UK OCC Charts: Midweeks Thread 2022

[SholasBoy]

which ones?

Asda and Sainsburys

[greek_boy]

I have seen a few supermarkets here with vinyls.

I loved that HMV in Oxford St too, there was always so much more available for an R&B fan like me than the one we had in Grimsby.

which ones?

[greek_boy]

What a shame Kelly will miss the top 10 again, she’s peaked at No.13 nearly every year with that song.

I really want the song to reach Top 10. maybe next year

[greek_boy]

SO should we all start streaming Last Christmas?

Yes please.

[SholasBoy]

What a shame Kelly will miss the top 10 again, she’s peaked at No.13 nearly every year with that song.

[SholasBoy]

Supermarkets are selling vinyls? Wow.

In the UK i remember seeing loads of DVDs and CDs on Poundland and I was very surprised (when i first visited the country)

I miss HMV in Oxford Street, it shouldn't have been closed

I have seen a few supermarkets here with vinyls.

I loved that HMV in Oxford St too, there was always so much more available for an R&B fan like me than the one we had in Grimsby.

[kingofskiffle]

I opened a vinyl shop two years ago and there are about 40 shops in the radius of 30 km plus the big electronic markets which have a little vinyl crate. So vinyl shops aren't that rare.

No, and actually vinyl is making a comeback (compared to 2010 and 2000 sales levels of course here). I kind of liken the return of vinyl to the book market. If you want to just read it, maybe once, or casually flip through a book, an old paperback is fine. You want the good quality, where you get the tea, and the armchair and make an 'experience' out of the book, you get the hardback, leather bound with illustrations on good paper that costs a lot more version. To me vinyl is like that. Streaming is the sort of 'I don't care just put something on in the background' while vinyl is the 'evenings listen with the armchair and tea' sort of thing.

Of course both of those analogies might just be talking about how I approach books and music!

[huhu78]

I opened a vinyl shop two years ago and there are about 40 shops in the radius of 30 km plus the big electronic markets which have a little vinyl crate. So vinyl shops aren't that rare.

[kingofskiffle]

SO should we all start streaming Last Christmas?

[Blondini]

^ i wonder why Maisie Peters hasn't shot up. Maybe the two other Amazon songs have been shared/promoted more as they're covers of loved songs?

[Blondini]

Official First Look Chart: Update
Source: OCC / Radio 1

1 LadBaby - Food Aid *
2 Wham! - Last Christmas
3 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
4 Ed Sheeran & Elton John - Merry Christmas
5 Stormzy - Firebabe
6 Lizzo - Someday At Christmas
7 Raye feat. 070 Shake - Escapism
8 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
9 The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York
10 Michael Bublé - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

11 Central Cee - Let Go *
12 The Kunts feat. Terry Edwards - F*ck The Tories *
13 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
14 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
15 Elton John - Step Into Christmas
16 Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
17 Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
18 Kelly Clarkson - Underneath The Tree
19 Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero
20 Chris Rea - Driving Home For Christmas

Further down, touted as early race contenders Sidemen, the YouTube group featuring KSI, rise seven to Number 34 with Christmas Drillings.

And finally, the highest Top 40 climber of the week so far is Eurovision hero and reigning king of the Official Albums Chart, Sam Ryder, Jingle Bells surges 35 places northbound to crash into the midweek Top 40 at Number 31, while further down Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson’s Oh Santa shoots 47 spots to Number 43, and BBC Sound Of 2022 nominee Priya Ragu leaps 45 places to Number 46 with Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart...mariah__38127/

[Robbie]

Asda still has CDs but the choice is very limited. I think Tesco and Sainsburys stopped selling them. The latter may still have vinyl.

Here in Stockton we have the legendary Sound It Out records - subject of a documentary shown on the BBC. https://sounditoutrecords.co.uk/
They sell new vinyl and a selection of new CDs and are part of the panel used for the Record Store Chart.

I've not seen any CDs in my local Asda for quite a while. Perhaps I've overlooked them as there weren't that many on display the last time I did see some.

[Blondini]

Other than record shops (and they are few and far between from what I can see), is there anywhere on high streets and shopping centres that sells albums these days? The above sales are dreadful anyway but the lack of places to actually buy an album doesn't help either.

I live in a town with a population of almost 70,000 and there isn't a single shop - supermarkets included - that sells albums.

Asda still has CDs but the choice is very limited. I think Tesco and Sainsburys stopped selling them. The latter may still have vinyl.

Here in Stockton we have the legendary Sound It Out records - subject of a documentary shown on the BBC. https://sounditoutrecords.co.uk/
They sell new vinyl and a selection of new CDs and are part of the panel used for the Record Store Chart.

[jszmiles]

Supermarkets are selling vinyls? Wow.

If we call MediaMarkt (market with electronic stuff) a supermarket, yes. I've seen many of those in Germany as well. It's typical for this kind of supermarkets in Poland and Germany

[greek_boy]

In Poland it's opposite - all supermarkets still have CDs and Vinyl (there's no singles market here). Even in smaller towns like my hometown (220k citizens) all malls are still selling records.

Supermarkets are selling vinyls? Wow.

In the UK i remember seeing loads of DVDs and CDs on Poundland and I was very surprised (when i first visited the country)

I miss HMV in Oxford Street, it shouldn't have been closed

[jszmiles]

In Poland it's opposite - all supermarkets still have CDs and Vinyl (there's no singles market here). Even in smaller towns like my hometown (220k citizens) all malls are still selling records.

[SholasBoy]

Yep, when I loved back home in a town over 100,000 we had Woolworths, virgin, hmv, andys records and Asda (I think some of the other supermarkets stocked albums too). Each one of those was well stocked with all the latest albums and singles. Then multiply that across every town and city in the UK. If a top 10 album today is selling 5000 copies or less, how many copies would it be worth stocking in a shop in a small town? Never mind the rest of the top 100. I think my local Asda now still has some catalogue albums available but that’s about it. It’s such a shame, I used to spend about 90% of my money on CDs.

[Gambo]

^ Frankly Robbie given that very stark situation on the offline side of the album sales market, I'm surprised we're still shifting as much as around 300,000 physical albums each week. Presumably most sales come from online orders nowadays; that's something I'd seldom do - but then again, I've never been a huge albums buyer (I don't stream albums either), so I guess I'm not well-placed to comment on what happens now with LP purchasing. I suppose we should be thankful that people are at least still bothering to buy through Amazon et al, albeit in lower numbers, rather than abandoning the format altogether.

But it is a sad situation really, for those of us who can recall how central recorded music stores (and even other non-specialist chains who stocked music like supermarkets) were to people's consumer lives as recently as 10-15 years ago, and how at this time of year album sales would always rocket upwards owing to en-masse in-store purchases driven by gifting. The unit tallies given above could be from any old week in 2022, offering no indication that it's a middle week in December just ahead of Christmas (the only clue is the reliable reappearance of Buble in the Top 5).

[Robbie]

Other than record shops (and they are few and far between from what I can see), is there anywhere on high streets and shopping centres that sells albums these days? The above sales are dreadful anyway but the lack of places to actually buy an album doesn't help either.

I live in a town with a population of almost 70,000 and there isn't a single shop - supermarkets included - that sells albums.

[Blondini]

Wednesday Top 40 Update
Source: Music Week
Missing Data:

Singles

1 Wham! - Last Christmas (32,364)
2 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (32,187)
3 Ed Sheeran & Elton John - Merry Christmas (28,117)
4 Raye feat. 070 Shake - Escapism (28,029)
5 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

6-10
6 Stormzy - Firebabe (21,452)
7 Michael Bublé - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
[8 Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (20,173)]
9 The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
10 Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock

11-20
11 Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
12 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
13 Kelly Clarkson - Underneath the Tree
17 Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
18 Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas
19 Lizzo - Someday at Christmas

21-30
21 SZA - Kill Bill *
22 Elton John - Step Into Christmas
23 Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
24 Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
25 Dean Martin - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
27 SZA - Nobody Gets Me *
28 Leona Lewis - One More Sleep
30 The Ronettes - Sleigh Ride

31-40
31 Michael Bublé - Holly Jolly Christmas
33 José Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
35 Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
36 John & Yoko & The Plastic Ono Band - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
37 Sia - Snowman ^
38 SZA - Blind *
39 Sidemen (feat. Jme) - Christmas Drillings *
40 Justin Bieber - Mistletoe ^

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Albums

1 Sam Ryder - There's Nothing But Space, Man! (20,028) *
2 SZA - SOS (13,863) *
3 Taylor Swift - Midnights (10,659)
4 Michael Bublé - Christmas (8,038)
5 Andre Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra - Silver Bells (6,966)

6-10
6 Harry Styles - Harry's House
9 Bruce Springsteen - Only The Strong Survive
10 Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under ^

11-20
11 Sam Fender - Live From Finsbury Park *

21-30
21 A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Me vs. Myself *
30 Echo & the Bunnymen - Evergreen ^

31-40
32 Razorlight - RazorWhat? - The Best Of Razorlight *
33 The Beatles - Revolver
37 Idles - Brutalism *
39 Luke Evans - A Song For You ^

[97mde]

Like you, I am a chart nerd. I been since the late 70’s and that’s why I fail to see the benefit of the way the charts are currently compiled and the continued damage is has had and is having on the music industry.

You do make great points, but I don’t agree that less sales would make people refuse to monitor the charts. On the contrary, I think would generate more interest as the chart would again consist of more genres and not just the pop/solo artist mess we have now. Who knows, we might even get a band that plays instruments back in the chart again.

Let’s face it, most youngsters today have no idea what the chart is. I have two teenage daughters and although they love music, they wouldn’t have a clue who is Number 1 unless their saddo Dad (me), mentions it to them.

As for the Christmas songs, I don’t mind how
many are in the charts so long as it doesn’t include streams.

Radio presenters, bah!!

I cannot afford to buy all the music i like (and i spent many a quid or 8 on CD singles in the 90s and 2000s) so i am grateful that i can contribute by streaming. Artists these days direct people to Spotify more than they do to a pay link. There are different ways of calculating how these streams are converted into "sales" and the UK method seems fair to me.
If only a couple of hundred people are buying the top selling song then it stands to reason that only a few hundred people would be bothered to look at the charts and follow them.

I do follow the sales only charts with interest and find them more lively than the overall charts but not everyone are chart nerds like us. They are "honest" in so much as the public knows streams are included - the only dishonesty is that the ACR and other restrictions don't seem to be highlighted by chart hosts. But then today's radio presenters are chosen more for their personalities than their love / knowledge of music and charts. For sure Mark Goodier would be all over these chart rules.

In terms of the Christmas problem - i don't see what they can do. If they restrict it to 3 only there will be cries of "favouritism" at Mariah, Wham! and whoever the 3rd is. If they downweight the streams more than they already do it will render the charts even more ridiculous.

[Blondini]

I cannot afford to buy all the music i like (and i spent many a quid or 8 on CD singles in the 90s and 2000s) so i am grateful that i can contribute by streaming. Artists these days direct people to Spotify more than they do to a pay link. There are different ways of calculating how these streams are converted into "sales" and the UK method seems fair to me.
If only a couple of hundred people are buying the top selling song then it stands to reason that only a few hundred people would be bothered to look at the charts and follow them.

I do follow the sales only charts with interest and find them more lively than the overall charts but not everyone are chart nerds like us. They are "honest" in so much as the public knows streams are included - the only dishonesty is that the ACR and other restrictions don't seem to be highlighted by chart hosts. But then today's radio presenters are chosen more for their personalities than their love / knowledge of music and charts. For sure Mark Goodier would be all over these chart rules.

In terms of the Christmas problem - i don't see what they can do. If they restrict it to 3 only there will be cries of "favouritism" at Mariah, Wham! and whoever the 3rd is. If they downweight the streams more than they already do it will render the charts even more ridiculous.

[97mde]

Well they wouldn’t would they. They would just give the correct indication of what people are buying and not what they are listening to (in most cases for free). The charts only die if no music is made and I can’t see that happening.

I appreciate that the charts are a source of conversation and this forum is a great example of this, however the charts would be far from dead if it didn’t include streams. In fact in confident this forum, the charts and music lovers in general would benefit from it being more honest.

and the charts would be dead without streams

another basic fact

[Artoo]

I hope Wham gets the edge this week and goes to #1 again. You have to wonder what George would think of it all - would he ignore it or play into like Mariah has over the last few years?

The Charts Company should probably just switch to a ‘streaming’ based chart, and convert sales to a streaming count now that it’s the dominant format. Draw a line completely under the sales era and award certifications based on streaming milestones. Kids still control the charts and it’s pretty meaningless counting ‘sales’ when we have a whole generation of young adults that never once purchased a download as a teenager or ever saw a physical single in a shop.

A few years ago I was watching some kids (teenagers really) and a song came on the TV and I said, ‘I had that on single’ and was promptly asked ‘What’s a single?’ - never felt so old in my life

[Gambo]

The irony is that with all this talk about sales being somehow a more apt way to compile our charts than streams (sadly that is patently no longer the case), and that they have so little effect in such low numbers that it would render the resultant charts almost irrelevant (generally now true), in the case of releases like the LadBaby charity singles, it is of course their huge single-week download paid-for sales that drive them to No 1, regardless of an almost negligible number of streams. For that one daft week we get a complete reversal of what we would now normally see, but given its time-limited impact, I don't really take any joy from it myself. While those of us older chart fans will always miss the clarity and simplicity of charts compiled just when people bought music rather than rented it, I think we must own to having some dismay on the rare occasions where actual sales do dominate the proceedings and contribute the bulk of units to an overall chart-topper's total, as it's nearly always just the one-off result of a raid on people's pockets and consciences for charitable causes rather than part of a wider trend in consumption or anything to do with the actual music (noting of course that this phenomenon has always produced skewed sales tallies unrepresentative of the usual market picture even in the pure sales era - some of the largest tallies recorded back then were driven by similar campaigns that only had a few weeks' life in them before things returned back to usual levels).