Quote:
Originally posted by supaspaz
Oh god, we have this argument just about every week, but I can't ignore you this time. You need a history lesson! When the chart was first introduced in the '50s, singles sales were the main factor for chart position. Thus, there was basically a different number 1 song every week. Radio (instead of jukeboxes) and long-form albums (instead of singles) became increasingly popular in the '60s and '70s, so of course, the chart changed to reflect that. That was pretty much the status quo until the mid-2000s, by which point, digital downloads had become the primary source for music consumption. So what do you know? The chart changed again to reflect that. Why would want a chart solely based on one way that people get their music? Why would you ignore radio, which is where many songs prove their cultural significance by topping the charts for months at time? I don't know, but I just can't get behind the idea of a chart based on the popularity of the flavor of the week, or the spending whims of pre-teens with their parents' credit cards.
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Uh, I'm saying it hasn't changed much since the 60s/70s. Which is fairly true. I don't need any history lessons since I've already read this. The chart has not changed to reflect popularity. Music popularity comes from YouTube and iTunes these days. Not radio. The biggest factor in the Hot 100 is STILL airplay after all these decades. In fact, Billboard did make the biggest factor sales a while back, but then didn't like chart composition so they changed it back to what they were comfortable with: radios essentially dictating where songs can peak, which songs can reach number one, etc. They all know perfectly well that radio as a medium for music has been eclipsed.
Sales based charts don't seem to be a problem for the rest of the world. One of the biggest music markets in the world, the UK, has a sales based charts and, unlike the American chart, it tells you what the most popular song was for any week, based merely off of what consumers wanted. The key word is consume. If people don't consume a song, it shouldn't chart. Simple as that.
Also, there's no statistical evidence to back up the claim that a supermajority of iTunes users are pre-teens and/or girls.
