Billboard Hot 100: 12/26/2020

[neverduplicated]

^ And that's the thing, everyone is so up and arms about #1 songs when we all know what a #1 song means is that, according to Billboard's chart rules, that song highest combination of streams, sales, and airplay. If "Willow" is #1 this week, it deserves it because according to the rules, it was #1 for that week and that week only. If you are so concerned about longevity, then focus on year-end or all-time charts or total consumption or whatever. Your average person who doesn't follow the charts probably thinks "Love Story," "YBWM," and "IKYWT" were #1 hits when they were not. This is a thread devoted to songs that get the highest consumption in a given week, however that may happen. Look down the Hot 100 - how many songs have remixes that are helping them chart higher than they would've without remixes? People only seem concerned when the #1 spot is in question. It looks like "Willow" and "AIWFCIY" will be neck-and-neck even without the remixes, so it's not like the remixes alone are what could propel the song to #1.

[Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...]

Is that real? You can get 4 copies for .69 thru her website? And that counts as 4 copies?

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Dec 15, 2020 21:56:28 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

Dec 15, 2020 20:57:57 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

It would be interesting if Billboard decided to split all remixes and count them separately. Honestly, I don’t even think I’d mind because it would make sense - until we get to a week where a BTS or even a Taylor has the top two with different versions of the same song.

I do think remixes need to count either way though. They’re part of what people are consuming. You can’t leave something out just because it’s “unfair”. In terms of things that need fixing, there are definitely other things that are more urgent.

maybe they should count only one remix/version (the best performing one) or something like that.

Dec 15, 2020 20:57:57 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

I do think remixes need to count either way though. They’re part of what people are consuming. You can’t leave something out just because it’s “unfair”.

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Dec 15, 2020 23:12:59 GMT -5 Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... said:

Is that real? You can get 4 copies for .69 thru her website? And that counts as 4 copies?

No, because then those sales wouldn't count. It is actually "Limit 4 per customer." at that price each.

[pancakes]

The remixes for willow don’t sound too good. The Elvira remix, in particular, sounds really bad.

[dremolus - solarpunk]

willow is on track to being the most streamed song of the week. Remixes or not, I do not how it shouldn't be number one

[𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤]

[ificanthaveyou]

Lol need I remind you all of these gems. Let’s not pretend Taylor is THAT bad.

[𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤]

^ THANK GOD 4 RODDY RICCH 😭🙏🏻

[ificanthaveyou]

Dec 16, 2020 1:28:41 GMT -5 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 said:

^ THANK GOD 4 RODDY RICCH 😭🙏🏻

Lmfao I streamed Roddy like crazy that week!

[lazer]

Roddy Ricch deserves an award for blocking Yucky.

[m450n]

Dec 15, 2020 20:14:27 GMT -5 myhouse911 said:

As some like to claim here, Taylor's just releasing remixes because she wants to, it was her birthday and it's for the fans, right? lol

Lol, the funny thing is that she is releasing remixes cause she wants to.

I'm not denying that Taylor doesn't care about hitting #1, but I just thought that calling her shameless for releasing one remix at the time was dumb.

[fridayteenage]

I find last minute collab remixes more questionable. Such as Lover w/Shawn.

Or Savage Love w/BTS. Or Say So w/Nicki.

[Hefty Hanna]

I don’t see any harm with these remixes. I also don’t see the difference between this and all of the chart tricks from the 90s, 00s and 10s etc. Also they tend to usually not make much of a difference at all when all is said and done?

I think the only thing I can’t stand behind is payola.

[jthentic]

I hope you broke me first, my ex's best friend & diamonds survive the album bombs & Christmas shitstorm

[iamsorare]

Why is she so desperate? According to early Predictions the difference for that number one spot was only 4-5 points.only one remix was enough..she will be out of top 10 the second week but congratulations for the #1 peak..she wanted it so much

[𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤]

Dec 16, 2020 2:56:15 GMT -5 jthentic said:

I hope you broke me first, my ex's best friend & diamonds survive the album bombs & Christmas shitstorm

I'm worried about the latter 2 (especially diamonds) but you broke me first should be fine. Its finally getting triple digit gains at pop radio, so that plus its already strong streaming support should keep it afloat.

[dremolus - solarpunk]

Well after this week, we have the final week of the Christmas freeze since the tracking since Christmas Day falls on Friday. After that, expect the entire Top 40 to clear

[thegreatdivine]

To all the people pointing out that Taylor and her multiple remixes gimmick aren't a new thing, that stuff like that has always happened in the music industry and that we should blame Billboard and not the artists who decide to engage in that, how does that work? It's perfectly okay to criticize BOTH Taylor AND Billboard.

First of all, if I remember correctly, we're pretty consistent with our criticisms about anything we regard as chart manipulation/an inorganic push of a song to #1 or the top 10. We started with criticizing (and even mocking) Justin Bieber for that whole Yummy mess early this year and we've kept the same energy for every artist who has tried to do the same thing, so why should Taylor be treated any different?

Because something is "allowed" doesn't make it right. Like someone else mentioned earlier, cardigan and willow will not be remembered as Taylor's biggest hits despite them peaking at #1 because they aren't hits. The GP and most of Taylor fans won't recall them as hit records that they enjoyed in comparison with her older, other actual hits. Taylor is doing this because she desperately wants to keep up the image of her being a mainstream commercial juggernaut. That goes to another point about how none of her songs have stuck since the reputation era but that's another discussion for another day.

Everyone who visits this forum loves music/music charts and as much as we know that there's always been some level of smokes and mirrors being used in the music industry in terms of the true performance of the songs and sometimes albums of a lot of musicians, it's still annoying when a song reaches an advantageous position on the charts only because of some gimmick or loophole being exploited.

willow will debut at #1, most likely fall out of the top 10 the following week and will be forgotten entirely by the time the new year is here.

I guess another side of it (for me, at least), is that it just sucks seeing artists go to such great lengths to maintain the illusion of being massive commercial acts, whether they're desperately trying to get a song to the peak position on the charts or they're exploiting every loophole to give their albums the biggest debut possible. I understand how fixated the industry, fans and the media are about first week numbers, but I wish more of these artists were concerned about the long-term performance of their songs/albums as opposed to that first week. Oh well.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

It does feel kind of pointless gunning for the top spot when most will greet "Willow" topping with an asterisk (as it isn't likely to garner the longevity in radio/streaming/sales most #1s would acquire so to speak "legitimize" its status). I suppose they want the title tho. I think their efforts would be better focused on pushing the album (as she is far more an album artist than a singles artist). I myself don't mind a remix, but it absolutely can get to a point where it gets ridiculous and feels way too excessive (like with "Me" and "Old Town Road" etc) and we are reaching that point with "Willow". It does feel like it cheapens things a bit tbh.

[thegreatdivine]

Dec 16, 2020 5:11:52 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

It does feel kind of pointless gunning for the top spot when most will greet "Willow" topping with an asterisk (as it isn't likely to garner the longevity in radio/streaming/sales most #1s would acquire so to speak "legitimize" its status). I suppose they want the title tho. I think their efforts would be better focused on pushing the album (as she is far more an album artist than a singles artist). I myself don't mind a remix, but it absolutely can get to a point where it gets ridiculous and feels way too excessive (like with "Me" and "Old Town Road" etc) and we are reaching that point with "Willow". It does feel like it cheapens things a bit tbh.

I'm glad you get that. Album bombs are different because it's a lot harder to manipulate the numbers for multiple songs at a time and having multiple songs pull massive streams/sales in a week is very impressive so having a massive album bomb takes absolutely nothing away from the success of those songs but if this year has proven anything, it's that a "#1 hit" doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to.

I love to use Life Is Good as an example of that. It never reached #1, but it endured longer, moved more units and gained more chart points than at least 70% of the #1 hits we got this year. I can say the same thing about Laugh Now Cry Later. Even No Guidance from last year was a great example of a song that didn't peak at #1 but served great longevity and is a massive hit as a result. I still remember a time when that mattered.

You'd think that these artists would be more concerned about making songs that stick beyond peaking at #1 and quickly falling off, but all they really care about is the "x song debuts at #1" headline. The song can fall off the Hot 100 entirely the next week for all they care, at least they still get to say they technically scored a #1 hit. It's all so... ugh.

[Myth X]

Dec 15, 2020 22:37:42 GMT -5 Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ said:

Dec 15, 2020 22:16:29 GMT -5 rideordie said:

Is a song really considered a hit if it had no form of cultural relevance or longevity? Cuz willow is cardigan 2.0. It will be forgotten in a week or two. I don’t consider songs like those hits...

ofc not.

When all is said and done, Taylor's non-number ones Love Story, You Belong With Me, IKYWT, Style, Wildest Dreams...will appear on her biggest hits list, not cardigan or willow. I don't even think cardigan is bigger than "22" - her #20 peaking song.

Yeah the same thing goes for Superbass and Sharships compared to TROLLZ

[Myth X]

Dec 16, 2020 1:05:52 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

Lol need I remind you all of these gems. Let’s not pretend Taylor is THAT bad.

Both are desperate, the difference is that Bieber, BTS and Minaj are dragged to the pits unlike Taylor.

Now the comments are like "I'm glad Taylor is playing the game too"... but last week we were calling Life Goes On a FRAUD #1.

[joesuda]

I mean at this point the amount of remixes Taylor released is a little bit ridiculous (and I am saying this as a fan). In some ways maybe hot100 chart points should be updated because without the remixes Willow would probably have been the most consumed song this week if you combined streams and sales. The problem comes with radio as that is quite inelastic and often gives an unfair boost to older songs or to songs with radio darlings (established artists). A lot of the charts around the world do not use radio for their charts and have separate radio charts.

I still feel that the amount of remixes a song can gain points from should be limited, but this would bring the problem if explicit and non-explicit version (aka a few words are changed/bleeped out) would be different remixes or they are counted as the same entry.

[𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤]

Dec 16, 2020 5:33:46 GMT -5 Myth X said:

Dec 16, 2020 1:05:52 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

Lol need I remind you all of these gems. Let’s not pretend Taylor is THAT bad.

Both are desperate, the difference is that Bieber, BTS and Minaj are dragged to the pits unlike Taylor.

Now the comments are like "I'm glad Taylor is playing the game too"... but last week we were calling Life Goes On a FRAUD #1.

NO, asking fans to use VPNs and releasing a few remixes are NOT the same level of desperate

[jthentic]

Dec 16, 2020 5:48:18 GMT -5 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 said:

Dec 16, 2020 5:33:46 GMT -5 Myth X said:

Both are desperate, the difference is that Bieber, BTS and Minaj are dragged to the pits unlike Taylor.

Now the comments are like "I'm glad Taylor is playing the game too"... but last week we were calling Life Goes On a FRAUD #1.

NO, asking fans to use VPNs and releasing a few remixes are NOT the same level of desperate

Both are desperate, the only difference is justin doesn't pretend otherwise 😂

[Myth X]

I wish Drake or any other artist could get streaming monsters #1s next year to help to stop frauds #1s but since they removed UG streams it has become harder. WAP was a streaming monster and it was robbed from several weeks at #1 by Dynamite, Savage Love and FRANCHISE.

[Myth X]

Dec 16, 2020 6:16:22 GMT -5 jthentic said:

Dec 16, 2020 5:48:18 GMT -5 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 said:

NO, asking fans to use VPNs and releasing a few remixes are NOT the same level of desperate

Both are desperate, the only difference is justin doesn't pretend otherwise 😂

Exactly.

[joesuda]

Dec 16, 2020 6:16:22 GMT -5 jthentic said:

Dec 16, 2020 5:48:18 GMT -5 𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕓𝕤 said:

NO, asking fans to use VPNs and releasing a few remixes are NOT the same level of desperate

Both are desperate, the only difference is justin doesn't pretend otherwise 😂

I mean both are chart manipulation but one of them is not allowed according to billboard rules. Hot100 should measure a songs popularity in the US, using VPNs is a direct violation of that. 

[shayonce]

well. stans got smarter. it's no longer about VPN. but donation to US Fans and them mass buying store sales as there is no limit. lol