Official Singles Chart Update on 2/12/2019

Yeah, I think it will be as well.

Like to see Chris Rea double his tally of solo top ten hits with Driving Home finally making it.

I know. That is a rubbish song!

Yeah they are only going to improve their chart positions in the build up to xmas now.

I do actually think this could be the year Mariah gets the #1, since unless there's a surprise entry around Christmas time a la Ladbaby, 'Dance Monkey' will likely be on ACR by that point and as it currently stands, I don't think 'Before You Go' has the momentum to get there (Lewis could pull an Ed Sheeran and release some remix to get him to the top, now that I think about it). Streaming numbers are higher than ever for AIWFCIY as well, so let's see.

Honestly, not the biggest fan of The Weeknd entries, though they're mostly fine; but what I'm more curious about is how Ellie Goulding has managed to go almost top 20 with 'River', as it's still an Amazon exclusive as far as I'm aware...

I have a gut feeling she will too! 'Last Christmas' might have to settle for #2 yet again unfortunately, but 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' is the only festive song that's more iconic.

'Before You Go' seems a bit shaky across the board at the moment, so it won't go to the top with 'Dance Monkey' still off ACR, although I hope it somehow does!

Yeah, I think 'River' is still an Amazon exclusive too, so it either must be doing incredibly well, or Amazon counts more to the Official Chart than we thought it did.

Honestly, if any Christmas song was to go #1, I think it should be AIWFCYI - I'm not really into Christmas songs generally, but that one is just such a classic, it's hard not to like it really. I think it has no chance for Christmas #1, but the week after it could definitely go there, especially with the special versions being released on the 20th.

Yeah, I think 'Dance Monkey' will keep Lewis off the top as long as it's on SCR, but I think he's going to do something to make it go #1 at some point, like a video release or a special remix maybe. In any case, I do hope it makes it as well!

Apparently, "River" is #3 on Amazon Music at the moment, and considering all of those streams are calculated to the 1:100 ratio, unlike Spotify, which also accounts free streams, so that must be helping it out a lot. Quite impressive that Ellie might get her highest-charting song of the year with this, if she keeps going!

I actually love a lot of Christmas songs, but yeah, everyone loves 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', haha! Really gets you into the festive spirit. :)

Ah okay, I always thought Amazon counted under the 150:1 ratio, so are you saying that it could be more influential than Spotify on the charts then?

Maybe, since 'Sixteen' peaked at #21 & the mid-week update has 'River' only one place beneath it!

'All I Want For Christmas Is You' is indeed one of the better Christmas songs - and despite me not liking many of them, I do actually like Mabel's new one, 'Loneliest Time Of Year', though I suppose that goes without saying, haha!

I'm actually pretty sure the standard ratio for paid on-demand streaming (so Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, etc) is 1:100, paid Spotify streams as well, and free ones are 1:600. I'm not entirely sure, but the same should go for YouTube. (Apparently they went from 1:150 to 1:100 last year) I don't think Amazon is more influential than Spotify, the latter has more subscribers regardless and even the free streams make up a large amount of sales in the end, but it does go to show that other music platforms are stronger in numbers than we might imagine!

I'm thinking 'River' could gain a higher peak in the final chart this Friday, and it's got me thinking - could this be the first time a track exclusive to a single streaming platform makes the top 40?

I think your wrong with Amazon as even people who have a spotify subscription could still use amazon if they have alexia. I think you underestimate Amazon too as the chart is often very different to the official chart but it is cheaper than all the other subscriptions especially if you have a prime account, far more people have a prime account than a spotify subscription. Amazon music is free with a prime account although this only gives you access to a limited amount of music, it all counts though. Then you can have a paid for Amazon account which is basically the same as a spotify subscription where you can access every song in the library. They must doing well as they also now offer a premium subscription where you can have it all in super high definition. It would be interesting to see the Amazon number against spotify and see the difference in numbers. Yesterday on Amazon river had fell to 21 but today it is sitting at no.3 let's see the impact this has on the chart come Friday as it is still an Amazon exclusive as was Katy Perry's 'cozy little Christmas' last year but its available on all platforms this year.

I think my observation might have been a little off, since I based it on local standings - I'm from Bulgaria, and Amazon is barely a thing here, and consequently, so is Amazon Music. The battle of the streaming services here is solely between Spotify and Apple.

But when I said Spotify has more subscribers than Amazon, that still kind of holds true - I do realize there's a lot more people with Prime accounts, but I doubt there's many who have solely made a subscription to Amazon Music. And even those with Prime accounts - how many of them will actually use the music service? You said it yourself, the Amazon chart is very different to the official one, which means its impact isn't nearly as big as Spotify - Spotify's daily chart is incredibly similar to the official one.

That still doesn't mean its impact is insignificant - quite the opposite. I think we've come to see in recent time that streaming platforms besides Spotify can also have an incredible impact - Apple Music boosting 'Simmer' up to #46 earlier this year when it barely made the top 200 on Spotify is one example off the top of my head, the case with 'River' obviously being another. So, I'm not saying other streaming platforms don't have impact, but we should still note Spotify is undoubtedly the main one.

Haha, I think the fact it's Mabel means you'll probably like it anyway! ;)

I'm sure there have been Spotify or Apple Music exclusives that have made the Top 40 beforehand, but it'll certainly be a first for Amazon songs.

I guess we'll have to wait & see if Scott Mills or OCC say anything about it this Friday!