How the singles chart is compiled matters. When the chart began with the first NME chart in late 1952, the intention was to show which singles were selling most. As the chart expanded and was replaced by the Music Week chart in 1960, that ethos remained, albeit for record shops so that they knew what to stock. The public had relied on other charts to know what was popular: in the 1950s it was the Radio Luxembourg chart and in the 1960s the BBC Top 20 (because it was featured on Top Of The Pops). The difference between what the industry and the public took notice of disappeared in 1969 when the BBC adopted the Music Week chart and its funding and method of compilation was improved. That is how the situation has continued to this day, although the company responsible for compiling the chart has changed several times. Up until 2005, the singles chart was a sales chart, reflecting what the public bought. However, how the public buys music has changed. Back in 1952, singles were (mostly) only available as large, fragile 78 rpm shellac discs. By 1956, almost all 78s had been replaced by smaller, robust 45 rpm vinyl discs, and these continued well into the 1990s and beyond. The even smaller, even more robust CD single replaced the 45 sometime in the 1990s. The CD single was effectively a replacement EP (the 7” vinyl disc that played at 33⅓ rpm that was popular from the late fifties to the late sixties and usually featured four tracks), or a replacement 12” single. The sound was recorded as a digital file and did not rely on variations in a groove on a record to produce the audible noise. Music was digital. On 17 Apr 2005, downloads of audio files were included in the Top 100 singles for the first time. However, this was still buying music, but it was obvious the way things were going to go: all you needed to do was access the computer file somewhere, you didn’t need to own anything. On the 29 Jun 2014, audio streams were included in the Top 100 for the first time. From 14 Jul 2018, video streams were included in the Top 100. Almost all of the Top 100 is now based on audio and video streams.
For a very long time, the chart compilers refused to include airplay in the singles chart. To be able to broadcast a track from a single or album, a radio station has to pay royalties. The same is true of all streaming services and online sites like YouTube, which also plays music videos. In a sense, streaming is similar to airplay, and the inclusion of streaming into the charts has changed what the charts represent. Instead of showing us what are the most popular tracks to be bought, they show us the most popular tracks to be listened to. If you buy a 78, 45, CD or download a track that counts as a single sale and you can play it as many times as you like. Every time you listen to a track via a stream it counts towards the chart. I still play CDs that I bought in the 1990s (thirty years ago) and records I bought in the 1980s (forty years ago), and I’m sure I’m not alone. There are records and CDs I play rarely, not necessarily because I don’t like them much, but because playing them is emotionally draining: like the Who’s Tommy, the Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, Lou Reed’s Berlin or Pink Floyd’s The Wall. They are all great albums and I don’t regret buying them.
In essence, the singles chart no longer represents what we buy but what we listen to. That affects the chart, because it means that tracks that are listened to a lot have extended chart runs. I’ve compiled the following graph that shows the number of singles that have spent at least 26 weeks on the chart, plotted against the year each first charted. It is immediately obvious that the number has increased since downloading and streaming were incorporated in the charts. It is perhaps obvious why streaming has had this effect, less so for downloading. I can only assume a listener wants to download to different devices, or misplaces (misfiles?) or accidentally deletes the downloaded file and has to download it again. I also can’t explain the slight decline in 26+-week singles since 2022. The persistence of tracks in the charts makes the charts less interesting and there is less room for new tracks by new artists: the underground and alternative music that John and I grew up with is missing. I’ve noticed that chart books these days tend to come in two volumes, usually splitting between before downloads and streams affected the charts and after.
I’ve not taken chart length into account. The singles chart began as a Top 12 in 1952 and is now a Top 100 (which started on 1 Jan 1983). I don’t think length matters, because before 1983 a single would only have spent one or two weeks between no.75 (or no.50) and no.100. Chart length has more to do with the number of singles released each week. I’ve included the charts from the 1940s which were mostly compiled retrospectively and were probably compiled from shipments each week by each record company rather than “over-the-counter” sales.
