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    #26
    Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

    MiserableOldGit wrote: I'm feeling rather unique in that I have never heard anything by him.
    He is so vacuous that, even though I went out of my way to research his phenomenon, I couldn't name one single song by him or hum one single tune.

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      #27
      Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

      I don't see how all 16 tracks on Sheeran's album are more popular than the genuine singles below them in the chart. People are streaming the tracks more because that's the mode of delivery but it is not measuring listening as an active behaviour, or enthusiasm for the track. Is there a chart for actual downloads of singles?

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        #28
        Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

        On whether this could happen with other artists: Adele does not stream her tracks (and her demographic are not yet hooked on streaming), and she and maybe Bieber are the only people in Sheeran's league of popularity. But you'd think there will be a "new big thing" pretty soon of the One Direction variety, then who knows?

        OTOH streaming is not the only villain. I think Sheeran would also have a lot of tracks in the top 20 if it were downloads-only, but obviously not 16 out of 19

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          #29
          Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

          Ex-of-this-parish Spearmint Rhino suggests that this was deliberate on behalf of the publicist.

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            #30
            Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

            Janik wrote:
            Originally posted by Various Artist
            The whole notion of a 'single' has gone so much by the wayside here though it makes a mockery of calling it a singles chart. The main problem appears to be that now the ubiquity of streaming among the younger generation (in particular) has grown to such an extent there's no longer any need to own the music in any tangible sense, not even as an mp3 file on a computer or phone, the question arises what exactly the chart is meant to be measuring.
            The first bit, but maybe not the second. What this is really showing is the singles chart was always somewhat artificial, driven by manufacturing constraints rather than anything musical. The chart is now measuring what it was always trying to do but previously only really achieving somewhat obliquely, telling you what is currently popular (hence why ownership of the music is a complete irrelevance). Popular being a completely different thing from what is currently out that is 'good', of course.
            Yes, this is what I was driving at with that "question". The singles chart has always been artificial in that, as you say, it's traditionally depended on the whims of record companies to produce and market x amount of product y over period z as much as anything.
            So the answer may well be that it's now a more accurate gauge of what people actually want to buy – I was certainly pleased to see the manic turnover of the early-mid-'90s to mid-'00s slow down somewhat after the inclusion of downloads, given that there's no constraints on the length of availability nor amount of 'product' for sale (so long as the song is allowed to be legally downloaded), and hence it arguably created a fairer overview of purchasing tastes. But that system was still measuring actual acquisitions, which at least kept it within the broad purview of a "singles" chart. Now it's turned into merely a 'songs chart', which doesn't even necessarily reflect consumers' tastes if passive streams are included (either because someone can't skip songs in a playlist, or just leaves some sort of playlist running on their computer then pisses off out of the house for an hour or two, say), it doesn't seem to fit its name anymore.

            Certainly some sort of demarcation would seem to be a good idea, but then I know there's 'niche' charts already available for pure physical sales and pure downloads; possibly a combined sales+downloads one somewhere? In that sense one is better off ignoring the Official Chart altogether, to get a like-for-like comparison with previous eras, but of course the official Top 40 is still what shapes the narrative in the media etc.

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              #31
              Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

              On the bright side, it does mean that I've heard of 16 of the artists in the Top 20, possibly for the first time since about 1995.

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                #32
                Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                Heheh, surely 17 then including Coldplay? They're a hot new young beat group you might have come across.

                Jah Womble wrote: Every song in the world being 'available' doesn't make matters any more 'equitable' for the musician - after all, consumers that aren't even aware of an artist's existence are hardly going to be seeking out his/her/their wares. The system as it now operates perpetuates the juggernaut of the already-established, which is why a handful of acts remain enormous, a cluster fairly big and nobody else anywhere approaching the radar. It's also why only a limited collection of acts purveying an even more limited collection of styles/genres are now represented in the singles (sic) chart - as opposed to the fairly eclectic mix we used to see back in th' day. (I'd wager that there was a greater argument for the market being more 'equitable' in the late seventies when, for example, a punk rock band that could barely play had as decent a chance of national exposure as your polished pop act.)
                This, as they say. Watching old TOTPs from the late '70s and early '80s on BBC 4 you often find yourself thinking, "Something this odd/innovative/niche would never get into the charts nowadays", and the system feels the poorer for it.

                Re: the merits of the Ginger Antichrist himself, I was utterly baffled from the first at the a.) love for, and b.) staying power of Sheeran's debut single The A-Team, which I'd heard about for seemingly ages before I actually heard it – at which point I was practically transfixed with mystification, as it just sounded like a jumble of bad sixth-form poetry accompanied by an uninteresting tune and an annoying vocal tic or two. I simply couldn't understand how it had taken up residence in the upper reaches of the chart for months on end, and still don't. Then I heard his follow-up, Lego House, and thought it was a great song, a much better tune with a classically memorable hook and properly charming, and I thought "OK, I see what people see in him now". The problem is, virtually everything else I've heard of his since falls into the former category, not the latter; the sole exception perhaps being Sing, which I can't say I like as such yet has an undeniable nagging persistence – and sounds not the slightest bit identifiably like him whatsoever. So his globe-trampling mega-success remains for the most part unfathomable to me.

                Likewise Adele, say. Especially when there's a generation growing up with essentially every historical genre, artist and song ever made now available at their fingertips, the gigantic success and suffocating pop-cultural omnipresence of a mere handful of acts who are (to my ears) just crushingly, competently mediocre is beyond my wit to understand.

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                  #33
                  Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                  MiserableOldGit wrote: I'm feeling rather unique in that I have never heard anything by him.
                  You're not alone. To me he's a bit like Alfred E. Neuman — a recognisable but rather gormless face that appears inexplicably in random images. I don't know what he he does... sing, dance, play an electric spinnet? No clue.

                  (BTW "rather unique." Once upon a time that would've been worth a week in OTF's pillory.)

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                    #34
                    Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                    Various Artist wrote: Likewise Adele, say. Especially when there's a generation growing up with essentially every historical genre, artist and song ever made now available at their fingertips, the gigantic success and suffocating pop-cultural omnipresence of a mere handful of acts who are (to my ears) just crushingly, competently mediocre is beyond my wit to understand.
                    As I suggested on a different thread a propos of Adele, I think their superficial veneer of artistic respectability helps. It's OK to like them because they don't touch their fanny like Rihanna. Of course Sheeran is a fanny as opposed to having one, but that's by the by.

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                      #35
                      Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                      Alternatively, the current UK pop behemoths are so nondescript and Ordinary-Joe-made-good that yer punters probably see themselves in them somewhat. Or, I don't know, think of them as their mates.

                      I'll admit I'm struggling here.

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                        #36
                        Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                        Hebden Bridge is responsible for both Ed Sheeran AND Bernard Ingham.

                        Not bad for a town with a population of around 12,000.

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                          #37
                          Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                          'Hebden Bridge' is near-enough an anagram of 'Bernard Ingham'.

                          Give or take a few As.

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                            #38
                            Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                            Reginald Christ wrote:
                            As for Sheeran himself, his entire shtick can be expressed as "Creepy PMs set to music."
                            Can we expect John Major and Theresa May dancing in his next video?

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                              #39
                              Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                              Thierry Ennui wrote:
                              Originally posted by Reginald Christ
                              As for Sheeran himself, his entire shtick can be expressed as "Creepy PMs set to music."
                              Can we expect John Major and Theresa May dancing in his next video?
                              As I've stated here before, he's got David Cameron's phone number.

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                                #40
                                Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                Not read the thread yet. Is he dead or what?

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                                  #41
                                  Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                  gasping, but somehow still alive...........

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                                    #42
                                    Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                    I'm not sure he was ever alive.

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                                      #43
                                      Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                      It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

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                                        #44
                                        Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                        From the Daily Mash:
                                        "Devil regrets making deal with Ed Sheeran"

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                                          #45
                                          Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                          Barbara Ellen ponders over Sheeran's headline slot at Glastonbury.

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                                            #46
                                            Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                            Not particularly well written, but pretty much on the money.

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                                              #47
                                              Has Ed Sheeran died or something?

                                              Expect this sort of singles chart invasion to increase in regularity, as digital downloads freefall in favour of streaming - goodbye and get to fuck, iTunes - with the next in line as early as, er, this week. Drake has a new set of songs out.

                                              Looking forward, assuming her previous stance on Spotify is modified, the next Taylor Swift album will also approach Sheeran's level of chart domination.
                                              And if Bieber puts an album out in December, that's the Christmas top ten sorted.

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