Get the latest gossip

It’s not inevitable that musical dinosaurs dominate the charts. Here’s how we rescue pop in Britain | Eamonn Forde

Thanks to streaming, the charts are dominated by albums from years ago. Australia has shown how to give new artists a chance, says music business journalist Eamonn Forde

Part of this is because UK charts today reflect two very different dynamics: mega-acts with phenomenal streaming play counts that keep on snowballing (Sabrina Carpenter or Ed Sheeran, for example), alongside acts who can marshal their fans to buy a physical version of the album on release week, charting high but plummeting the next week (basically every indie band). There has always been a precarious relationship of mutual dependence and distrust between record labels and music retailers, and the OCC’s chart committee is made up of both sides. Most tracks on this week’s singles charts were relatively new (with the exception of Black Eyed Peas’ Rock That Body at No 31, which was originally released in 2010).

Get the Android app