Chartmaster om Beatles
Der er ingen tvivl om, at Chartmasters algoritme fortæller en mere sand historie om popularitet end simple tal for salg af albums. Dog er tidsfaktoren næppe så negligabel som de tror. Beatles bliver aldrig kompenseret nok for, at folk var fattigere dengang gruppen fik hovedparten af deres omtale – og at markedet i det hele taget var langt mindre.
Og siden 1990 har salg primært været drevet af meget andet end musikken. Den visuelle fortælling, musikvideoen, er vigtigere end det medfølgende lydspor. Siden 1990 har årets største hit været neger-musak frem til 2016, bortset fra et enkelt år, hvor prinsesse Diana fik en mindesang. Der er også noget lumpent ved Metallicas pludselige mega-succes med det ret primitive sorte album, igen nok mere markedsføring end musik.
Med andre ord: Beatles var og er ikke kun lidt mere populær end Queen og Stones etc., men klasser mere populær, og 70er-fænomenerne Queen / Stones / Led Zep / Floyd (Abba og Elton John) er betydeligt mere populære end grupper som fik salget i 80erne – U2, George Michael, men også Aerosmith, der jo først blev opdaget udenfor America via nogle markedsføringstricks og relancering omkring Pump. Disse er igen mere “ægte populære” end 90ernes markedsførings-accessories.
Citerer Chartmasters.org:
This highly intriguying ranking reveals one deep reality even more important than which albums appear high or low. All those albums CSPC totals illustrate a unique pattern. Yellow Submarine apart, all albums stand between 14 million and 43 million, a 3 to 1 ratio between the biggest and the weakest LP. From the second to the tenth most popular, the gap – 33 million to 23 million – is very, very small, something never seen on all other artists breakdowns. All albums catalog sales have been pretty much exactly the reverse of their strength inside the group’s compilations. Once putting everything together, all figures are incredibly close. What is the ultimate meaning of this situation? It means that unlike other artists, consumers haven’t been purchasing one hit, nor one album, not even two or three classics. The final target of the average Beatles consumers was to buy, whatever the form / combo of packages, the band’s full discography. Isn’t that the real signature of the greatest success of all-time?
juni 4th, 2018 at 19:24
Btw: citerer Thomas Christiansen:
“Bohemian Rhapsody has an unreal 331 million streams on Spotify, making it quite simply the most streamed song from the 70s on the platform.”
MASSIVE! Now close 355 million, I suspect it is 2nd to Don’t Stop Believin’ only pre-2000. Am I correct?
Another interesting fact, Queen’s 6 biggest Spotify songs are from 6 different albums! (Bo Rhap, Don’t Stop, Another One, Under Pressure, WWRU & I Want To Break Free – Somebody To Love almost make it 7).
This enduring ability to deliver massive hits is phenomenal!
On the other hand, this is also why they don’t have any truly gigantic album like Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi and Metallica. Those acts all have their biggest 2 or 3 Spotify songs from one specific album (Thriller, Rumours, Nevermind, Appetite, Slippery & Metallica).
A Night at the Opera cover about 18% of entire Queen streaming on Spotify. The other artists mentioned all have one album covering above 30%. Nevermind is at 56%!