{"id":3473,"date":"2016-07-12T21:56:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2016-07-12T21:56:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T20:56:32","slug":"charts-7-july-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3473","title":{"rendered":"Charts – 7 July 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, so… yes, I was going to do\u00a0a\u00a0Watch With Father<\/em> post before this, but it’s been a busy week, plus there’s been a lot of\u00a0mesmerisingly distracting stuff on the news, plus there haven’t been any storylines wrapping up in the X-books. \u00a0But we’re settling down again now, so we\u00a0really should<\/em> be getting back into\u00a0a more regular schedule.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile… in a terrifying and uncertain world, one thing is immutable.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla – “One Dance”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thirteen weeks. \u00a0Thirteen. \u00a0On a pure sales chart it wouldn’t even be in the top 10 any more, but it’s just not shifting from the streaming charts. \u00a0The sales number one would be “This Girl” by Kungs vs Cookin’ on 3 Burners, which is stuck at number 2 on the combined chart for the fourth\u00a0week.<\/p>\n

So let’s\u00a0take a step back to consider what on earth is going on here.<\/p>\n

Thirteen weeks is very, very unusual. \u00a0Only two records have ever had longer runs\u00a0at\u00a0number one; another couple have had more weeks\u00a0across multiple reigns. \u00a0If Drake manages one more week, he matches the combined total of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which was number 1\u00a0on its initial release in 1975 and again\u00a0following the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991. \u00a0Two more weeks, and he\u00a0ties with Wet Wet Wet’s “Love Is All Around”. \u00a0Three, and he’s level with Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do I Did It For You”, the longest single run at number 1. \u00a0It’ll take five more weeks\u00a0to match the\u00a0all-time record for the most\u00a0weeks at number 1, which\u00a0has stood at 18 since 1953, when Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” had three runs at the top,\u00a0at a time when the top 10 also included competing versions of “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window”.<\/p>\n

Drake is a big star, but “One Dance” doesn’t feel like an obvious cultural phenomenon on the scale that its thirteen week run would suggest. \u00a0So\u00a0one obvious explanation is that this is a result of\u00a0introducing streaming data to the chart; that the charts have slowed down dramatically; and that this is the new normal.<\/p>\n

This is true up to a point. \u00a0The chart clearly has slowed down dramatically since\u00a0streaming data was added, and by its very nature, streaming data favours records with sustained appeal over those sold on the strength of first-week hype. \u00a0Interestingly, the\u00a0pure sales chart has started behaving in much the same way, but that’s presumably because record labels have simply given up bothering to\u00a0try and hype records to\u00a0a high chart place on their release. \u00a0This is probably no bad thing. \u00a0And without streams Drake certainly wouldn’t be number one. \u00a0He wouldn’t even be in the top 10.<\/p>\n

But it’s not just\u00a0a streaming thing. \u00a0Without\u00a0the Drake single, the top of the chart\u00a0would be slow, but the number one slot\u00a0would still\u00a0have been turning over every three to four weeks. \u00a0Drake gets some help, perversely, from the fact that his single\u00a0doesn’t<\/em> have a video. \u00a0That\u00a0should presumably be driving some traffic away from YouTube (which doesn’t\u00a0count towards the chart) and towards audio streaming services (which do). \u00a0The absence of\u00a0YouTube is probably the most glaring problem with the current chart. \u00a0The counter-argument, of course, is that\u00a0YouTube streams aren’t necessarily referable to the audio – particularly the way the Billboard chart does it, which counts\u00a0any<\/em> YouTube video using a song, even if it’s\u00a0a soundtrack to\u00a0something completely unrelated. \u00a0Still, I can’t help but suspect that video needs to be included somehow, to avoid unbalancing the chart.<\/p>\n

But “One Dance” isn’t alone in not having a video either. \u00a0Nor is it sustaining its combined sales\/streams in some extraordinary way – it tailed off after the first few weeks as you’d expect, though it’s levelled out since. \u00a0If something else had come along with the sort of appeal “One Dance” had on its initial release, it would have been replaced at number one long ago. \u00a0To some extent, he’s still at number one simply for lack of anything else that’s really broken from the pack to become a big hit. \u00a0Perhaps record labels still haven’t figured out how to promote records effectively\u00a0in the streaming era,\u00a0or maybe we’re just going through a fallow period for real breakout hits. \u00a0Maybe a bit of both.<\/p>\n

Anyway,\u00a0here’s the list of climbers for this week.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Six weeks on the chart, climbing one more place. \u00a0It’s now her sixth top 5 hit.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0The Chainsmokers featuring Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Also six weeks on chart, and climbing nine places to enter the top 10. \u00a0With that, “Don’t Let Me Down” (deservedly) overtakes the\u00a02014 novelty single\u00a0“Selfie” to become their biggest hit.<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0Calum Scott – “Dancing On My Own”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally making the top 10 in its twelfth week out. \u00a0It may\u00a0sound like it belongs on\u00a0Now That’s What I Call Maudlin<\/em>, but its achingly slow climb – 40-42-36-36-36-38-42-27-28-16-12-10 –\u00a0shows it’s\u00a0connecting somewhere.<\/p>\n

12. \u00a0Kent Jones – “Don’t Mind”<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Up 14 places in its third week, so there’s some real momentum here.<\/p>\n

14. \u00a0Ariana Grande – “Into You”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This has now moved 40-34-26-22-14, so evidently I was premature in writing it off as a forgettable follow-up single. \u00a0It’s now overtaken “Dangerous Woman”, the lead single from the album, which only got to 17.<\/p>\n

16. \u00a0Jonas Blue featuring JP Cooper<\/strong> – “Perfect Strangers”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Leaping from 38 to 16 in its second week (with a few weeks dawdling outside the top 40 before that). \u00a0So we’re starting to get some fresh blood into the top 20, at least.<\/p>\n

20. \u00a0Shawn Mendes – “Treat You Better”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re back in an era where records can stumble out of the gate and recover – this entered at 31 and dropped out of\u00a0the chart in its second week before\u00a0moving 38-29-20 to this point. \u00a0It’s a completely different set-up from what we’ve been used\u00a0to in\u00a0the last ten years, and in\u00a0many ways a healthier one.<\/p>\n

38. \u00a0Rihanna – “Needed Me”<\/strong><\/p>\n