CMJ ISSUE 1281 RECAP

Thank you for all the feedback from last weeks post and for all of the questions. I will try to tackle them all over the next few weeks.   One great question i received was  "has there ever been a record that has been #1 most added AND #1 on the top 200 in the same week." While CMJ's records only go back online as far as 2008, I have detailed records back to 2005.  Since 2005 there has not been a record that has both been #1 most added and debuted on the top 200 at #1 ( or been #1 for that matter).  I also used Google Docs to look up issues and was able to get as far back as 1997 and even since there have been no such records.   Will it happen? I doubt it only because no record will ever be that popular with EVERYONE. We will look more into this in a few weeks but even the strongest #1 records have only around 60-65% of the stations. You would need a band/ record that was universally loved and that simply does not exist at this point.   Before we go any further be sure to participate in the poll to the right!

Now ... To the charts!

This week we see our first repeat #1 with YO LA TENGO not only holding on to the top spot but getting stronger! Last week Yo La Tengo had 45% of the stations and this week moves up to 52% of the stations.   But things are getting really tight up at the top.  Toro Y Moi is at #2 with 54% of the stations and Ra Ra Riot is at #3 with 52% as well.  So the first time I see something like this I ask COME ON how can Toro Y Moi be stuck at #2 when more people are playing it! ?   Well it is simple, CHART POSITION MATTERS!!!!  Without counting I can tell you right now Yo La Tengo has bigger stations and higher numbers and thats why they are holding on to #1.  You would be shocked at how much chart position and station size matters.  A few years ago the Flaming lips got to #1 with only 41% of the stations on the record. The #2 record that had been #1 for 2 previous weeks, Monsters of Folk, had over 54% of the stations!  I was amazed at the time, and am always surprised when it happens, and it happens a lot.

Back to the charts...  So you would think it would be a three team race for next week but Foxygen made a huge move from 61 up to 5 and Christopher Owens and Nightlands bum-rush the top 10.  But really for the next few weeks its going to be a battle between Yo La Tengo and Toro Y Moi. I think Toro Y Moi gets it next week but would not be shocked to see Yo La Tengo hold on for another week if only because of all the huge AAA stations playing it.

The top debut of the week is Free Energy coming in at #14. Not too bad but you have to wonder if that awful Pitchfork review really hurt them.  The last one hot off a best new music peaked out at #9 and were loved by pretty much everyone. Typically when a band peaks in the top 10 the next record will see them get to the top 5 and then progress to #1 within the next few records.  Thats the way it worked for Black Keys.  The First record was a top 15( #11 I think )  record the second one went top 5  then every record since has gone #1.

How much does Pitchfork effect a record though, thats something we will take a look at every few weeks.  But lets look at this weeks top 10 and their corresponding pitchfork #.

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1		8.1pfork			YO LA TENGO	Fade	Matador
2		7.9pfork			TORO Y MOI	Anything In Return	Carpark
3		5.2pfork			RA RA RIOT	Beta Love	Barsuk
4		8.0pfork			CRYSTAL CASTLES	III	Universal
5		8.4pfork			FOXYGEN	We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic	Jagjaguwar
6		no review			GROWLERS	Hung At Heart	Everloving
7		8.0pfork			PARQUET COURTS	Light Up Gold	What's Your Rupture
8		6.5pfork			CHRISTOPHER OWENS	Lysandre	Fat Possum
9		7.7pfork			NIGHTLANDS	Oak Island	Secretly Canadian
10		no review			MOTHER MOTHER	The Sticks	Last Gang

So we can see that of those 10 records only 2 of them failed to get a 7 or higher.  We can't take much away from this as its only the first look but at the numbers in this way but If i had to guess I would say that its going to be around 70% getting 7's in the top 10.  We will for sure revisit in the next few weeks.

This week's biggest jump goes to Bad Religion with a HUGE 149 point jump up the charts to #38
The biggest drop goes to Sic Alps with a big 100 point swing down to #166.
We had 38 debuts this week up from last weeks 33.
16 self released records up from last weeks 14.
Only 2 records ran in place this week:
Ra Ra Riot 3-3
Bleeding Rainbow 16-16


Lastly lets look at adds! We had our first TIE in a very long time. With Fidlar and Ducktails both getting %44 percent of all stations to add the records.  We still have yet to have a #1 most added record take the #1 spot on the charts but I have a feeling it will happen sooner rather than later.

That about does it for this week. Please follow me at @theanimalarrg on twitter and hit me up with any questions you may have!