Christmas Number 1 2017: Ed Sheeran versus Eminem at the midweek stage of the week

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I'm not against streaming being included in the compilation of the chart as it does indicate, to some degree, the popularity of a song. However I think last week's chart shows why it needs adjustment as so many Christmas songs have entered higher than they have for years when only sales counted towards chart positions. Given how 'cheap' streaming is compared to actually purchasing a specific track I believe more streams need to be achieved to qualify as equivalent of one sale. I remember when I was a young boy I could only afford one single per week and it would be on constant rotation for that week but would still only count as one unit towards its chart position

I do agree with you that when additional artists are used to create a new version it should count as a separate song. In the days when a record company would release two or more formats of a single to garner additional sales it was usually the same artist that performed the lead song, sometimes with an extended or live version on the second cd

It's cheating really, I hope people can share Wham and get some momentum or something and create a final upset

Multiple versions or formats has been a part of chart 'manipulation' for a long time unfortunately. Would be nice for Wham to get there but looks unlikely now. I would have thought people were fed up of 'Perfect' by now having had most of the year to listen to it.

Someone should have made a diff version of Wham

There is still time, get an artist to remix Wham

Fed up with Sheeran full stop! He's just a ginger busker who got lucky!

Only Ed could put the wind up The Chart Compilers after this almost Top 20 dominance earlier this year had a rule change limiting tracks from any album to 3. Looks like they will do the same after his latest chart wheeze of 3 different versions of Perfect. One way or the other he will beat himself to the top this Friday

The same people that bought Stan in 2000

Me, and the hundreds of thousands of other people who are streaming and buying his album in the UK alone.

It's not 2004 anymore dude, you can stop riding Eminem's

Stan was when Eminem was good though, now he is atrocious

Or, you know, I just listen to his songs because I like them? I'm not going to buy the album, but I have been and will continue to stream the tracks from it that I like.

Lmao yeah you like walk on water, untouchable? Some of the worst stuff ever released. Eminem should just retire. But he did a smart thing getting Ed Sheeran, only way he'd get a hit. His parts are still garbage though

No, in fact. Those are some of the weaker songs on the album, in my opinion. I love 'River', 'Nowhere Fast' & 'Bad Husband', though.

It's whatever, Eminem won the album chart, Ed Sheeran been num 1 all year, Christmas num 1 should be a Christmas song, but nevermind, teenagers don't give a about stuff like that

Lets be honest, did we really expect anything different? Eminem's been dominating on both streams and sales, and when all versions of 'Perfect' are combined they shoot far ahead of all competition on sales.
I'm still really hoping that 'River' can take the top spot come Friday, though!

I don't really see how this Top 10 is going to change much going into the actual chart to be honest, except that 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' may swap places with 'Anywhere'.
I'd hope 'River' can take the #1 this Friday too, even though I don't think it will. It might be in with a better chance at the New Year #1 though!

Yeah, it doesn't look like there'll be much change going into the actual chart. It's surprising to see that there'll likely be more Christmas songs in last week's chart than on the Christmas chart, though!
This week is also another example of why I think that the "3 songs per artist" rule shouldn't exist. 'Believe' is one of the most streamed tracks from the album, and would almost definitely make the Top 40 without that rule. As would several other tracks, I suspect.
I just hope that 'River' has much better longevity than 'Walk On Water'. The latter had very good first day sales and streams, but fell extremely fast. Hopefully 'River' can hold on at least long enough to get to #1 next week!

Yeah, it was like I was saying about how most Christmas songs are falling this week. You'd think this would be the last one where they gained.
I'm surprised 'In Your Head' came that high in the update, but yeah, this is proof that the "3 songs per artist" rule are misrepresenting the charts.
'River' should have better longevity than 'Walk On Water' in my opinion & the latter didn't appear to have promotion anyway.
At least Eminem will get the #1 album on Friday! ;)

Yeah, I haven't actually seen 'In Your Head' that high on either Spotify or iTunes, so it must be doing quite well on Google Play and / or Apple Music for it to chart that high.
So far I haven't actually seen any promotion for 'River' either, and I don't even think it's officially a single yet, though it undoubtedly will become one.
Eminem may even get there with the 2nd highest total of 2017! Obviously there's no way he's going to beat '÷', but he may beat 'Wonderwall', which I believe is the 2nd fastest selling album of the year with 113k.

Speaking of streaming, do you think YouTube should count towards the UK charts? I just thought I'd ask, considering it does for the Billboard charts in the US.
Yeah, it seems like an obvious choice for the next single.
You mean 'As You Were', right, haha? Yeah, that outsold the rest of the Top 10 combined on its debut (while '÷' sold more than the remainder of the entire Top 500! :D)
Well what did 'Human' enter with, because I think that was one of the fastest selling albums of the year for a while?

I think that the ratios should be changed so that paid streams count for more than free streams, which could also include YouTube. Something like 100:1 for paid streams (Spotify Premium, Apple Music, etc.), 200:1 for free streams (Spotify Free, Apple Music Trial, etc.), and 400:1 for YouTube could work quite well. 150:1, 250:1, and 500:1 could work as well, though I think that paid streams should count more than streams do currently.
No, I originally thought that 'As You Were' was the 2nd as well, but that "only" sold 103k compared to 'Wonderwall's 113k. Though 'Wonderwall' isn't 2nd either, as I forgot about 'Human', which opened with 117k. Eminem should definitely pass 100k, even if he doesn't pass 117k to become 2nd.
One major advantage that 'Revival' has over every other album, with the exception of '÷' (and 'The Thrill Of It All', to some extent), is that 'Revival' is massive on streaming, which is what keeps an album "selling" well throughout the week. The others had great first 3-day sales, but didn't keep selling so well as they weren't that big on streaming.

Also, streaming albums like '÷' might have a better chance to go back to #1 or spend multiple weeks at the top in total, so that could help 'Revival' in the long run!
I actually agree with you on those streaming rules, well, given the OCC get rid of their reduced streaming rules for songs declining in performance.
Ah fair enough about those other albums. What figure do you see 'Revival' entering with then?

Yeah, '÷' spent 24 consecutive weeks on top of the streaming chart (with 34 total), after the release of '' up until the release of, surprisingly, 'As You Were', which really helped it keep going back to #1.
I can see 'Revival' entering with a figure somewhere between 110k - 125k, so it will be close between it and 'Human' for the 2nd fastest selling album of the year. EDIT: If it follows the exact same path as 'The Thrill Of It All' as for what percentage it increased by from the midweek stage to the final chart, 'Revival' will enter on just under 115k sales. Since 'Revival' is better on streaming than 'The Thrill Of It All' was, I think it may debut with slightly higher figures than that.

I disagree, if a track hasn't been released as a single, I don't think it should be in the 'singles' chart.

Just get rid of streaming in the charts, it is so easily rigged!

I don't see how removing streaming would do the charts any good, as that's how most people are consuming music these days, so the charts wouldn't be a very accurate representation of the most popular songs if that happened.
Also, sales are easy to rig too.