20th Century Hot 100 #1s: Spotify Plays

[renaboss]

Mar 14, 2018 16:17:01 GMT -5 iHype. said:

Similar situation with If Wishes Came True -- despite being their only #1 (and ONLY Top 10) its their third most streamed song.


Cases like this where much smaller chart hits at the time are more remembered tend to make me think the label manipulation got to a very strong point in 1989-1991. Almost all the lowest streamed #1s of the 80s/90s are from that period. And that was the fastest turnover on Hot 100 -- new #1's almost every week. 

I wasn't even alive then so I will never be a good testament, but it seems like a #1 like If Wishes Came True didn't even feel that big then. Judging by how absolutely completely forgotten it has become. Would it have even gone top 10 if Nielsen data had been incorporated prior to its release

I'd say that's a very valid point, it always stood out to me how the late 80s have so many #1's that didn't stand the test of time, when I'm pretty sure I knew every #1 song in the first half of the decade that wasn't by Hall & Oates (I only knew "Maneater", no idea why, and to this day have yet to hear anything else of theirs on the radio, despite "Maneater"'s frequent plays). 

[renfield75]

I started watching the charts in late '89/early '90 and remember all of these songs very well. They were definitely on the radio and popular, but many of them absolutely wouldn't have come anywhere near number one if SoundScan had been adopted earlier. You also have to remember that most other radio formats weren't part of the panel then, so a lot of songs that were huge on R&B/Country/Rock radio were only charting with their CHR airplay and sales. That held back songs like "The Humpty Dance" and "OPP" in favor of tunes by Michael Bolton and Paula Abdul. By late '91, the growing popularity of songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the Geto Boys' "Mind Playin' Tricks On Me" led Billboard to drop the Hot 100 from use on American Top 40 and replace it with the CHR Top 40 Airplay chart. Many top 40 stations no longer wanted to play the songs that were *actually* in the top 40! We've pretty much seen that situation continue to this day...

[matty005]

Mar 13, 2018 13:20:08 GMT -5 Gary said:

I am more old school. I was raised on actually purchasing the song.

With my itunes library containing about 100,000 songs haven't had a need quite yet, but I am getting there.

So you've spent $100,000+ on music?

[Gary]

no quite a bit less


100,000 songs not all at once, accumulated over a long period, many of those songs were transferred to my library from CDs

[85la]

^ yeah you can transfer songs from CD's into iTunes as well

[matty005]

Mar 14, 2018 22:45:46 GMT -5 Gary said:

no quite a bit less


100,000 songs not all at once, accumulated over a long period, many of those songs were transferred to my library from CDs

Well yes, but if you bought CD's that costs money too.

[velaxti]

Mar 12, 2018 22:13:00 GMT -5 renfield75 said:

Mar 12, 2018 20:47:18 GMT -5 jebsib said:

Incredible. Thank you!

Fascinating how different these are from the "Most Weeks at #1" from the actual time periods.

I think it has something to do with enduring burnout...like people in the early 80s loved "Physical" but got so sick of hearing it they never wanted to hear it again. Same thing for songs like "Macarena", "Blurred Lines", and, likely, "Despacito".

Biggest example I can think of is I Gotta Feeling. It was everywhere from 2009 - 2011, but I've practically never heard it since then.

[velaxti]

Mar 15, 2018 5:03:14 GMT -5 matty005 said:

Mar 14, 2018 22:45:46 GMT -5 Gary said:

no quite a bit less


100,000 songs not all at once, accumulated over a long period, many of those songs were transferred to my library from CDs

Well yes, but if you bought CD's that costs money too.

It seems like so much money... But it could be considerably cheaper than it seems, because you can buy second-hand compilation albums with 30 songs for a dollar from a charity shop for example. And in the 2000s I remember it was quite common for magazines to come with a free CD, and that sort of thing. So there are ways you can save a lot of money and get such a huge library. And if you have a partner maybe they get (and pay for) half the songs.

[jebsib]

I've spent well over $20,000 on music… over 35 years and I know TONS of people who have too.
LPs to Tapes to CDs to MP3s.
Had we known, right?

[Gary]

LOL - yeah - for instance - I bought Thriller probably 5 times so far (all configurations of the original plus the anniversary editions as they come out - I am surprised there is no 35th anniversary edition)

I have a closet full of CDs, all have been transferred to digital.


No - it is not 100,000 1.29 on iTunes for each track

also not 100,0000 different songs either

(The same song could show up on multiple albums)

[renaboss]

Ok I got Spotify, but I'm hovering over the popularity bars and getting no info on the total streams. Is there any other way to do this?

[iHype.]

Mar 15, 2018 12:58:43 GMT -5 renaboss said:

Ok I got Spotify, but I'm hovering over the popularity bars and getting no info on the total streams. Is there any other way to do this?

You're not seeing this?

Hovering under popularity bars causes that to happen

[renaboss]

^^I'm really not. :/ Oh well.

[iHype.]

Mar 14, 2018 14:09:20 GMT -5 renaboss said:

Is "You Are Not Alone" a forgotten hit? I can guarantee people in general know that song here in Portugal.

It's a head-scratcher for me that "She Ain't Worth It" was a #1 hit when the song I and people in general know from Glenn Medeiros is "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You". #1 in the UK, #12 in the US, but that happens a lot, lots of songs known on a European scale didn't make it that big in the US.

The vice-versa also happens, of course. I always think of Rod Stewart, who had big UK hits with "Sailing", "I Don't Want to Talk About It" and "Baby Jane", which weren't that big in the US, but he scored US top 10 hits with the likes of "You're in My Heart", "Infatuation" or "My Heart Can't Tell You No", songs I'd never heard before I got into the Billboard chart's history. Then there's the case of Queen and ABBA, huge in Europe (HUGE!), moderate in the US.

Mar 14, 2018 15:22:52 GMT -5 jebsib said:

"She Ain't Worth It" had Bobby Brown on it 1 year after the "Don't Be Cruel" tsunami; It was bound to be #1.

3 years earlier, when Glenn's "Nothing" came out, he was seen as a newcomer teen act when no teen singers were doing well in the U.S. (pre Tiffany, Debbie & New Kids). The song took FOREVER to climb the charts domestically, but by the time it did hit #12, it was presented to the UK as a "Big American Hit" and thus broke through into Europe.

Mar 14, 2018 15:28:18 GMT -5 renfield75 said:

Mar 14, 2018 14:09:20 GMT -5 renaboss said:

It's a head-scratcher for me that "She Ain't Worth It" was a #1 hit when the song I and people in general know from Glenn Medeiros is "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You". #1 in the UK, #12 in the US, but that happens a lot, lots of songs known on a European scale didn't make it that big in the US.

The vice-versa also happens, of course. I always think of Rod Stewart, who had big UK hits with "Sailing", "I Don't Want to Talk About It" and "Baby Jane", which weren't that big in the US, but he scored US top 10 hits with the likes of "You're in My Heart", "Infatuation" or "My Heart Can't Tell You No", songs I'd never heard before I got into the Billboard chart's history. Then there's the case of Queen and ABBA, huge in Europe (HUGE!), moderate in the US.

"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" is also much better remembered in the US than "She Ain't Worth It", despite the weekly chart differences. Glenn Medeiros built up some public goodwill with "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" and that spilled over to the chart run of "She Ain't Worth It". It didn't hurt that he featured Bobby Brown on the song, the year after Bobby's epic run of singles from 'Don't Be Cruel'. It's too bad "She Ain't Worth It" is so forgotten now; I always thought it was a super-catchy pop tune with top notch production!
EDIT: ha ha jebsib we were posting this at the same time!

Mar 14, 2018 15:31:05 GMT -5 Gary said:

Mar 14, 2018 15:22:52 GMT -5 jebsib said:

"She Ain't Worth It" had Bobby Brown on it 1 year after the "Don't Be Cruel" tsunami; It was bound to be #1.

3 years earlier, when Glenn's "Nothing" came out, he was seen as a newcomer teen act when no teen singers were doing well in the U.S. (pre Tiffany, Debbie & New Kids). The song took FOREVER to climb the charts domestically, but by the time it did hit #12, it was presented to the UK as a "Big American Hit" and thus broke through into Europe.

Speaking of Bobby Brown - New Edition was an example of a teen act in the 80s - pre Tiffany, etc.

This bump seems so random, but I actually heard She Ain't Worth It out in public today so I wanted to share! 

I heard it blaring from a store while visiting NYC. 

It's now fell to last place among 90s #1's in Spotify streams, and is the least streamed #1 period since 1972 (not counting the few unavailable ones). Making it arguably the most forgotten #1 of the last almost 50 years. 

24K streams the past 4 months - less than 250 streams per day! (I can't believe a song that was once the most popular in the entire country can become so forgotten lol)


I'll try to update this soon. Not sure if I should wait until 6 months or so though. 

[renaboss]

^^Interesting. It always makes me so happy when forgotten #1/top 10 hits get played on the radio or wherever.

As for "You Are Not Alone", heard it again on the radio just last night. It's just one of the regular MJ songs that play on occasion, like "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "Black or White", etc. It's definitely up there in his catalogue (here in Portugal, I mean). Whereas I can't remember the last time I heard #1's such as "The Way You Make Me Feel" or "Dirty Diana" (sadly).

[jenglisbe]

Mar 14, 2018 7:29:32 GMT -5 renaboss said:

It's also disappointing to see Mariah doesn't rank particularly high in the 90s, despite having the most #1's. I already knew her songs didn't do that well overtime, aside from the Christmas one, but still. Oh, and that they were way bigger in the U.S. than in the rest of the world. The problem with that also is, if an artist has way too many hits, the fans' attention will be divided between said hits. I think it's easier somehow for a one-hit wonder to get more streams for their respective hit.

A few of her songs are ranked high, and she does much better if you look at YouTube/VEVO where she has 6 videos from the 90s over 100 million views (and 2 are over 200 million with “Wthout You” about to cross that mark as well). Overall her streaming is actually better than Madonna, Whitney, and Celine so I don’t know why you singled her out.

[jenglisbe]

Mar 15, 2018 6:00:38 GMT -5 velaxti said:

Mar 12, 2018 22:13:00 GMT -5 renfield75 said:

I think it has something to do with enduring burnout...like people in the early 80s loved "Physical" but got so sick of hearing it they never wanted to hear it again. Same thing for songs like "Macarena", "Blurred Lines", and, likely, "Despacito".

Biggest example I can think of is I Gotta Feeling. It was everywhere from 2009 - 2011, but I've practically never heard it since then.

A singular experience doesn’t necessarily represent the whole; I hear “IGAF” at sporting events, for instance.

[Deleted]

Jul 2, 2018 12:09:20 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Mar 15, 2018 6:00:38 GMT -5 velaxti said:

Biggest example I can think of is I Gotta Feeling. It was everywhere from 2009 - 2011, but I've practically never heard it since then.

A singular experience doesn’t necessarily represent the whole; I hear “IGAF” at sporting events, for instance.

I just heard IGAF on the radio this weekend.

It's also in that phase where it's too new to be on oldies stations, but too old to be a common recurrent on pop stations.

[jenglisbe]

Mar 14, 2018 7:29:32 GMT -5 renaboss said:

The problem with that also is, if an artist has way too many hits, the fans' attention will be divided between said hits. I think it's easier somehow for a one-hit wonder to get more streams for their respective hit.

I think this is a big point. When most people want to listen to the Spice Girls, Oasis, or even a Guns N Roses, they’re mostly going to 2-3 songs at most. When people want to hear Mariah, Madonna, Janet, etc there are a lot of songs and styles to choose from, so they might pick one from many or even have a playlist of 10 songs as opposed to listening to the same song 5 times. As an example, I work in a high school and the students request songs for dances. They will always request a “Wannabe” or “This is How We Do It.” For Mariah we get requests for “Always Be My Baby,” “Fantasy,” “We Beong Together,” “Shake It Off,” or of course “AIWFCIY” around the holidays, but we’ll only play one of them so across dances different ones get played.

[owenlovesmusic]

California Love and How Do U Want It are 2 different songs on Spotify. Why do they count as the same?

[renaboss]

Jul 2, 2018 12:07:08 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Mar 14, 2018 7:29:32 GMT -5 renaboss said:

It's also disappointing to see Mariah doesn't rank particularly high in the 90s, despite having the most #1's. I already knew her songs didn't do that well overtime, aside from the Christmas one, but still. Oh, and that they were way bigger in the U.S. than in the rest of the world. The problem with that also is, if an artist has way too many hits, the fans' attention will be divided between said hits. I think it's easier somehow for a one-hit wonder to get more streams for their respective hit.

A few of her songs are ranked high, and she does much better if you look at YouTube/VEVO where she has 6 videos from the 90s over 100 million views (and 2 are over 200 million with “Wthout You” about to cross that mark as well). Overall her streaming is actually better than Madonna, Whitney, and Celine so I don’t know why you singled her out.

I must have singled her out because she had the most #1's in the 90's, I no longer remember. And also, because I feel like Mariah is somehow the least known/remembered here in Portugal, perhaps in Europe as a whole. I also feel like she lacks a "song" (other than the Christmas one). Whitney has "I Will Always Love You", Céline has "My Heart Will Go On", what is Mariah's song?

[iHype.]

Jul 2, 2018 12:34:06 GMT -5 owenlovesmusic said:

California Love and How Do U Want It are 2 different songs on Spotify. Why do they count as the same?

I only counted California Love's streams. For double-sided #1's I counted the streams of the actual single that was being promoted to radio.

[jenglisbe]

Jul 2, 2018 15:10:58 GMT -5 renaboss said:

Jul 2, 2018 12:07:08 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

A few of her songs are ranked high, and she does much better if you look at YouTube/VEVO where she has 6 videos from the 90s over 100 million views (and 2 are over 200 million with “Wthout You” about to cross that mark as well). Overall her streaming is actually better than Madonna, Whitney, and Celine so I don’t know why you singled her out.

I must have singled her out because she had the most #1's in the 90's, I no longer remember. And also, because I feel like Mariah is somehow the least known/remembered here in Portugal, perhaps in Europe as a whole. I also feel like she lacks a "song" (other than the Christmas one). Whitney has "I Will Always Love You", Céline has "My Heart Will Go On", what is Mariah's song?

First of all, why does the Christmas one not count? Secondly, the two examples you mention were songs from movies, which obviously helped those songs have a larger presence/meaning. To that end Madonna, Janet, etc don't have a particular song that is their biggest like those two examples, but that doesn't mean they aren't successful artists. And once you get past those two examples you mention, Mariah has more songs overall that do well in streaming than the others:

YouTube
Mariah has 12 videos over 100 million views (6 are from the 90s), with 3 being over 200 million views; "Obsessed" is soon to pass 100 million and "Without You" is soon to pass 200 million
Whitney has 7 videos over 100 million views (4 are from the 90s), with 2 being over 200 million views
Madonna has 2 videos over 100 million views (0 from the 90s), with neither being over 200 million views...this is tough because many of hers are listed under Warner Bros and not Madonna
Celine has 4 videos over 100 million views (1 from the 90s), with none being over 200 million views...live videos for "MHWGO" and "BYLM" are used and likely hurt their view counts
Janet has 0 videos over 100 million views...sadly she has by far the worst streaming

Spotify
Mariah has 2 songs over 100 million streams and 6 over 50 million streams...she also has a lot (at least 6) in the 30-50 million range
Whitney has 2 songs over 100 million streams and 4 over 50 million streams
Madonna has 0 songs over 100 million streams and 3 over 50 million streams...the plays for her songs aren't all combined so I could be off a bit
Celine has 1 songs over 100 million streams and 2 over 50 million streams
Janet has 0 songs over 100 million streams and 0 songs over 50 million streams...again, poor Janet

[jenglisbe]

"Don't Stop Believin'" obviously took off in the 00s with use in Laguna Beach, Scrubs, The Sopranos, and Family Guy and has over 455 million Spotify plays. Incredible.

I feel like "Africa" has only more recently taken off in popularity, but it already has over 360 million streams on Spotify (so it has increased a lot just since this thread was created). I don't really know when it took off, though, outside of some memes.

It is interesting how much better the 80s do in Spotify streaming. I wonder if that holds true for YouTube.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Jul 2, 2018 16:09:06 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

Jul 2, 2018 15:10:58 GMT -5 renaboss said:

I must have singled her out because she had the most #1's in the 90's, I no longer remember. And also, because I feel like Mariah is somehow the least known/remembered here in Portugal, perhaps in Europe as a whole. I also feel like she lacks a "song" (other than the Christmas one). Whitney has "I Will Always Love You", Céline has "My Heart Will Go On", what is Mariah's song?

First of all, why does the Christmas one not count? Secondly, the two examples you mention were songs from movies, which obviously helped those songs have a larger presence/meaning. To that end Madonna, Janet, etc don't have a particular song that is their biggest like those two examples, but that doesn't mean they aren't successful artists. And once you get past those two examples you mention, Mariah has more songs overall that do well in streaming than the others:

Whitney's YouTube numbers also need to take into account that she died suddenly and the media attention around her certainly drove a lot of traffic to her back catalog. Which isn't to take away from the number of views, but if Madonna or Mariah died, you can image there would also be a spike for them in views/streams