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07.09.12 MusicWeek 15
THE FIRST SIX MONTHS month round-up shows streaming charts threw up some key differences
streaming can be put down to some tracks that had already long peaked at the likes of iTunes but were still enjoying huge traction as a stream. Examples included Def
Jam/Mercury act Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris’s We Found Love, which first topped the weekly sales chart back last October and only had enough retail life left in it to rank 40th on the mid-year 2012 sales countdown. But in the world of streaming it was the seventh favourite track up to the end of June. A number of Ed Sheeran (inset) tracks also fell
into this category. The Asylum/Atlantic signing proved himself to be by far the most-constantly popular streamed artist, occupying eight positions in the half-year Top 100, and a number of these were tracks that had either longed peak at retail or were never significant one-track sellers. Falling into the first category was the likes of The A Team, the 16th top streamed track of the period but only 79 at retail having reached No.3 on the weekly sales chart back in July last year, while the second group of tracks included U.N.I. and Grade 8. All eight Sheeran tracks in the half-year
streaming Top 100 come from his debut album +, which was in demand enough to finish as the fourth biggest artist seller between January and June. This seems to suggest the huge interest at Spotify and elsewhere for his music has not cannibalised his album sales and may possibly have enhanced them. A similar situation also surrounds Polydor artist
Lana Del Rey whose Born To Die was the third top artist album during the first six months of the year with 482,243 copies sold. Although she has achieved respectable one-track download sales over the same time, this is dwarfed by how much her most popular tracks have been streamed. Video Games finished down in 46th place on the half-year sales chart and the single Born To Die 48th, but on the equivalent streaming chart they ranked ninth and 13th. The difference in demand for Del Rey
depending on the commercial outlet was even more pronounced at radio where neither track managed to even breach Nielsen Music’s mid-year Top 100. Conversely, her tracks Blue Jeans and Off To The Races also registered in the streaming chart covering the
period up to the end of June, finishing in 44th and 82nd positions respectively. Island act Ben Howard also landed four
tracks in the six-monthly streaming Top 100, although none was popular enough to finish in either the equivalent sales or airplay countdowns. His showing was led by The Wolves in 42nd position, while also registering were Old Pie (61), Only Love (66) and Keep Your Head Up (67) with all four cuts taken from his album Every Kingdom, the period’s 23rd top artist seller. In all 69 of the 100 top-selling downloads over
the six months made it into the half-year streaming chart. The biggest sales absentee was the Ministry of Sound-issued Hot Right Now by DJ Fresh featuring Rita Ora – the 10th top download – by the simple fact it was not available on streaming services. Other top sellers also missing from the streaming Top 100 included three other chart-toppers: Rudimental featuring John Newman’s Asylum/Black Butter-issued Feel The Love, Polydor act Cheryl’s Call My Name and the Decca single Sing by Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band. Going the other way, Naïve’s French electronic
act M83 (right) had the top streaming track of the half year not to also appear in the sales Top 100 with Midnight City in 28th place. It was also nowhere on the airplay chart for the same period. Radio was slightly more out of tune with
streaming tastes compared to retail with 64 of its Top 100 tracks during the six months in common with streaming services. Some commonality could be found in big sellers that had already peaked at retail but still found favour at radio and as streams and these included Jessie J’s Price Tag and Elektra/ Asylum act Bruno Mars with Marry You.
RIGHT The 20 most- streamed tracks for chart weeks 1 to 26 2012 alongside the positions where the tracks ranked in the Official Charts Company mid-year sales Top 100 and Nielsen Music’s mid-year radio airplay Top 100
Source: Official Charts Company/ Nielsen Music
OFFICIAL UK STREAMING TOP 20 MID-YEAR 2012 POS ARTIST/ TITLE / LABEL
1 GOTYE/KIMBRA Somebody That I Used To Know Island 1 2 2 DAVID GUETTA FEAT. SIA Titanium Postiva/Virgin 3 CARLY RAE JEPSEN Call Me Maybe Interscope 4 NICKI MINAJ Starships Cash Money/Island 5 FLO RIDA FEAT. SIA Wild Ones Atlantic 6 JESSIE J Domino Island/Lava
3 5 2 9
7 RIHANNA/CALVIN HARRIS We Found Love Def Jam
4 10 7 13 6 1 40 8
8 FUN/JANELLE MONAEWe Are Young Atlantic/Fueled By Ramen 5 17 9 LANA DEL REY Video Games Polydor 10 ED SHEERAN Drunk Asylum/Atlantic 11 ED SHEERAN Lego House Asylum/Atlantic 12 AVICII Levels Island
13 LANA DEL REY Born To Die Polydor 14 DRAKE FEAT. RIHANNA Take Care Cash Money/Island
46 – 33 23 47 18 32 47 48 – 36 52
15 DAVID GUETTA/NICKI MINAJ Turn Me On Postiva/Virgin 23 32 16 ED SHEERAN The A Team Asylum/Atlantic 17 RIZZLE KICKS Mama Do The Hump Island 18 LABRINTH Earthquake Syco 19 FLO RIDA Good Feeling Atlantic 20 ALEX CLARE Too Close Island
79 58 9 16 25 21 16 22 11 98
However, there were notable differences between
new acts exciting radio programmers and streaming users with the likes of Warner Bros signings Stooshe, RCA’s Marcus Collins and Polydor’s Lawson much bigger deals on air than on streaming services, while – besides Lana Del Rey and Ben Howard – those streaming were
ABOVE
Bucking the trend: M83 had the top streaming track (No.28) not to also feature in the sales Top 100
more keen to embrace Atlantic act Skrillex (although Radio 1 was a big supporter) and Nonesuch/Warner Bros’s Black Keys than radio was. Both Skrillex and Black Keys were among 24
Warner tracks on the half-year streaming Top 100, giving the major a far greater presence in this market than at retail where it controlled 18 of the period’s top sellers. Universal led both markets with 40 of the 100 top sellers and 38 of the most- streamed tracks, while EMI’s 14 songs on the half-year retail chart compared to 16 on the streaming countdown. Sony had a better time at retail than streaming
with 22 of the 100 biggest sellers compared to 17 on the likes of Spotify, Deezer and We7. Independent labels provided five of the most-
streamed tracks, compared to six of the half-year sales Top 100.
GENRE FOCUS ROCK GAINING GROUND AS IT FINDS THE GOING EASIER IN THE STREAM Rock is enjoying a far better reception on streaming services than at retail with the genre supplying 15 of the half-year’s 100 most-streamed tracks. That compares to eight of the entries in the
Brown 47th and Princess Of China with Rihanna in 50th position, according to the Official Charts Company. The rock tally was further boosted by
Top 100 over the same period with big download sellers by the likes of Coldplay joined by cuts from artists such as the Black Keys (pictured left). Parlophone-signed Coldplay were
represented four times in the six-monthly streaming chart, having initially held back from making available their album Mylo Xyloto as a stream apart from lead-off single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. Every Teardrop finished in 80th place in the chart up to the end of June, while Paradise was 21st, Charlie
Island’s Gotye who figured not just with Somebody That I Used To Know but Eyes Wide Open, while Columbia act Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks was only the 89th top download of the half year but the 32nd most streamed. Meanwhile, the Nonesuch/Warner Bros-
issued Lonely Boy by Black Keys failed to even make the weekly sales Top 75 chart, but was 97 on the streaming countdown covering the whole of 2012’s first six months. Like Coldplay, Black Keys were also Spotify hold- outs, questioning the feasibility of the service.
Rock’s improved fortunes on streaming
compared to downloads is contrasted by that of dance, which had 21 of the Top 100 sellers but only 12 of the 100 biggest streams. This lower streaming figure could partly be explained by the non-availability of cuts by leading dance independent Ministry of Sound on streaming services. Pop was by far the top genre in both fields
with 42 of the half-year sales Top 100 and 45 of the streaming chart, followed by urban (27 sales/25 streaming). UK acts made by far the biggest
contribution to both the six-monthly streaming and download charts, filling 47 of the sales Top 100 and 46 positions on the streaming countdown.
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