CHARTWATCH was founded (bet you didn't know it was losted!) by John
Hancock and Neil Rawlings in
1981 to serve a small and eccentric community of people interested in analysing
record charts. Record charts serve as a repository of information and nostalgia
for people interested in pop music, to such an extent that the Guinness
books of UK Hit Singles and Albums have become major sellers in the UK.
Compilations of hit records also exist for many other countries, from the
US, where Joel Whitburn's books are the equivalent of the Guinness books,
to Holland, Germany, Australia and many others.
These kinds of books are all very well in their own sweet
ways, but as well as being out of date as soon as (or even before) they're
published, they also only answer some of the questions people are likely
to ask. If you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and think "hmmm,
when was the last time three singles entered the top ten of the singles
chart at the same time?" you're not likely to get much help (although you
might if you read Alan Jones' weekly chart analyses in Music Week; Hi Alan!)
There are many reasons for wanting to analyse charts,
from a deep and wringing desire to know who are the most popular artists
of the day to an unhealthy need to see your favourite artist beat the crap
out of everyone else (something generally denied to all but fans of Elvis
, The Beatles,
Abba
and Madonna , of course). Other undesirable
motives include the desire to make money and/or to see your name in print.
We do our best to cater for most of these needs, except for the money-making
side of things, which we can't help with.
This page acts as a gateway into the weird realm of
chart analysis, including selected chart analyses from back issues of Chartwatch
itself and pointers to other members of this particular lunatic fringe.
Read on.....
Comments and insults to John Hancock (john@chartwatch.co.uk)
In particular, please let me know if any links go bust. Ta.
PLEASE NOTE: Because we receive
so much spam it is ESSENTIAL
that you make it clear in the subject field of your email that your message
is related to CHARTWATCH, otherwise it may get deleted and not read.
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