassette player; moaning to friends that Wet Wet Wet were still No 1; sitting on the sofa, like millions of others in the UK, glued to the sturm und drang of Top of the Pops every Thursday evening.

But the chances are you no longer know, or care, who is No 1. If you guessed “probably Ed Sheeran,” you’d be right a fair amount of the time – cumulatively his songs have spent over a year at No 1.

Perhaps your ears only prick up when music from your past gets to the top spot, like Kate Bush in 2022 with “Running Up That Hill” or Wham! with “Last Christmas,” umm, last Christmas. Meanwhile, the album chart is constantly clogged by hits collections by the likes of Abba, Queen, Eminem, and Elton John. For younger music fans, too, it is harder for the charts to mean anything to them when Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok are more powerful than radio, TV, and the music press ever were.

The official charts face their own possible obsolescence and are working harder to maintain a reduced yet significant relevance. In the days of physical sales, it was straightforward: the single or album that sold the most copies that week was No 1. Digital downloads shifted that, and by 2007, any track from any time could theoretically qualify for the charts without needing a concurrent physical release.

The most profound change came with the addition of streaming exactly 10 years ago, via services like Spotify. This necessitated complex ways of balancing physical and streaming sales. The Official Charts Company (OCC) named “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi as the “most streamed song of the Official Charts streaming era.” Old and new tracks now coexist digitally in a way they never had to, making “consumption” harder than ever to tally.

For albums, one download or physical sale equals 1,000 streams. It’s still possible to game the charts using cunning strategies. The British Phonographic Industry reported that 86% of albums going straight to No 1 in 2023 saw over half their sales come from physical formats. Acts will put out multiple vinyl editions and do in-store tours of record shops. Shed Seven did it in January and got the first No 1 album of their 34-year career with “A Matter of Time.” Others like The Last Dinner Party and The Libertines have also used this strategy.

“The album chart to me is a relic of a bygone era,” says Alex Hardee of live agency Wasserman Music. He feels it is now more about record labels manipulating physical sales to reach No 1. However, not everyone agrees. Jack Saunders, who hosts The Official Chart show on Radio 1, sees the chart as still relevant, drawing 1.3 million listeners with 53% aged 15-34.

OCC chief executive Martin Talbot argues the chart is more essential now, providing order in a chaotic music market. The OCC knows it must find new ways to attract younger audiences. Lauren Kreisler, director of brand and digital at the OCC, introduced awards for artists hitting No 1, gaining huge social media reach with major acts like Taylor Swift and the Rolling Stones posting photos with their awards.

The OCC’s marketing leans towards short-form video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. This includes “Top 10 in 60 Seconds,” a bite-sized version of the singles chart shared across social media and Radio 1, reaching a vast audience. According to OCC research, 69% of Official Chart followers say the chart is their primary way of discovering new music, more than streaming platforms or even friends.

The teenage perspective, however, is different. Ellie (16) and Luke (14) from Ballymena in Northern Ireland rely on Spotify for discovering music and are unaware of the current No 1. Ellie says, “The charts are the most recent and most played, but I like to listen to my own music.”

As charts constantly adapt to changing consumption patterns, the way they are calculated has become incredibly complex. For singles, 100 streams on a premium service like Apple Music equals a download or physical sale. For ad-funded streaming services, 600 streams are equivalent. To weed out older songs, “accelerated decline” rules require more streams to count as a sale for tracks on the chart for nine weeks or more.

Despite these rules, the UK’s Top 40 most-streamed tracks of 2023 still include many old songs, boosted by their use in media. Examples include Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” reaching No 2 thanks to its appearance in Saltburn, and Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” hitting No 12 due to Anything But You. The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” has set records for longevity on the UK chart.

For albums, 1,000 streams equal one album sale, and no more than three tracks from one album can chart simultaneously. This rule was introduced after Ed Sheeran’s album ÷ dominated the Top 20 in 2017. Hits compilations from artists like Abba and Queen often stay high in the charts partly because the same tracks appear on multiple playlists, boosting the aggregate streams.

Shed Seven’s No 1 earlier this year was due to strong physical sales, while streaming-equivalent sales were comparatively lower. This emphasis on pure sales allowed “A Matter of Time” to lead the charts, although it dropped significantly the following week.

The UK singles chart began in 1952 when Percy Dickins of New Musical Express contacted record shops to find out what was selling. It achieved greater resonance with consumers through Radio 1 and Top of the Pops.

Today, it’s doing a balancing act, catering more to the music business than consumers. The chart remains a commercial indicator for record labels, with in-store performances boosting immediate chart positions. Rough Trade put on 850 in-store shows in 2023, generating significant sales.

However, the live music business is less enthused. Alex Hardee considers global Spotify charts a better success metric than domestic charts, seeing national charts as increasingly outdated. Lauren Kreisler believes all media brands face the challenge of being the centre of national dialogue, with fragmented audiences.

The charts, despite their imperfections, serve as a hybrid indicator combining streams and sales, providing a measure of what’s popular. Whether seen as relevant or irrelevant, alive or dead, the chart reflects a dynamic and ever-changing music landscape. Call it Schrödinger’s chart.

Source: The Guardian