Keeping up with the Jones’
Checking out the music charts and how things have changed with them.
On the last inside page of the Disc Jockey News are the monthly music charts. I read them and try to keep abreast of what is hot and what is not. The top recordings change so fast that sometimes it can be hard to keep up with it.
Try this, take the last six issues and open them all to that last page and lay them out on a table top, one next to the other so that you can see the chart listings directly next to each other.
It amazes me how many songs will be appear on one maybe two of the chart lists and then just disappear off the face of the earth.
There are a few that will be in the top ten for a few months and disappear and only a select few that will be on those charts for all six months.
Back when I was young some songs (albums) would not only stay on the top ten charts for a long time, but actually stay in the number one position for months at a time. Remember Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.
Most recording artists today are lucky if they spend a couple of weeks on the charts before disappearing into oblivion. They may release a second song but that one typically will not do as well as the first. By the third song the radio stations have given up and won’t play their songs.
In the late 50’s and early 60’s artists like Elvis Presley and the Beatles would have multiple songs at the exact same time filling up the charts battling against their own songs for the number one slot.
Artists would release two or more albums in a one year period. In 1964 & 1966 the Beatles released three albums in each year. Today’s artists will produce a single album and sometimes won’t be heard from for one to three years, some never again.
It is very important to have the music your clients want to hear. The younger couples tend to want what is on the radio right now, the older clients like to listen to music that takes them back to another time.
If you’re like me, you know that Tuesday is “New Music Tuesday”. This is when the new CDs are released. Every Sunday I start my day by checking the sale ads to see what will be released and then on Tuesday make my weekly trek to the music store to pick up the latest tunes to be played.
Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions