"You had to be there" moments in chart history

[mkarns]

Apr 22, 2021 1:30:52 GMT -5 @antigonerising said:

- Amazon having a surprise 99-cent sale for Born This Way, which led to Billboard creating a later rule requiring albums to be $3.49 or above in their first four weeks for sales to count toward the chart.

- Paramore's Brand New Eyes being #1 on HDD's albums chart, but falling to #2 behind Barbra Streisand's Love Is The Answer on the Billboard 200. (Of course, Pulse being Pulse, made that entire week about Mariah's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel landing at #3 on both charts, at the time considered an upset to some.)

- Where Will Mimi Be, aka lambs freaking out because Obsessed took longer than expected to crack the Hot 100 top 10

- When Justin Bieber's Boyfriend sold 521k in its first week - the second-biggest digital sales week of all time - but debuted and peaked at #2 because Billboard had just added streaming to the formula, which led to a huge fuss about whether streaming should count that much, if at all. (Boyfriend wasn't available for streaming the first couple of weeks, otherwise it likely would have nabbed the #1.)

- when Billboard started incorporating sales and streams into its previously airplay-only genre charts. All the chart discussion fans had a meltdown...now, anyone who cares just ignores Billboard's genre charts and goes to the Mediabase threads in the genre forums.

- when Billboard decided to hide its Hot 100 formula AND it became apparent that they were playing around with the weights, pissing off everyone who did predictions.

Billboard was really doing Satan's busy work in 2012.

And the Billboard comedy of errors continued in 2013, when "Harlem Shake" was supposedly the most popular song in the country for five weeks in large part due to counting YouTube clips often lasting only seconds of people dancing or creating flash mobs to it as "streaming".

[Mayman]

The 25 release week was definitely one to remember. The hype was so huge and she was everywhere. Watching new estimates coming in every day was so exciting to see.

[tekkenguy]

Apr 23, 2021 9:23:52 GMT -5 Amnesiac said:

Apr 21, 2021 16:11:20 GMT -5 jodakyellow said:

What's a moment you witnessed as a chart watcher that felt like a big deal at the time, but that younger members of this forum may not be familiar with?

Rock songs getting into the Top 40 with no pop radio airplay. This happened into the late 2000s, and I clearly remember Nine Inch Nails' "The Hand That Feeds", System of a Down's "BYOB" and The White Stripes' "Icky Thump" getting into the Top 30 based only on sales (physical and digital, where eligible) and rock radio airplay (The three rock formats don't add a lot the Hot 100, but those three singles were very heavily played on those stations in their first weeks). I'm pretty sure all three only lasted one or two weeks inside of the Top 40 after their high debuts. I suppose you could include Foo Fighters' "The Pretender" and Muse's "Uprising" too, but those both actually had CHR airplay.

Speaking of the rock charts, one thing I remember in the late 2000s was how chart watchers were concerned that the Billboard Mainstream and Modern Rock charts featured too many of the same songs. At that point, there were a lot of pure active rock tracks that were charting well at alternative despite not fitting the format like AC/DC's "Rock 'n' Roll Train". At the same time, younger, rock-radio-friendly indie rock bands like the Arctic Monkeys were having trouble making the alternative chart at all.

This ultimately turned out to not be a long lasting thing, and arguably the opposite is true now: There are now many pure alternative songs and artists who are charting well on active (The Offspring, for instance). Of course, Active/Mainstream rock used to be a catch-all chart for all rock formatted stations and used to have a way different mix of artists before alternative and AAA were split off into their own formats than it does right now, so maybe these changes are going back to the chart's roots.

Also, I remember when Kid Rock refused to release "All Summer Long" on iTunes and his original version of the song got out peaked on the Hot 100 by two karaoke covers. He could have probably had a Top 5 hit with that song, but instead it peaked at #23.

Oh yeah. Also “I Will Not Bow” by Breaking Benjamin sneaked a week at exactly #40.

[wjr15]

For me personally:

- Katy tying the record for most Hot 100 #1’s from one album with Last Friday Night

- Gangnam Style painfully being blocked from #1 by a mediocre song

- Harlem Shake dominating the Hot 100 out of nowhere when youtube was added

- Adele’s release of Hello followed by 25. The first week numbers of both still shock me to this day

- High profile debuts on the Hot 100: Born This Way, Roar, Look What You Made Me Do, Thank U Next

- Despacito almost breaking OSD’s record

- Old Town Road dominating the Hot 100 and breaking OSD’s record (plus the weekly #2 debuts)

[thirddegree50123]

Rob Thomas's "Lonely No More" pop chart run. Blasted onto the chart and got to #13 within weeks, then dropped out of the top 20 before rebounding and eventually going top 10. It was nuts. I had never seen anything like it at the time

[Groovy]

Physical breaking the record for most weeks at 1 and being the first song to top the charts for double digit weeks, End of the Road then breaking that record a decade later, I Will Always Love You then breaking it a year later, One Sweet Day breaking it three years later, Despacito then tying the record over two decades and finally, Old Town Road breaking the record two years later with 19 weeks.

[johnm1120]

Apr 25, 2021 18:13:46 GMT -5 thirddegree50123 said:

Rob Thomas's "Lonely No More" pop chart run. Blasted onto the chart and got to #13 within weeks, then dropped out of the top 20 before rebounding and eventually going top 10. It was nuts. I had never seen anything like it at the time

This reminded me of another one:

Edwin McCain's "I'll Be" spending 19 weeks between #24 and #28 on pop before finally moving up. It peaked at #9 in its 36th week on the chart.

[oliviafan101]

Sfera Ebbasta charting all 13 of FAMOSO’s songs on the top 13 of the FIMI charts.

[Gary]

Apr 25, 2021 19:35:05 GMT -5 Groovy said:

Physical breaking the record for most weeks at 1 and being the first song to top the charts for double digit weeks,

[allow that]

Usher's entire Confessions era.

[kcdawg13]

Probably Prince dying, then having both Beyonce and Drake drop blockbuster albums during the same week.

[gikem]

The Say So vs. Savage remix battle for #1 last year. If you were following prediction accounts around that time, you'll remember that most people doing early predictions had Savage beating Say So by a fair margin before Nicki's stans mass-bought Say So to take it to #1 by a hair. I have many complicated thoughts on that whole event, as Say So would probably have had a strong shot at the top anyway due to its radio peaking around that time, but Savage really should have been #1 that week instead of needing the bundle-boosted #1 peak a couple weeks later, not to mention it re-opened the conversation to the ethics of stan culture and remix boosts.

[tekkenguy]

Soko’s 9-OUT chart run.

[leoapp]

00s:
- Mimi's Glitter era was tragic and imo the most famous flop era ever by a mainstream big artist.
- Usher's domination in 2004
- Mimi's getting a 16th Hot 100 no. 1 with We Belong Together in 2005, followed by a huge comeback era with TEOM. During the same year, Kelly Clarkson also dominated.
- 2006 - 2207 = When Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Fergie and Gwen ruled thr chart.
- Britney's infamous album, Blackout debuted at no. 2 with a sudden Billboard rule.
- Mariah got a 18th Hot 100 no. 1 with Touch My Body (huge deal), but due to bad single choices of the album E=MC2 , she flopped with all follow up singles.
- Mariah's Obsessed stalled at no. 11 Hot 100 for a billion weeks, haters were happy, but she made it finally with a jump. to no.7 (peak)
- Lady Gaga's domination in 2009-2010
- The infamous Billboard 200 thread when Mariah, Barbra and Paramore was neck to neck for a no. 1 and Mariah stalled at no. 3 in the end.
early 10s:
- xtina's Not Myself Tonight was the most hated single in early 2010, especially on this forum. Remember the Lady Gaga Madonna comparison. It stalled on top 30 Hot 100, before falling off the chart, followed up by a huge flop album, Bionic.
- Rihanna scoring 4 no. 1s in 2010 (huge deal). What's My Name (2nd single of Loud) topped earlier before Only Girl (lead single).
- Katy Perry's domination in 2010-2012
- Gangnam Style stalled at no. 2 behind Maroon 5's One More Night. The viral song was so massive with hundred millions views on Youtube. After that tragedy, there was a rule to include Youtube views on Hot 100 points.
- Harlem Shake, a controversial instrumental song debuted at no. 1, with the help of a few seconds video on Youtube.
- some weeks in mid to late 2014 when Females ruled the top 10. There was even a week when Iggy & Ariana, each placed 3 songs inside top 10 (They did shared credit on 1 song, with Problem).
And of course some big female hits failed to hit no. 1 like Problems stalled at no. 3. Anaconda stalled at no. 3. Bang Bang stalled at no. 3, etc.
- A viral video helped an unknown dong by an unknown singer (Soko) debuted at no. 9 and out the following week.
- When All I Want For Christmas Is You jumped to top 10 (no. 9) for the first time in 2017. After stalling at no. 11 in 2015. It was like "Finally..... "

[Mirago]

October 24, 1987 was a righteous chart moment because the Holy Trinity of Pop shared all 3 spots atop the Billboard Hot 100 that week. Praise be.

[Mirago]

In 2001, Janet’s, All For You 7 week #1 run was an interesting chart run because it blocked Destiny’s Child’s, Survivor, who stuck it out at steadfast at #2 for Janet’s entire 7 week run.

Kelly Clarkson’s #97 to #1 jump in 2009 with MLWSWY was also a great week.

[johnm1120]

September 24, 1995 - May 11, 1996 when the vocal trinity (Whitney, Mariah, Celine) controlled the Hot 100.

March 29, 1996 - May 2, 1997 when the pop chart #1 was lead entirely by female vocalists (streak broken when Savage Garden knocked Jewel out of #1).

[legend1982]

The We Belong Together / Shake It Off / Gold Digger saga.

- In WBT's 14th week, Shake It Off pulled into second place and Mariah became the first female act ever to have the #1 and #2 singles simultaneously.

- It was expected that Shake It Off would take the lead the next week (with WBT going into second) for another 1-2 punch.

- Unfortunately, Gold Digger leapfrogged Shake It Off to #1... And Def Jam allowed it to happen.

[Enigma.]

I'm a fan of Mimi, but that certainly wasn't anything I even recall being a big deal, as Gold Digger was huge then, breaking download records.

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

Apr 22, 2021 12:31:31 GMT -5 Ezekiel 23:20–21 said:

Mariah spending 16 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 with “One Sweet Day.”

Let’s make it a little more clear for the people in the back....debuts at #1 and stayed there for 16 weeks straight. Queen thingz 💅


MC has done it all on the charts.

#QueenofBillboard #theblueprint

[legend1982]

May 8, 2021 13:10:59 GMT -5 Enigma. said:

I'm a fan of Mimi, but that certainly wasn't anything I even recall being a big deal, as Gold Digger was huge then, breaking download records.

Also a huge Mimi fan here. And, yes, it was a pretty big deal at the time.

Kanye didn't break the record until Gold Digger was released digitally (the week Late Registration was released) and that was the week he leapfrogged her. Def Jam didn't expect the downloads to be so strong after Diamonds didn't perform well.

[Groovy]

All I Want for Christmas Is You hitting number 1 the first week of 2020 and then dropping off the charts the week after.

[divasummer]

Whitney's "I Will Always Love You's" reign.
I hadn't seen anything like it in awhile.
It was everywhere. It took off on all formats VERY quickly without a "deal".
Plus the tv had the advertisements on all the time for the movie.
Almost everyone liked it and was talking about it.
When you would go to the record store if it wasn't sold out, you always saw people grabbing for it during it's run.
Actually the whole first 6 months of "The Bodyguard" was HUGE.
Between the movie promos and "IWALY, I Have Nothing, I'm Every Woman and to a lesser extent "Run To You".
Whitney was ALL over the radio in those 6 months, sold a million in a week of "TBG" a month or so into it's run etc.

[back2blk]

I'm not a big chart expert (big surprise) but when Laffy Taffy hit #1 based mostly on online sales, and I don't know why in my mind that song is a standout for it, but I felt like that signaled to me a big shift that hits really could come out of anywhere in this digital era.

[garrettlen]

Apr 25, 2021 19:35:05 GMT -5 Groovy said:

Physical breaking the record for most weeks at 1 and being the first song to top the charts for double digit weeks, End of the Road then breaking that record a decade later, I Will Always Love You then breaking it a year later, One Sweet Day breaking it three years later, Despacito then tying the record over two decades and finally, Old Town Road breaking the record two years later with 19 weeks.

It wasn't the first.   "You Light Up My Life" was #1 for 10 weeks FIRST thru Oct-Dec 1977, 4 whole years before "Physical" did the same.

[tekkenguy]

Looking back at the CHR charts, what about that time when Closer and Let Me Love You played hot potato at No. 1?

[Deleted]

When “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry broke the audience impressions pop radio record. People were celebrating in the streets, a girl I know got up and started clapping, I cried.... it was one of those moments where it didn’t matter what religion you were where you came from it was a victory for humanity and for one pure moment we were all united.

[Caviar]

Teenage Dream era birthed your favs KPU's. What a time to be alive.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

The time BTS sung about Pluto not being a planet.