Thursday 8 November 2012

Chartwatch 102 (November 2012)

The printed version of Chartwatch 102 has been sent to subscribers. It will be free to download on December 8th.

Contents of Issue 102 of Chartwatch
Track Chart Longevity: Most Weeks Between First And Last Appearance Known For A Track
Number One Albums On The Combined Album Chart 2007-2011
Returns To Number One in the Album Chart
Meandians Revisited
Collectacharts Saint Etienne-Sarr Band
Highest Annual Scores 1952-2011
UK 3rd Quarter 2012
Music Video 2011
Compilations 2011
Biggest Comebacks

To subscribe to the printed version, email ndr@sanger.ac.uk or visit www.chartwatch.co.uk

Saturday 29 September 2012

Beatles sales

As expected, our memory was not good on the figures in the previous post.  Here's what Music Week actually said about recent sales:

The Beatles are the sixth biggest ALBUM sellers in the UK since 2000:

1 Robbie Williams (14.1 million)
2 Westlife (11.7 million)
3 Coldplay (11.0 million)
4 Take That (10.7 million)
5 Eminem (8.8 million)
6 Beatles (8.2 million)
7 Michael Jackson (8.1 million)
8 Michael Buble (7.9 million)
9 Oasis (7.5 million)
= Madonna (7.5 million)

Their biggest selling albums since 2000 are:

1 #1 (3 million)
2 Love (835,000)
3 Sgt Pepper (560,000)
4 1962-1966 (400,000)
= 1967-1970 (400,000)
6 Abbey Road (400,000)
7 Revolver (300,000)
8 Beatles (White Album) (300,000)
9 Rubber Soul (300,000)
10 Let it Be... Naked (300,000)

As far as downloads go, 39 Beatles tracks have sold more than 10,000 copies each, with Hey Jude (80,000), Let It Be (80,000) and Here Comes The Sun (70,000) the biggest individual sellers.

Of the "musical legends", the biggest selling album acts since 2000 are:

1 Beatles (8.2 million)
2 Rod Stewart (7.3 million)
3 Elvis Presley (7.2 million)
4 U2 (7.0 million)
5 Queen (5.9 million)
6 Pink Floyd (4.4 million)
7 ABBA (4.3 million)
8 Elton John (4.0 million)
9 Rolling Stones (3.7 million)
10 AC/DC (3.1 million)

Apparently Michael Jackson has sold 8.1 million albums, but isn't a legend yet!  Elvis 30 No.1's is Elvis's biggest seller (1.7 million), Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon has outsold all the Beatles studio albums this century, and the Stones' Exile On Main Street has sold 250,000 copies.

In the States, the Beatles (28.2 million albums, including 12 million for #1) come second to Eminem (32.2 million), and since 1991 are second only to Garth Brooks (63.3 million compared to 68.6 million albums sold by Brooks).  Pink Floyd sold 37.2 million albums in the States since 1991.

Friday 28 September 2012

EMI, Universal and The Beatles

Music Week has a big article about the EMI takeover this week.  It seems that the Beatles back catalogue is something that EMI are keen to keep, because the Beatles are the eighth most successful act in Britain since 2000, having sold something like 8 million albums.  Most of this is down to the 1 collection (just about to go over the 3 million mark), but Sgt Pepper has sold over half a million, and Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul and the reworked Let It Be have all sold over a quarter of a million, as has the Cirque de Soleil mix Gold.  The number of downloads is also apparently phenomenal, but spread widely over all the Beatles tracks, with Hey Jude and Let It Be (80,000 downloads) being the top tracks with Here Comes The Sun (60,000) close behind.  Over a million Beatles downloads have been sold in the UK.  Behind the Beatles as the second “legacy” act is Queen – also on EMI, and the biggest selling legacy LP is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, also on EMI.  Worldwide, the Beatles have been the top selling act since 2000.  So why are EMI is financial trouble?

Saturday 11 August 2012

Saturday 21 July 2012

Help needed


I am researching an article for Chartwatch and need to know the track listings for the following various artist compilation albums:

Remember When - Hits Of The Fifties (from 2008)
Kings Of Rock'n'Roll (from2004)
Rock'n'Roll Love Songs (from 2004)

Can anyone supply the track listings, please?  If so, please send an E-mail to Neil Rawlings (ndr@sanger.ac.uk).

Friday 13 July 2012

Chartwatch 101 (July 2012)

The printed version of Chartwatch 101 has been sent to subscribers. It will be free to download on August 10th.


Contents of Issue 101 of Chartwatch

Decade 2002-2011
Eurovision 2012
UK 1st Quarter 2012
Colin's Views
Collectacharts RuPaul to St Paul
The Day The Music Died
France Singles 2011
Playlist: White Boys Sing The Blues

To subscribe to the printed version, email ndr@sanger.ac.uk or visit www.chartwatch.co.uk

Thursday 10 May 2012

CW 79 now free to download

You can now download CW79 (December 2004) directly by going to http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/issues/CW79.pdf

Contents of CW79:

Top 1000 Singles in the UK 1952-2003
Collectacharts
Cult Acts
Letters 
CD Reviews 
UK Second Quarter 2004

Thursday 3 May 2012

CW78 now free to download

You can now download CW78 (July 2004) directly by going to http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/issues/CW78.pdf

Contents of CW78:

UK 2003 Analysis
Music Video 2003
Compilation Albums 2003
Letters
Collectacharts
French singles 2003
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
First UK Hits For Foreigners
First Hits for Record Labels (correction)
USA 2002
Highest Climbers Back Up The Singles Chart 

Wednesday 2 May 2012

CW92 now free to download

You can now download CW92 (December 2008) directly by going to http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/issues/CW92.pdf

Contents of CW92:

Christmas Hits on the UK Singles Chart
Going Solo: Comparing Soloist and Group Scores
British and Irish Acts at Number One in the States
Collectacharts: Ratpack to Sharon Redd
Most Artists with Two or More Top 40 Hits on the Same Chart
Most and Fewest Weeks Between Consecutive No.1s
US 3rd Quarter 2008
UK 3rd Quarter 2008

Thursday 26 April 2012

Saturday 21 April 2012

CW100 Now available to download


Starting with issue 100 we are now distributing PDFs of Chartwatch free to download. Over the next new months we will add PDFs of back issues of Chartwatch as we run out of print copies. Go to our new download page to see what is available.

Saturday 31 March 2012

CW@100


It’s thirty years since we launched Chartwatch as a photocopied magazine compiled from type-written snippets in 1981. Our first edition contained a 1980 annual analysis, was advertised in Record Mirror, and was mailed out from Berlin where John and Neil met and were working. After thirty years, Chartwatch is launching the biggest change to affect it so far. 

Even regular readers may not be aware of the huge decline in sales since Chartwatch’s heyday in 1991; where once we had over 200 subscribers, we now have fewer than 50.  We partly blame the demise of Record Mirror and the increasing cost of advertising in Record Collector, leaving us no place to advertise effectively. In recent years as Internet forums have abounded our format has started to look old hat, and we are clearly behind the times.

We’ve resisted turning Chartwatch into an Internet magazine for several years, because we know many of our loyal readers are not necessarily proficient in the use of computers, but making that change is now inevitable. 

As a compromise, we will be continuing to publish a printed version of the magazine for the time being but the emphasis will now increasingly shift towards our website.  Initially, we will continue to make a magazine and simply post the PDF version online.  But if the internet version is a hit, then we may very well rethink the whole design and concept of the magazine.  Wouldn’t it be great to get comprehensive listings of chart feats as they happen? As a taste of the immediacy that the modern day web can provide, we have launched a Twitter feed at @chartwatchmaguk. We’re starting to use this to tweet interesting up-to-the-minute news as well as news about Chartwatch itself.

Chartwatch magazines will now be posted on our website (www.chartwatch.co.uk) as PDFs and this issue will be the first to be available online and in printed form.  The online version will be freely accessible, so if you would prefer to cancel your subscription and get a refund, or replace it with an order for back numbers or annual chart booklets (which we would prefer), then we fully understand - write to us and let us know.  As subscriptions run out, we will cease to send out renewal forms.  You will be able to renew your subscription should you want to, but you will have either to write to us or renew through our PayPal account.

This change will also affect back numbers.  With immediate effect, back numbers will be posted on our website as soon as the stock is exhausted.  Normally, Neil keeps a stock of up to five copies and photocopies more as they are required, but that will now stop, and his wife will be very pleased to recover a significant amount of floor space in her spare bedroom.  So if you want to order printed versions of back numbers, now is the time!

We will not be posting the annual chart summary booklets on the Chartwatch webpage.  The author of the booklets from 1995 onwards, Tobias Zywietz, maintains his own web site (http://www.zobbel.de/) where most of his booklets are available to download as PDFs.  Printed versions of all booklets from 1983 onwards will still be available from Chartwatch.

Friday 23 March 2012

Issue 100 (March 2012)

Contents of Issue 100 of Chartwatch

Chartwatch @ 100 Editorial
BBC Sound Of
UK 2011 Analysis
Winners and Losers from the Foortball Ladder Rescoring (by Jon Harrison)
Collectacharts (Roxette-Run Tings)
Top Acts 1953-2010 Year By Year
Most Successful Tracks in the Singles Chart that Charted First in the Album Chart

To subscribe, email ndr@sanger.ac.uk or visit www.chartwatch.co.uk

Saturday 10 March 2012

CW On Twitter

We're currently preparing CW100. In the mean time, good news: you can now follow Chartwatch on Twitter at @chartwatchmaguk