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UK Singles Chart



While the BBC/Record Retailer chart is almost universally accepted as definitive for the period from February 1969 onwards, there is some controversy over which charts should be considered "correct" prior to this. The most common solution to this problem is to regard the Record Retailer chart as the correct one from its inception in 1960, and the NME chart before that. This approach originated with the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, first published in 1977. However, it may be argued that almost nobody considered the Record Retailer chart to be canonical at the time of publication, at least until Record Mirror began publishing it as well. Some chart reference books simply take Record Mirror as their source from the start; this is the approach taken by The Top 20 Book compiled biannually by Tony Jasper from 1978 to 1994 and Rock File, an annual publication during the 1970s whose "Chart Log" feature was effectively the forerunner to "British Hit Singles", as well as numerous books by Dave McAleer. The result of this approach is a chart that begins in 1955, and joins up with the Record Retailer chart (and so agrees with the Guinness book) in 1962.

A case may also be made for considering the NME chart to be the correct one for at least part of the 1960s, since it was arguably the one followed by the most people. Similarly, Melody Maker's charts could be considered correct for the same period because they drew on the largest number of shops for their compilation. (However, the latter is less practical since unlike the NME charts, the Melody Maker charts have never been reprinted and are therefore difficult to obtain.)

The Official UK Charts Company have adopted the Guinness solution as defining the official chart canon, however different approaches continue to exist.

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Criteria for inclusion

In order to qualify for inclusion in the UK singles chart, a single must meet the following criteria:

  • It must be available on one or more eligible formats. Eligible formats are CD, DVD, Vinyl, Cassette, digital download and flexi disc. Digital Compact Cassette and MiniDisc formats are not eligible.
  • All formats must contain the featured track or a version/remix of it.
  • Only three formats can be included in a single's sales. Sales of any additional formats are disregarded when calculating a single's chart position.
  • The single must meet a minimum dealer price requirement, to prevent record companies from making cut-price deals with retailers.
  • Each format must have no more than four different tracks on it, though each song may appear in any number of different versions.
  • The maximum running time for any format is 25 minutes if more than one different song is featured, or 40 minutes if only one song is featured in multiple versions/mixes.
  • A "mini CD" format is now recognised for chart purposes. It can have a running time of up to ten minutes and can feature no more than two tracks. It must be a 8 cm CD and sold in a single jewelcase. Its minimum price requirement is lower than the regular CD single. This cheaper alternative was first recognised in October 2003 as part of a drive to make singles more attractive to buyers in the face of widespread music downloading, despite this size of CD being used in many other countries (such as Japan) for single releases for many years.

The full chart regulations also place limits on how chart singles can be packaged and what free gifts can be offered to purchasers. The full regulations can be downloaded from the Official UK Chart Company website or obtained by post from them.

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Broadcasting the charts

BBC Radio 1 was first broadcast in 1967, and has always included a broadcast of the official chart. In initial years, only the top twenty was broadcast. This was then gradually expanded so that the chart now covers the top forty singles although the entire Top 40 was not played until the start of 1991. Fourteen years later the chart shows was revamped, once again, only the Top 20 singles were guaranteed to be played. Starting from 14 October 2007 Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates presented the Top 40 show on Sundays. The chart show has always been broadcast on a Sunday evening and has only been cancelled once - on 31 August 1997, owing to the death of Princess Diana.

For many years the chart was revealed on a Tuesday lunchtime (or Wednesday following a bank holiday) and the Top 40 on Sunday was merely a repeat of this - however, since October 1987 the new chart has been broadcast for the first time on Sundays.

The television version of the chart show, called The UK Top 40, began in 2002 on CBBC (Children's BBC), part of BBC Television, which broadcast selected video highlights and the entire top 10 countdown. It was hosted by Adrian Dickson and Konnie Huq from its inception until September 2004, and then by Andrew Hayden-Smith until the last edition on 12 June 2005.

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Number 1 quirks

Since the inception of the UK Singles chart, many issues have arisen about certain singles and whether or not they should have made number 1. This controversy has caused much dispute on a few number 1 singles - most notably concerning The Beatles' "Please Please Me", as discussed above.

There was a period of time when the entire record industry took a break for the Christmas period. This resulted in no release of a new singles chart on the Tuesday following Christmas Day. When electronic sales recording took over from sales diaries, a chart started to be compiled for Christmas week but was never aired. Usually, it would result in no change at number one. However, there was one exception; the Christmas period of 1980. A frenzy of buying John Lennon singles had begun following his murder on 8 December. This resulted in "(Just Like) Starting Over" topping the charts, which was then dethroned after a mere seven days by "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma". However, after this stayed at the top for a week, many people had bought Lennon's re-issued Christmas classic, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", and the new chart compiled actually had this at the top. This chart was never published and thus it is omitted from lists of number ones. By the time the next official chart was issued after the festive season, "Imagine" had topped the chart, but technically John Lennon had three number ones in succession, something no other act has been able to achieve.

In the week of the Queen's massive Silver Jubilee celebrations in June 1977, the Sex Pistols were due to release their second single, "God Save The Queen", expressing great contempt for royalty. There was wide speculation and rumour that the Sex Pistols were going to be number 1 for this historic week, but surprisingly Rod Stewart retained his position on top of the chart for a fourth week with "I Don't Want To Talk About It/The First Cut Is the Deepest". Rumours then began to circulate that the chart compilers had fixed the chart to avoid controversy. A number of other charts, including the one published in the New Musical Express, placed "God Save The Queen" at number one.

In the 1950s, singles had frequently shared the number 1 position for a week, due to sales ties. This had never been an issue ever since. However, in the 1980s, a new rule was instituted to deal with any joint positions in the chart (not just at number one): the single whose sales had increased most from the previous week would reside above the other. In September 1990, "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band and Deee-lite's "Groove Is In The Heart" sold enough copies to be joint number 1, but because of the rule, Deee-lite were relegated to number 2 and "The Joker" topped the chart. Following the controversy and complaints from Deee-lite's record company, WEA, the rule was scrapped and joint positions were once more allowed, although there have been no more joint chart-toppers since.

In 1987, Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body" topped the charts for 2 weeks, but in fact it should have never been there. The 12" actually exceeded the maximum playing time to qualify as a single and therefore Jackie Wilson's re-issue of "Reet Petite" should have enjoyed a fifth week at the top and "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)" was deprived of a week at the top, which would have increased its total to three.

The advent of multi-formatting, whereby a single appears in many different versions, caused some controversy in 1982 when The Jam's "Town Called Malice" went straight in at number one, thereby keeping The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" at number two. "Town Called Malice" was available in two different versions - the studio version on the 7" single and a live recording on the 12" - and EMI (The Stranglers' record company) protested to the British Market Research Bureau that many Jam fans were buying both versions of the record. However, the BMRB ruled that nothing untoward had taken place, and more than twenty years on multi-formatting has become the norm.

On a couple of occasions in chart history the wrong number one has been announced:

  • When the chart for the week ending 28 February 1976 was first unveiled, it was announced that Manuel and his Music Of The Mountains' version of the Spanish classical piece, Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, had dethroned The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" from the top spot. But moments after the chart had been made public, it was discovered that due to a catastrophic 'computer error' the entire chart was wrong. When the correct chart was compiled, Manuel (actually conductor Geoff Love) had been relegated to number 3 behind The Four Seasons and Tina Charles' "I Love To Love", and never did make number one.
  • In a similar incident for the week ending 10 November 1979, a compilation error led to the announcement that Dr Hook's "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" had toppled Lena Martell's "One Day At A Time." The error did not immediately come to light, though it was put right in time for that week's edition of Top of the Pops. Happily (for Dr Hook at least) "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" did make, and keep, the number one spot the following week.

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Sponsorship

There has been much controversy over the fact that the UK Singles Chart has, for many years, been sponsored by various companies. This in itself would be unremarkable were it not for the fact that the chart is broadcast exclusively on BBC Radio 1, a publicly owned radio station that cannot sell advertising or sponsorship. The singles chart sponsorship is, however, sold by the Official UK Charts Company, so the BBC does not receive any money from the deal. They have, in the past, mentioned the name of the sponsors during the chart rundown and this has in effect allowed the sponsors to do indirect advertising on a publicly owned radio station.

For many years the chart was sponsored by worldpop.com, a music website. However, in 2004, Coca Cola became the sponsors. For a while, the BBC continued the practice of mentioning the sponsoring company during the chart show, however there was a huge backlash against this, partly caused by controversy elsewhere over allowing sugary/fatty foods and drinks to be advertised to children. It was also considered controversial as it appeared (erroneously) that the BBC, a licence-fee supported organisation which does not allow advertising, was being itself sponsored.

The BBC initially stuck to its guns but eventually came to an agreement whereby the name would be dropped from its on-air broadcast.

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References

  1. ^ PC Pro: News: Beatles albums remastered for download debut
  2. ^ Beatles To Dominate Charts As EMI Lawsuit Settled - TrustedReviews

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See also

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External links

v • d • e
UK Music Charts



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