Charts can be very interesting to check out. At the end of February, Ariana Grande accomplished something that hadn't been done since the heyday of the Beatles: Have the top 3 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. The last time that happened you had to go back 55 years to the heyday of Beatlemania, when the Fab Four had the top five songs in the country.
The Beatles' accomplishment was even more meaningful back then because sales were tracked by physical records, which, unlike digital downloads or streaming, cost a lot to put out on the market (as a comparison, for example, back then, 45 RPM singles cost roughly 75 cents, while the average digital download is $1.29.....not too shabby when you factored in inflation over the past five and a half decades). The way current chart mythology works is that a song doesn't have to be a single to make the Hot 100 these days. You can stream any track from any album these days; and many songs can debut on the chart at one time (Grande, for example, has several songs on the big chart for that week).
Perhaps you can compare the records being set to the home run record in baseball. Records that once seemed very impossible to break, became easy during the so-call "steroid era" in that sport. While Grande did achieve an accomplishment with the top three songs, that phenomenon isn't that hard to achieve, giving the current technology and methodology.
Another, more important chart milestone actually occurred this past November, when, spurred by the recent movie Bohemian Rhapsody, about the life of its late lead singer Freddie Mercury, Queen jumped back on the charts at #33, making it the third time around for that classic track. It originally peaked at #9 in 1976 (and landed on my year-end top 100 for that year at #55). In 1992, thanks to its inclusion in the movie Wayne's World, which featured Garth and Dwayne singing along to the track (and included in the video), taking it to #2 this time around.
The accomplishment puts it on a par with Prince's "1999" which had four appearances on the Billboard Hot 100. First, it reached the top 40 when released (from the album of the same name) in the fall of 1982. After the next single "Little Red Corvette" made the top 10 in early 1983, the song was re-released and made it to #12. When the actual year 1999 came around, it re-entered the chart once again. Finally, the Purple One's passing resulted in one more appearance.
I got the chance to watch Bohemian Rhapsody on Amazon Prime recently and concur it is an awesome powerful, if not entirely historically accurate movie. The movie won several Academy Awards, most notably for Rami Malek's performance as Mercury.
Watching the movie just serves to refresh the memory of what an awesome band Queen was (and still in, as they still perform these days with Adam Lambert taking lead). In their heyday, they had many hits, but perhaps with the exception of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the similar-sounding "Somebody To Love" and "Bicycle Race", all of their hits are completely different from each other. Their first big song, for example, "Killer Queen" from their third set Sheer Heart Attack, is an accessible rock cut. "We Are the Champions" is an sports arena favorite, as is the chant-worthy flip of that song, "We Will Rock You". "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" echoes the rockabilly movement of the last 1950's, while "Another One Bites the Dust" is an ode to the funk and disco era.
In an era that is dominated by soft, fluffy, sparse pop music, it's nice that a movie about one of the best rock bands in that era has gotten much play.
Now, if only it could be more reflected in the current charts.
I am a couple weeks behind, so just a few notes on my SNS chart for March 3. It's a third week at the top for The Revivalists' "Change". Combined with the band's "You and I", which it succeeded, that means the New Orleans band has been at the top for six weeks straight. "Change" once again holds off Elle King's "Baby Outlaw". Cage the Elephant's "Ready To Let Go" is the biggest mover into the top 20 this week. Among the new entries, "Red Bull & Hennessy" by Jenny Lewis is the Top Debut. Lewis, formerly of the band Rilo Kiley, has made the SNS 100 as part of the duo Jenny and Johnny, with "Big Wave" which hit #10 back in 2011. She also soloed with "Just One of the Guys" which reached #46 in 2014. Right behind Lewis is the second single from St.Paul & the Broken Bones latest album Young Sick Camillia, "GotItBad". Kurt Vile's 9 and a half minute "Bassackwards and The Stumbellas' "Salvation", along with the not-heard-in-quite sometime David Gray (remember his "Babylon" from 2001?), with "A Tight Ship", also enter the list this week.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
March 3, 2019
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 |
NUMBER ONE:
Album: Take Good Care
(3 weeks at #1)
|
6 |
| 2 | 2 | Elle King - Baby Outlaw | 7 |
| 3 | 3 | Tennis- I Miss That Feelin' | 7 |
| 4 | 4 | The Cranberries - All Over Now | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | Panic at the Disco - High Hopes● | 19 |
| 6 | 6 | The Revivalists - You and I | 12 |
| 7 | 11 | San Cisco - When I Dream | 6 |
| 8 | 10 | Dennis Lloyd - Nevermind | 17 |
| 9 | 7 | Kitten - Pink Champagne | 15 |
| 10 | 13 | Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Hey Mama | 7 |
| 11 | 8 | Foster the People - Worst Nights | 9 |
| 12 | 12 | The Big Takeover - Girlie Girlie | 8 |
| 13 | 19 | STRFKR - In the End | 5 |
| 14 | 25 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
Album: Social Cues
|
4 |
| 15 | 21 | Greta Van Fleet - You're the One | 7 |
| 16 | 18 | Houses - Fast Talk | 8 |
| 17 | 9 | Marshmello & Bastille - Happier | 16 |
| 18 | 24 | The Kooks - Chicken Bone | 4 |
| 19 | 17 | Leon Bridges - If It Feels Good | 11 |
| 20 | 33 | Kungs f Ritual - You Remain | 4 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
No comments:
Post a Comment