From vinyl to streaming: music writers on how they consumed the Top 40
The weather and the Top 40 seemed to be working together. It was hot, and every hit seemed to sound like hot weather, giving the charts a weird vividness, as if the whole thing had been orchestrated for precisely this moment.
I was raised on 7 in the Top 40 singles. My grandparents used to give my parents singles that had fallen out of the charts because they were no longer required by their song selection at the pub. I can vividly remember our copy of You're the One That I Want, which had a large hole punched through the middle, and it was played on a record player.
It's weird to think about how Top 40 -intensive 7ins are. If you took it off the shelf, wiped it, and put the needle on the record, you could have listened to it on the internet. To rock your world and change your life in just four minutes is the magic of Top 40 .
Top 40
The weekly ceremony of taping the Top 40 off the radio was preserved in the time capsule I made back then. The end of Shout to the Top! was obscured by the voice of Bruno Brookes. When the next Sunday arrived, nothing could have happened.
We were small, the world was confusing, and who knew why C'est La Vie fell three places. Songs were things we caught and briefly held before they fell into the river. Laura Barton is a person.
I found validation in the success of the things I loved when I was an obsessive child. In the late 90s, the singles chart was filled with nonstop No 1s, thanks to my support of the Spice Girls. I saved my money to buy everything they did, from the CD single to the cassette, and I listened to them on the radio every Sunday to see how they did. For reasons I can't understand, I recorded every chart on to a set of neon-colored cassette tapes, then taped over them again when I ran out. Success was guaranteed for a long time. The solo top 40 single era began with a vengeance. I loved Emma Bunton's cover of What I Am, but the nation didn't share my love. The evening of tears was caused by the fact that Spiller and Ellis-Bextor beat Beckham and Bowers to the top spot. The public was correct on that top 40.
Top 40 Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ Remains Unbeaten on U.K. Chart
Top 40 Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” (via EMI) continues to beat-up the opposition in the U.K., where it enters its fifth week at No. 1.
“Anti-Hero,” the first track from Swift’s chart-topping tenth studio album, Midnights, dominates the latest Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Nov. 25, with a market-leading 5.2 million streams, the OCC reports.
It becomes the longest-reigning song by a solo female artist since Olivia Rodrigo spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2021 with “Good 4 U,” and it’s among the biggest No. top 40 1 hits of 2022.
Meanwhile, top 40 Meghan Trainor continues to climb on the latest tally with “Made You Look” (Epic), which makes its peak position of No. 3, up one position.
The highest top 40 new entry this week belongs to London rapper Clavish with “Rocket Science” (Polydor) featuring D-Block Europe. “Rocket Science” lifts off for a No. 9 debut, Clavish’s first appearance on the U.K. top 40, and D-Block Europe’s 27th appearance (including two top 10s).
The Christmas top 40 tunes are coming. Just one week removed from its earliest-ever return to the top 40, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (Columbia) is getting a move on, up 36-18. Good enough for the OCC’s “biggest gainer” honors.
Close behind are two holiday-themed chart-toppers in Wham’s “Last Christmas” (RCA), up 42-23, and Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s “Merry Christmas” (Atlantic), which reennters at No. 40.
Christmas isn’t the only major event on British minds right now.
The World Cup of soccer is in full swing, with England and Wales both active in the early rounds. Following England’s first-up demolition job on Iran, 6-2, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds’ “Three Lions” reenters the chart, at No. 20. The unofficial England football anthem and former leader gets a boost from a new cut, “Three Lions (It’s Coming Home For Christmas).”
Finally, top 40 British singer and songwriter Raye lands her 10th top 40 single with “Escapism” (Human Re Sources), a collaboration with U.S. electronic artist 070 Shake, new at No. 31; while another collaboration, Meekz and Dave’s “Fresh Out The Bank” (Neighbourhood Recordings), cracks the top 40 on debut, at No. 35.
Mariah Carey will join the producing team of Some Like it Hot, the new Broadway musical announced Monday.
This is the first Broadway credit for Carey, who joins the production as a co-producer. Carey said she was drawn to the musical, an adaptation of the 1959 film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, because of her love for the actress.
“I first became familiar with this story through the timeless film starring Marilyn Monroe. She’s been an important touchstone throughout my life, so much so that I acquired her treasured baby grand white piano at an auction,” Carey said. “When Neil Meron shared this new take on the beloved film, I knew I had to be a part of it. To see how this show continues to expand on the film’s legacy — pushing boundaries, promoting inclusion, celebrating diversity — I’m proud to help bring Some Like It Hot for today’s world to new audiences.”
