Music Charts #14…
September 23rd, 1984
Again, not a lot to say about this singles chart—a few great tracks, a lot of good tracks, and a few duds. Par for the course.
However, I am going to rant about the album chart and the over-representation of fucking compilation albums; holy shitballs, Batman, there are way too many. I realise the charts are compiled using actual album sales, so technically they are reasonable inclusions but when they can potentially prevent bands and artists from getting into the Top 50, then they should be banned. This chart has 10 compilation albums with various artists, and most, if not all of the tracks on them have already had their time in the limelight either as a single or as part of another album, and so are essentially getting a second bite of the pie. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s a “Best of” compilation of a single artist or band, then that’s a bit different, and while it is also a “second bite of the pie” at least it is the work of one individual or group—and it’s usually put out by the record label to earn extra cash. Of course, if you include the 3 movie soundtrack albums on this chart then it takes the total to 13 but they’re a tricky proposition because even though they may have various artists, they may also include new material specific to the movie, or artists/bands that would otherwise never get the chance to make it onto the charts. (Purple Rain is excluded because that was solely by Prince and for the movie in which he starred.
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I’m not opposed to compilation albums and have bought quite a few in my time but I don’t think they should be included in the charts for the reason I stated; they can, do, and have prevented bands and artists from entering the chart because they sold slightly fewer copies than the album filled with previous top 10 singles.
