oh dear...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

...it transpires that Aly & AJ didn't just fail to make the top 10, they missed the top 20: 'Potential Breakup Song' languishes at No 22, and that's with physical releases. Sadfaces all round. What doomy conclusions can we draw from this? Personally, I think if that song can't be a big hit, nothing of its ilk can, and the UK can officially be declared a pop wilderness.

On the plus side, that nasty Sex Pistols reissue thing is nowhere to be seen.

Comments

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask about radio airplay (before bengraham beat me to it) - I don't listen to the radio much, but I didn't hear it getting played at all. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems like Radio 1 has such a chokehold on what's successful in the singles Top 40 and what isn't - if Radio 1 won't playlist you, it seems like you can kiss your chances of a hit single goodbye (unless in extreme cases, like when they failed to playlist 'Since U Been Gone' and it went Top 10). And given that Radio 1's playlist seems to favour the same old artists time and time again, just updating it every time they bring a new single out, I can't see this changing in a hurry.

I'm disappointed with '#22 if that ends up being the peak position for 'Potential Breakup Song', but it's better than I expected, to be honest. Part of me didn't expect the song to make the Top 40 at all.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think the problem is that commercial radio will very rarely playlist you unless you've got a big hit (or unless yr last single was a big hit) - so the problem isn't that Radio 1 favours old artists, it's that R1 is the gatekeeper for new acts.

So for instance on the current playlist - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/playlist/ - you have Kate Nash, 30 Seconds To Mars, Scouting For Girls on the A List who were all broken this year by R1, and then other new acts on the B and C lists.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Somewhere out there is a person or persons who took the executive decision that Kate Nash, Scouting For Girls and...whoever the 30 Seconds people are, were worth breaking, and Aly & AJ weren't. Let's hunt them down and kill them.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

killing is no good. they must suffer in this world as we do.

attn: byebyepride

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

(right at the bottom of the R1 sub-C-list list)

T2 & Jodie - 'Heartbreak' - available 19/11 (altho' isn't the title 'Heartbroken'?)

Re: attn: byebyepride

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Heartbroken' is seriously going to be MASSIVE, you hear it everywhere now...my grime crew really picked up on bassline (or niche or 4/4 or whatever) this year.

For all that R1 can be really crap I am pleased that they're playlisting minimal techno and bassline house...feels weird in a good way that 'Heater' and 'Heartbroken' are imminently big hits.

Re: attn: byebyepride

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

srsly dude even better than 'Heartbroken' is the track that knocked it off the 1xtra #1 slot after 17 weeks - X5 Dubs 'Nicole's Groove'!

Re: attn: byebyepride

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

do u have an mp3 of that

Re: attn: byebyepride

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

not yet! but i heard some good stuff on Mistajam's 1xtra show tonight this evening too but they haven't updated the tracklist on the website yet. something ft. yung joc stood out.

Re: attn: byebyepride

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i'll swap u with h20/platnum's 'what's it gonna be' that is heavy as well!

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that's much fairer. Although I would still argue that Radio 1 is unlikely to give the keys to acts who don't fit in with the sort of music that Radio 1 is already playing, and therefore the new acts that get through are the ones that sound sufficiently like the acts that have already broken.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

There was an interesting article in the Guardian by Mr Popjustice arguing that in the current climate the only way to really break pop acts is to repackage them and remarket them as Dance acts (or something that is Not Pop) - which explained the success of Robyn & Booty Luv.