What if streaming was a thing in past decades?

[Groovy]

• Who would be the most streamed artists?
• What would be the most streamed songs?
• How would it affect the charts?

[SabrinaFan]

I'm not sure I have an answer for the first two questions, but I imagine that songs would be much shorter. It seems to be becoming a trend to have 2 minute (and even a few one minute) songs so more people stream it.

[Lost In Musical Reverie]

Album bombs from The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys + *NSYNC, Britney Spears, 50 Cent, and Lady Gaga - just to name a few.

I imagine Eminem would be even higher on the list for most streamed artists, given how impressive his recurrent streams are.

[Private Dancer]

Mariah Carey, Janet, Whitney, and Madonna would have more #1's and be one of the most streamed aetist of all time. Micheal Jackson would also have multiple #1's on with Donna Summer and Diana Ross.

[Lost In Musical Reverie]

Oh, and the High School Musical and Glee casts would absolutely have at least a #1 to their names.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Psy would have broken the longest number one record before LNX

[born]

Mar 18, 2021 15:14:25 GMT -5 SabrinaFan said:

I'm not sure I have an answer for the first two questions, but I imagine that songs would be much shorter. It seems to be becoming a trend to have 2 minute (and even a few one minute) songs so more people stream it.

It seems to me that older songs were also short in duration (around 2 to 3 minutes) until they got longer and longer around the 1980s-1990s (with many song from that era being 4+ minutes long). 

[Groovy]

Here's who I think would be the most streamed artist in each decade

50s: Elvis
60s: The Beatles
70s: Led Zepplin (I guess)
80s: Michael Jackson
90s: Mariah Carey
2000s: Eminem

Most streamed song in each decade

50s: Jailhouse Rock
60s: Hey Jude
70s: Bohemian Rhapsody
80s: Billie Jean
90s: I Will Always Love You
2000s: Lose Yourself

[Deleted]

Realistically, streaming could not have existed on a large enough scale to count toward the charts before the mid-90s at earliest, when home computers became more common. So this is what I imagine, within that context:

Billboard would probably have monitored streaming for years, but not counted it toward the Hot 100 until near the end of the '90s, which would have neatly coincided with the same time frame that BB also finally started letting songs without physical releases chart. Streaming would have taken off a lot faster and more evenly among all genre and age demographics because home computer/internet usage was on the rise and almost everyone would have immediately jumped on anything that gave them a chance to get on the information superhighway. Once allowed on the charts, hip-hop would have done well but ironically enough wouldn't have been nearly as dominant aside from five or six of its biggest stars; r&b and teen-pop would have shown to be the two most streamed genres on the whole.

Because of all demographics catching on to streaming at the same rate, I do think 'recurrent' catalog streaming would have been quite large as well, with older audiences using the 'new' technology right away. The Beatles, Michael Jackson/The Jackson 5, Prince, Whitney, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, and Eagles all come to mind as artists who would have fairly quickly amassed many billion-stream songs. '80s hits and '70s rock would have seen a huge resurgence in popularity.

Janet, still riding high on 90s popularity + a strong '80s catalog, would have been even more dominant than she already was. The SB incident would not have immediately killed off her recurrent streaming I don't think, so her legacy would not have taken such a hard hit and certainly not for such a long span of time.

For the '90s, Mariah or Janet would have been the most streamed artist and either I Will Always Love You or Candle In The Wind would have been the most streamed song. Most streamed album would have been a toss-up between The Bodyguard sdtk, Mariah's Daydream, and Garth Brooks' Double Live.

The teen-pop phase would have lasted until 2006-2007 instead of being cut abruptly short after 2001. (That phase was essentially forced out rather than allowed to die off naturally because radio PDs didn't like that their audiences were starting to skew 'too young' for their advertisers. If streaming had been around radio would not have had the power to kill off a whole trend.)

No Strings Attached would have been the first album to take over the entire Hot 100 top 10 with its debut week...and then *NSYNC would have done it again with the Celebrity album. With streaming keeping pure pop going strong longer, I think we would have gotten two or three more albums out of them (with or without Justin), and JC's solo career probably would have worked out very differently.

Usher, Eminem, and Nelly would likely have been the most streamed artists of the 2000s, We Belong Together would have been the most streamed song of the 2000s, and NSA would have been the most streamed album. We Belong Together, not Old Town Road, would have broken One Sweet Day's record.

[chillpill]

If Myspace streams counted, lots of emo/pop punk bands of the 2000s would be all over the charts.

[Lost In Musical Reverie]

Mar 19, 2021 14:25:17 GMT -5 chillpill said:

If Myspace streams counted, lots of emo/pop punk bands of the 2000s would be all over the charts.

Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Paramore, and My Chemical Romance would have much more hits to their name, and that's an alternate reality I'd really love!

However, that would also mean Blood On The Dance Floor would be likely to chart, and that is not a good prospect at all. 😬

[Envoirment]

Christmas songs would be the most streamed songs. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" would likely be the most streamed song of all time.

A number of massive film/movie soundtracks would likely be the most streamed albums of all time: Saturday Night Fever, Dirty Dancing, Grease etc.

Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997" would likely set the streaming record for most streams in a day and week - a record it would likely hold on to forever possibly.

[nickd]

Assuming that streaming and computers were widespread even in the 1950s...

Probably a lot of music that was shunned from radio would have been a lot more dominant on the charts. Right now, it doesn't matter if 70% of the population dislikes a song, as long as ~5% really like it, and stream it heavily, that will be enough to make it chart high on the Hot 100. Therefore, music that was deemed too explicit, loud, violent, or immature would have done better on the charts, whether that's gangsta rap, heavy metal, or teen-pop.

Artists idolized by teen girls (Elvis, The Beatles, ABBA, Backstreet Boys, Britney) and teen boys (Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Eminem) would've have somewhat sidelined the ones geared towards more mature audiences.

There would also have been less of a distinction between album artists and singles artists. Album artists would just have album bombs with hits to go along with them.

[ampersand]

Britney would have a lot more #1s to her name. The peaks of her earlier singles are too low considering how iconic these songs have become.

[Lost In Musical Reverie]

Mar 20, 2021 10:13:52 GMT -5 ampersand said:

Britney would have a lot more #1s to her name. The peaks of her earlier singles are too low considering how iconic these songs have become.

If she had enough hype to her name to get songs like "3" and "Hold It Against Me" to debut at #1 (pre-streaming, only considering sales), imagine the huge numbers for the likes of "Oops...I Did It Again", "I'm A Slave 4 U", "Me Against The Music", "Toxic", and "Gimme More" had they been released with streaming existing.

[Joe1240]

The MTV TRL popular artists from that era [Britney Spears,Christina Aguilera,*NSYNC,Backstreet Boys etc.] would of had higher peaks on the charts, the songs were popular MTV staples that were well known beyond their Billboard Chart peaks and Artists at the time based their album cycles around MTV TRL.

[degen]

Mar 23, 2021 22:36:49 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

The MTV TRL popular artists from that era [Britney Spears,Christina Aguilera,*NSYNC,Backstreet Boys etc.] would of had higher peaks on the charts, the songs were popular MTV staples that were well known beyond their Billboard Chart peaks and Artists at the time based their album cycles around MTV TRL.

Imagine a controversial video like “Dirrty” in 2002. The backlash would’ve caused the song to hit #1 like it did for a WAP or Montreo. Pop culture is certainly better reflected on the Hot 100 now than it was in the early 2000s.

[leoapp]

Mariah = most of her album tracks from Music Box, Daydream and TEOM charting on Hot 100.

Im A Slave 4 U and Dirrty = WAP of early 2000s, tragic that both songs underperformed on Hot 100

Bieber's Baby era/Gaga's Fame era = billion times bigger

One Direction = scoring multiple no. 1s and easy multiple album bombs

Gangnam Style = biggest Korean language no. 1 ever, and probably the first song to beat One Sweet Day's 16 weeks record at no. 1

Teenage Dream = easy "most top 5s from 1 album" record and probably surpassing MJ as the most no. 1s from 1 album

[Enigma.]

Mar 19, 2021 12:25:19 GMT -5 @antigonerising said:

The teen-pop phase would have lasted until 2006-2007 instead of being cut abruptly short after 2001. (That phase was essentially forced out rather than allowed to die off naturally because radio PDs didn't like that their audiences were starting to skew 'too young' for their advertisers. If streaming had been around radio would not have had the power to kill off a whole trend.)

This is so true and always forgotten - Britney's Toxic and Everytime would've probably hit #1, also Avril, Kelly Clarkson, Kylie's CGYOOMH could've been a top 3 hit etc.

[jdanton2]

two of the early Rap songs of the 80's Rappers Delight only peaked at #36 and The Message only peaked at #62. they would certainly have charted much higher with streaming.

[legend1982]

"Thriller" (the song) would be a #1 hit. Probably cutting into the run of "Say Say Say" when it premiered in December 1983.

[Kris]

Iris would probably surpass Too Close for the #1 song of 1998. I Want It That Way might have been the biggest song of 1999.

[Choco]

Britney's impact would be better represented on the charts, that's for sure.

[alexandria2001]

The 2000s:

Streaming is very much dominated by Hip Hop, of course, since Hip Hop has been the true dominant form of music since the early 2000s, which means this would fit the 2000s very much so. There'd be a lot of album bombs, most of them coming from Eminem, Jay Z, Kanye West, 50 Cent, and Lil Wayne. The biggest among them being The Slim Shady Show in 2002, The Blueprint in 2001, The Black Album in 2003, Late Registration in 2005, Graduation in 2007, 808s and Heartbreak in 2008, The Carter II in 2005, and The Carter III in 2008. Many of these would spawn new number one hits such as "Izzo (HOVA)" by Jay Z (cutting "Fallin'" a couple weeks short at number one) and "A Milli" by Lil Wayne ("Lollipop" would have gone number one upon week of release. "Love In This Club" and "Bleeding Love" would be affected by these two, but they'd both still be at number one for at least two weeks each.)

Other album bombs would only be from any powerhouse pop artists, such as Britney Spears and Rihanna. Smaller pop acts would have a harder time getting an album bomb (or more frequent and/or larger ones) since streaming gives the advantage towards Hip Hop. Oops! I Did It Again would be a huge album bomb in 2000, In The Zone and Blackout would be pretty huge album bombs too. "Oops! I Did It Again" would debut at number one, unseating "Maria Maria" for a week or two, "Toxic" and "Everytime" would probably be blocked by "Yeah!" by Usher & Lil Jon, although if the song would have never had longevity on streaming, then "Everytime" would peak at #1 at one point if it could get past "Burn" by Usher in the second week. "Gimme More" would likely be blocked from #1 by "Crank That." As for Rihanna, "SOS" would reach #1 on the week of Girl Like Me's release, unseating "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter for a week, then returning to #1 after.

Hip Hop would be more successful than it already was, major pop artists would get a bit more #1 hits as well. Emo, Pop Punk and/or Punk (along with rock at the time in general) would have a larger presence on the charts, as it was all popular with the younger listeners who would still be dominating streaming, with Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, and Linkin Park etc. charting a lot more songs. The three mentioned above would get some sizeable album bombs as well, especially Linkin Park.

The most streamed songs of the decade would come down to "Yeah!" by Usher & Lil Jon, "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, and "Low" by Flo Rida. "Lose Yourself" being released the earliest, along with it being attributed to the artist of the 2000s, would give it that advantage.

The most streamed artists would be Eminem, Beyonce, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Linkin Park.

It is possible One Sweet Day's record would be broken in the 2000s if streaming was a huge thing back then. "Lose Yourself" could've done it, if it would get passed "All I Have" by Jennifer Lopez. It would have 16-17 weeks at number one, matching or breaking the record. "Yeah!" would be very close, matching the record at best, if it would have enough longevity on streaming, also managing to outsream "Burn" for a few weeks. "We Belong Together" would likely still be blocked by "Gold Digger," so it wouldn't get passed 14 weeks at #1. "I Gotta Feeling" may seem like the next likely contender, but it would have to find a way to be number one for two-three more weeks. "Down" by Jay Sean having Lil Wayne on it would be an obsticle, then the week after it's "3" by Britney Spears. Also "Run This Town" would probably have gone number one due to the Hip Hop streaming advantage, unseating "I Gotta Feeling," earlier, which couldn't have gone #1 earlier anyway since it came out in June 2009. So it looks like it would have to be "Lose Yourself." If not, then "Yeah!" would. If not, then "Old Town Road" does in 2019.

This would be give some good leverage to any hip hop songs that missed year end charts during the 2000s. "We Takin' Over" comes to mind for 2007.

BUT there'd still be some room for pop songs that didn't make a year end list to make a year end list. "Gimme More" would be more likely to make the 2008 year-end, for example.