Hot 100 Chart Moves:

Legends such as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, George Michael & Whitney Houston die tragically and far too soon. They barely scratch the surface of the Top 40 after it happens. XXXTentacion had a career handed to him and chose to continue to rob little old ladies at the bus stop. His videos featured young white children being hung to death. He rapped about death and lavished in it by his own lyrics. He proudly proclaimed himself as 'The Misfit' and spent more time in a court room than most kids spend in school. You live by the ghetto, you die by the ghetto. I suppose he'll become the modern day Tupac. I am truly sorry that he met his fate so early in life. I am sorry that wasn't able to use the golden platter handed to him to change himself for the better. I am also "Sad" about the current state of #1 this week. (No pun intended)

I've still not heard it 

Pleased that George Ezra has scrambled over the line for his 1st #1 single, but the sharp rise for Xxxtentacion suggests that, with there now being a video for Sad, and the introduction of YT views, having 2 vids, as Ezra has, might not be enough.

Be interesting to see how long the Xxxtentacion buzz lasts. All that will remain are the facts of his character and behaviour, neither of which were all that welcome.

The Xxxtentacion fuss seems to have blown over already  Now here in the UK we have Drake (again) to conjure with instead 

Last week's spike for Three Lions resulted in the chart placing sequence 24 --> 1 --> 97! 

misery guts wrote:Last week's spike for Three Lions resulted in the chart placing sequence 24 --> 1 --> 97! 

They don't take the charts seriously anymore than anyone over the age of 12 takes modern music seriously.

There ought to be a time limit so people can't just flood some golden oldie in for little good reason. When a 22 year old dirge can be catapulted in and out like this, it doesn't strengthen the people running it, it weakens them and their operation.

misery guts wrote:There ought to be a time limit so people can't just flood some golden oldie in for little good reason. When a 22 year old dirge can be catapulted in and out like this, it doesn't strengthen the people running it, it weakens them and their operation.

Agreed. When I see moves like this I can only suspect foul play. It doesn't take anything other than paying people to stream the daylights out of something. In the case of the US, it just feels like Drake has rookies out there on his payroll to stream his music 24 / 7. I mean, most of the people I hang out with are DJ's or X-DJ's. Many have never even heard of Drake. Most cannot name one single. Am I looking at this all wrong or am I onto something, perhaps?

Ariana Grande's new album went straight to #1, whilst there was sporadic re-entries for the late Aretha Franklin. Her highest single was only at #51.

George Ezra returning to #1 last week was a welcome surprise, as was the failure of DJ "I bellow my name, give me a medal" Khaled's return hit No Brainer. Alas Calvin Harris seems a cert for the top next, with help from Sam Smith.

Following the successes earlier in the year of The Greatest Showman and Mamma Mia 2 (sic), we now have the remake of A Star Is Born which is not only wowing the album chart, but also the singles too, as Lady Gaga scores her 1st #1 single since 2010!

Rather unexpected triumph for Ariana Grande this week in the UK; only her 3rd #1 single here, and her first not to include other credited performers.

The Christmas #1 battle looked likely to be a head-to-head between Ariana Grande and newcomer Ava Max.

But no.

Atrocious novelty act LadBaby hyped its way to the top with a cover of Starship's 80s classic We Built This City, cunningly (!) amended for lyrics about sausage rolls. It's also raising money for the Trussell Trust, a charity connected with food banks, so it's unfair to slag off such a good cause. Although doing that with a song eulogising unhealthy foodstuffs is a bit dodgy, if you ask me. Still, it's done now, in a last-nail-in-the-coffin way.

On the plus side, Ava Max DID make #1 this week, AND LadBaby plummeted from #1 to #21   

On the negatives, there are TWENTY-SEVEN Christmas songs in the UK top 40. That makes the Ed Sheeran Takeover look like a breeze 

Haven't even counted the sheer number of Christmas songs in this week's countdown. There was a time when you never saw holiday music in a given countdown. Billboard likes to call this record breaking, historical, you name it. If not for streaming the charts would be telling a very different story. What this all tells me is that the current state of music is so incredibly bad that we're resorting to a time when music was still music. I look at the current chart and imagine the late Casey Kasem counting them down lol. A cheery Christmas song followed by some violent thuggy rap crap. The biggest record I see that Billboard hasn't mentioned is that there are more deceased artists than living. The only way I can even fathom the charts getting any worse would be by having commercial ads hitting the charts ... stupid Geiko jingle ads and such. I can actually see it happening. Whether it be advertising hate, violence, sneakers .... it's all advertising. No more #1 hits from 'Men At Work' unless vegemite sandwiches make a comeback and get SJW coverage. Then again, Ed Sheeran could sing 'Down Under' holding his nose and it'd spend 11 weeks at #1.

I make it you've got 16 in your 40, so you should be grateful when you're comparatively well off  Let's not get into a "who's the most miserable?" contest.

What's interesting to me is that most of that 16 seem to be quite old songs. Apart from Mariah, and even Wham!, there's nothing that recent (and even the former there is 24 years young). Presumably the average American consumer wouldn't notice Burl Ives being in the top 10, let alone what a mishap this is. Kelly Clarkson and Destiny's Child have done Christmassy material, but your consumers don't want to hear it. Heck, even Ariana "flavour of the year" Grande doesn't seem to scratch the surface.

Oh Lawdy! What was I just saying about tripe hitting the charts???  
Barack Obama debuts on Billboard's R&B music chart with 'Hamilton' song

I saw a Hamilton song on telly over Christmas, and it seems as run-of-the-mill as all these things are. I wouldn't suggest this should be filed under "bringing the Presidency into disrepute" but equally it has little other merit.

Ariana Grande's latest effort has gone straight in to #1 here; it's in part based on "My Favourite Things" 

More Ariana-mania, as her new album has shot to #1, with a track from it becoming another #1 single, making her the 1st female artist to ever knock herself off the singles top spot here 

Lil Nas X has been transported to the no 1 spot in the UK on the strength of the idiotic "is it country or not?" furore.

misery guts wrote:Lil Nas X has been transported to the no 1 spot in the UK on the strength of the idiotic "is it country or not?" furore.

Almost a shame that we didn't have such idiocy in the early 90's when The KLF were a thing. Was 'Justified & Ancient' featuring Tammy Wynette hip-hop or country? While it almost made the Top 10 in the states, it was a wonderful jam. Would have been a welcome addition to #1. Dunno what to say about Old Town Road other than, "Yawn". Hard to imagine people streaming it, much less buying it.

Adric wrote:

misery guts wrote:Lil Nas X has been transported to the no 1 spot in the UK on the strength of the idiotic "is it country or not?" furore.

  Almost a shame that we didn't have such idiocy in the early 90's when The KLF were a thing. Was 'Justified & Ancient' featuring Tammy Wynette hip-hop or country? While it almost made the Top 10 in the states, it was a wonderful jam. Would have been a welcome addition to #1. Dunno what to say about Old Town Road other than, "Yawn". Hard to imagine people streaming it, much less buying it.  
 

It was neither    I think calling it "dance music" sufficed at the time. Those who want(ed) a million labels like EDM, trance, trip-hop, etc can amuse themselves.

The album version w/o Wynette is preferable to me, but I appreciate it drew far more attention with doing it that way for the single.

The entire top 12 in the UK was unchanged this week, a first 

Change atop the UK singles chart at last, as Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello's shameless rehash of Havana creeps up to the top, his first #1 since 2015's Stitches, and hers since the aforementioned.

Upheaval in the UK this week, as "the rules" lead to Ed & Stormzy's 5-week run at the top ended in dramatic fashion as they're dropped from #1 to #13.

Meanwhile, Regard and Tones & I, after debuting a month ago, have steadily climbed to make up the top 2. The latter makes the first Australian act at #1 in the UK since 2014 (Iggy Azalea on Problem, it seems). It's been #1 in 10 countries now (though not in the USA):

Dance Monkey