CMJ ISSUE 1381 RECAP WEEK 8

Things were cold everywhere else this week but they were HOT on the charts!  It was really one of the closest races we have seen in a long time!  Decemberists looked like they were creeping on the top 200 but I never really gave them a real chance at a run for #1 this week.  

That changed when I checked the charts at the end of Monday. There were 73 reporters when I checked at 6pm Monday  and I was shocked to see how close the top of the charts was. 

Sleater-Kinney--49

Decemberists--47

So of course this was going to be something to monitor all day on Tuesday. At 9:30AM Tuesday morning there were 115 reporters. 

Sleater-Kinney--81

Decemberists--79 

I wholly expected Sleater-Kinney to widen the gap over night and when they did not I started to think how real the chance Decemberists had. 

At 11:30AM with 133 reporters 

Sleater-Kinney--95

Decemberists--93

At 12:15PM with 156 reporters 

Sleater-Kinney--112

Decemberists--105

You started to see Sleater pull away here and I started to think that the chance for the Decmeberists was over. 

At 1:05PM with 224 reporters 

Sleater-Kinney--168

Decemberists--152

I thought it was all but over... 

Then I saw a tweet from Tyler over at Co-sign saying how close it was... so I wanted to look into it a bit more... 

While the number of stations favored Sleater-Kinney, Decemberists were Killing it with #1s. 

At this point 

Sleater-Kinney--168  with 21 #1's

Decemberists--152   with 36 #1's 

Interesting.  Could the amount of #1 records be enough to make up for the lack of overall numbers? 

at 1:51 I checked again 

Sleater-Kinney--196 with 23 #1's

Decemberists--183  with 46 #1's 

You can see why I started to think that Decemberists could of done it. DOUBLE the amount of stations at #1, that is an impressive feat. 

In the end the numbers were 

Sleater-Kinney--214--27 #1's 

Decemberists--204--53 #1's 

Would almost double the amount of #1's be enough to overcome 10 stations? In the end the answer was no. But It has to of been close. In the end it has to been the number of low level Core stations that pushed Sleater-Kinney over the top.  

Weeks like this can be heartbreaking if you are the promoter  with the #1 record. When you are #2 no matter who is behind you or in front, you feel like you have a chance at #1 and you have to go for it. I surely would of. 

So what happens next? Well the #3 record this week, Last weeks #1 ADD Father John Misty should easily make that jump to #1. What I find interesting is the rest of the top 10. Jose Gonzalez jumped in this week and maybe down the road they can make a Decemberists type run at #1?  It will be difficult, as this weeks #1 most ADDED Dan Deacon should make an appearance in the top 10 next week. 

So Next week we already have 5 of the top 10 accounted for. Sweater-Kinney, Decembrists, Father John Misty, Jose Gonzalez and Dan Deacon.  You also have to imagine that Panda Bear has a chance to stick around, while falling It might stick around another week.  The next 3 are hard to predict. Viet Cong, Twerps, and Bjork all fell this week. Where as Twerps and Viet Cong have secured a "Top 5 record" and have no real shots at a #1 record you could see them fall off. Bjork is a hard one to call, as despite falling has yet to get top 5. I would of thought Bjork would of scored a top five if not challenged for a number one.  Belle and Sebastian should fall out of the top 10 as they have steadily fell the last few weeks.  The others that might challenge are Title Fight, having hung out at #10 the last 2 weeks, Jessica Pratt is on the cusp of the top 10 as is Natalie Prass.   

So we are looking at a pretty stacked top 10 for next week. There should be some movement but it should mostly be the records we see there currently. 

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