This week saw the first unveiling of the revamped UK top forty and the start of what is being described by the media as the most important shake-up in chart history.
The changes concern the way downloaded music is reflected in the weekly sales list. Up until now a song could only appear in the top forty if it had officially been released as a single. Download figures were brought in during September 2005 and from March 6th 2006 a song could appear in the chart on download sales alone, one week ahead of its physical release. Gnarls Barkley made history when 'Crazy' became the first download only number 1, and this week it's back.
The new rules mean that any song available on a legal download site can be considered for the chart, this includes album tracks. This means old songs that are continually bought online will, if popular enough, hang around or make a return. Other tracks back in the chart include Snow Patrol'S 'Chasing Cars', My Chemical Romance 'Welcome to the Black Parade' and Gary Jules 'Mad World'. So is this the start of something new and exciting? Will this breathe new life into a concept that has lost its charm in recent years and will this be a good thing for new music?
Before we can answer those, we have to think about why the chart isn't what it used to be. For decades the UK top forty was a major event for the record buying public. Appearing on 'Top of the Pops' was right at the top of the childhood dream list alongside playing in the cup final. The weekly run down on Radio 1 was an appointment to listen and this continued into the nineties with the explosion of the CD. Even if the bands you liked didn't often figure you'd still listen and there was a feeling of pride if your favourite band managed to beat the ones you hated to be that week's highest new entry or better still, number 1!
Things would go badly wrong when record companies figured out how to manipulate the chart and there would be a different number 1 every week. The crucial factor was that a single would be cheaper in its first week of release meaning a song's first position would almost certainly be its peak. Mid week sales would appear in the press taking the surprise out of Sunday evenings and I haven't even mentioned the TV talent shows taking manufactured pop to an all-time low.
The number of charts has devalued the concept too. In the eighties the new Network Chart Show was launched as a rival to the Radio 1 version. Almost every radio station would carry it and as well as sales figures, radio play was taken into account which, in theory, would better reflect the songs the nation loved. The reality is that it didn't, and doesn't under its current brand of Hit40UK. If a popular song or band, like for example Iron Maiden who sell massive amounts of singles, didn't fit the format of a radio station such as Capital FM then it didn't stand a chance and might make an appearance but would sink quickly without trace. Recently this has been devalued further as we currently have four different chart shows on a Sunday all catering for slightly different markets and taking the focus even further away from what the public has bought.
In fact the public has been buying less singles annually for a number of years. Part of that playing the system which record companies started to do during the nineties provoked a tightening up on the rules of what could be sold under the banner of a single. Ten years ago if you bought a single you might get new B-sides, covers or remixes which did at least mean you were getting value for money. Oasis fans would buy their singles even though they had the A-side on an album because they knew the B-sides were worth having. This was stopped by the announcement that a maximum of three tracks was allowed for each single. It's no wonder sales figures nose-dived and the download revolution boomed as we were expected to buy the same products but get less for our money.
In 2006 79% of singles were bought online. Eventually, and not without the most almighty fuss, the record industry has come round to this downloading idea. With the various milestones in the way the chart is compiled, we now reach a point where we have a good reflection of what the most popular songs of the moment are: the fundamental point of this exercise and why the thing was created in the early fifties.
Given that there are so many different chart formats on radio and TV means we'll never see a time when the glory days of the 'Top Forty' show are back. Those who used to listen religiously simply aren't interested anymore, and if you were to ask the gig goers today, they're not interested enough and have better things to do on a Sunday afternoon. The new chart rules aren't designed to help radio stations boost ratings though. If you were to ask the same gig goers if they were interested in the development and long-term success of the band they'd come to see the chances are they'd say yes, and for many bands this means selling their music and therefore success in the chart becomes a part of that.
I'm undecided as to whether opening the chart up to any track on the market will make that much difference for new bands. The initial indications is that this will favour the established acts although reading anything into week one would be stupid as the only new releases of note on New Year's Day were U2 and Eric Prydz. Times like Christmas and when a World Cup is on will give the chart a strange look with festive or football songs likely to keep coming back and that's a good thing as it shows what the nation has bought that week, but there is a risk that new or lesser known acts will find it even harder to make an impact if people are still downloading older songs. It's also worth pointing out that the biggest selling download of 2006 was the X-Factor winner and the most downloaded band of all was Depeche Mode.
Clearly this method of compiling the chart in 2007 is the right way to do it, but I've seen people on message boards suggest that this will see "real music" come back into the reckoning. For a start the chart in 2006 often had bands we write about on Room Thirteen in the top end of the chart, with Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight and My Chemical Romance all scoring number 1's and these new rules are unlikely to change that. Although the record industry is trying its hardest, illegal downloading is still a thorn in its side and those who are hoping for "proper music" to dominate thanks to these new rules are probably getting the music they want for free anyway.
Will new life be breathed back into the chart concept? No, it's simply catching up with a public that has left it behind. An exciting new dawn in chart history? Not really, it might be interesting but it's not before time. The real milestone to watch out for will be the day the idea of walking into a shop to buy a new single is a thing of the past, for many that day has already arrived.
---Update---(Jan 9 2007)
HMV has now announced it is withdrawing the UK top forty from it's shops and will replace it with it's own chart.
The chain has displayed the chart for over forty years, but now believes it is not relevant to the way it sells music.
HMV has however supported the updating of chart rules.