Music Charts
Music Charts, the Internet
and the Industry
In the old days, if it wasn't on the
music charts a song or performer wasn't going anywhere. But,
what about today's top ten in the music industry? Still the
same story? Ever since the sales of records were monitored,
fans have eagerly awaited the new music chart, showing the
positions of their favorite artists each week.
Types of Music
Charts
There are the general charts and sub
genres for country music, classical and R & B. It's
always been more of a challenge to achieve a number one hit
on the American Billboard than a UK number one and British
artists have always had Billboard success as a
goal.
Times have changed and the music media
has had to adapt to people's changing habits. Shows that
present the hits of the day have fallen out of favor, as
audiences prefer TV and radio that specializes in a certain
type of music. The MTV generation can pick and choose from
numerous channels and not simply watch a rundown of the
latest music chart.
Music Charts and the
Internet
Downloading from the Internet is
having a big impact on the sales from record stores. The
recent number one UK hit, Crazy from Gnarls Barclay was the
result of downloads sales alone. The Arctic Monkeys, a
British guitar band, achieved success through the MySpace
web site and had the biggest selling debut album of UK
history. It's not that the music chart is no longer
important, but it's being formulated in a different way.
After dragging their heels, the compilers had to take legal
downloading into account.
Many artists want to get the Christmas
number one. These are the songs that everyone remembers and
repeat plays are very lucrative. The UK band Slade still
lives off the profits from their yuletide hit.
There are some classics brought out
for a spin at this time of year, including John and Yoko's
Merry Christmas, War Is Over and the Pogue's Fairytale of
New York, featuring Kirsty McColl. There have also been some
festive offerings, best not remembered.Controversy has
sometimes involved the music industry and some disk jockeys
have been cited for payola. This is when a presenter has
taken a bribe to play a certain record, in order to push it
up the music chart.
Are Music Charts
Accurate?
Every now and then, the question is
asked as to how accurate the charts are. Artists don't have
to sell as many copies to get that coveted number one spot
now but there is more competition than existed in the 1960s
and 1970s era.
Many performers focus on the album
charts and don't bother much with the sale of singles. Mega
stars like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd filled huge stadiums
without much success through the singles music chart.
The Beatles were successful in both,
notably having the top five places on the singles chart in
the USA when they first appeared in America. This is a
Tinkers to Chance in the music industry!
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