CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1338 WEEK 13

I really do wish April Fools day was on Wednesday so I could of participated. Maybe next year I can get in on the fun.

This week Real Estate powered on past St. Vincent and took over the #1 spot on the charts. In looking at the numbers last week I thought they should of been #1 last week, but no one remembers how you got to #1 or if it was a week late it only matters that you got there somehow, someway.

I was looking at the numbers trying to see what could be the next #1 after Real Estate and it really is anyones game. Or no ones game yet really. The gap between Real Estate and St. Vincent is around 20 stations but the gap between St. Vincent and #3 War on Drugs is almost 70 stations!   So I doubt we see War on Drugs at #1 next week.   War on Drugs is powered mostly by bigger stations but they lack the volume needed to get to #1 at this point. They impressively moved past Beck even though they have 20 less stations so I won't count them out.  Black Lips seem to have peaked at #4 last week and are the only other record with over 150 stations.

Things get weird after Black Lips.  The drop off is HUGE Perfect Pussy comes in at #6 with just above 95 stations.  If you pick any record from 6-21 they are within a few stations of each other.  Tokyo Police club comes in at one less station than Perfect Pussy While Tycho at #14 comes in at just around 80 stations and last weeks #1 most added Liars comes in at #17 with just over 90 stations.   The parity between stations has gotten to the point that most stations are playing the same records and so that its a few stations that hold the key to moving up the chart faster.

So I decided to take a look at how true that was and pick two random stations to compare.

Station one:

1. REAL ESTATE Atlas

2. ST. VINCENT St. Vincent

3. NATURAL CHILD Dancin' With Wolves

4. BLACK LIPS Underneath The Rainbow

5. MARK MCGUIRE Along The Way

6. THE MEN Tomorrow's Hits

7. FOSTER THE PEOPLE Supermodel

8. WAR ON DRUGS Lost In The Dream

9. SAINTSENECA Dark Arc

10. CHRIS MILLS AND THE DISTANT STARS Alexandria

11. ETERNAL SUMMERS The Drop Beneath

12. AGES AND AGES Divisionary

13. MARCHING BAND So Much Imagine

14. WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS Lions

15. TACOCAT NVM

16. BEND SINISTER Animals

17. TOKYO POLICE CLUB Forcefield

18. SKATERS Manhattan

19. WALKING SHAPES Taka Come On

20. COATHANGERS Suck My Shirt

21. KEVIN DREW Darlings

22. PERFECT PUSSY Say Yes To Love

23. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS English Oceans

24. NIGHT TERRORS OF 1927 Guilty Pleas [EP]

25. ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES Half The City

26. SISYPHUS Sisyphus

27. METRONOMY Love Letters

28. TYCHO Awake

29. TRAUMAHELIKOPTER I Don't Understand Them At All

30. BELLE BRIGADE Just Because

Station two:

ST. VINCENT St. Vincent

2. CARSICK CARS 3

3. SPEEDY ORTIZ Real Hair [EP]

4. SKATERS Manhattan

5. REAL ESTATE Atlas

6. TOGETHER PANGEA Badillac

7. MOZES AND THE FIRSTBORN Mozes And The Firstborn

8. HABIBI Habibi

9. EAGULLS Eagulls

10. WALKING SHAPES Taka Come On

11. DUM DUM GIRLS Too True

12. PHANTOGRAM Voices

13. TYCHO Awake

14. SAINTSENECA Dark Arc

15. ANGEL OLSEN Burn Your Fire For No Witness

16. BLEEDING RAINBOW Interrupt

17. TOKYO POLICE CLUB Forcefield

18. NATURAL CHILD Dancin' With Wolves

19. NOTWIST Close To The Glass

20. PAINTED PALMS Forever

21. MARISSA NADLER July

22. CHERRY GLAZERR Haxel Princess

23. BLACK LIPS Underneath The Rainbow

24. BEATY HEART Mixed Feelings

25. HONEYMILK Lean On The Sun

26. TACOCAT NVM

27. COATHANGERS Suck My Shirt

28. WAR ON DRUGS Lost In The Dream

29. CREATIVE ADULT Psychic Mess

30. THE MEN Tomorrow's Hits

Now lets eliminate every record that appears on both charts and see what we are left with.

5. MARK MCGUIRE Along The Way

7. FOSTER THE PEOPLE Supermodel

10. CHRIS MILLS AND THE DISTANT STARS Alexandria

11. ETERNAL SUMMERS The Drop Beneath

12. AGES AND AGES Divisionary

13. MARCHING BAND So Much Imagine

14. WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS Lions

16. BEND SINISTER Animals

21. KEVIN DREW Darlings

22. PERFECT PUSSY Say Yes To Love

23. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS English Oceans

24. NIGHT TERRORS OF 1927 Guilty Pleas [EP]

25. ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES Half The City

26. SISYPHUS Sisyphus

27. METRONOMY Love Letters

29. TRAUMAHELIKOPTER I Don't Understand Them At All

30. BELLE BRIGADE Just Because

Station two:

2. CARSICK CARS 3

3. SPEEDY ORTIZ Real Hair [EP]

6. TOGETHER PANGEA Badillac

7. MOZES AND THE FIRSTBORN Mozes And The Firstborn

8. HABIBI Habibi

9. EAGULLS Eagulls

11. DUM DUM GIRLS Too True

12. PHANTOGRAM Voices

15. ANGEL OLSEN Burn Your Fire For No Witness

16. BLEEDING RAINBOW Interrupt

19. NOTWIST Close To The Glass

20. PAINTED PALMS Forever

21. MARISSA NADLER July

22. CHERRY GLAZERR Haxel Princess

24. BEATY HEART Mixed Feelings

25. HONEYMILK Lean On The Sun

29. CREATIVE ADULT Psychic Mess So in the end we had 13 records that were the same, I was expecting a few more and I imagine if I were do to the comparison a few more times the average would be closer to 17 of the same records.  The point is that for the most part everyones chart looks about the same these days and it has become easier to obtain a top 10 record. I don't want to say easy I guess but when a record at #6 has the same amount of stations as #21 then where is the value of a top ten? So what will be happening next? Well it looks like Real Estate should easily hold on to #1 for another week and I Imagine War on Drugs will take #2 next week and at that point the gap should be less than 70 so they could go for #1 then. Perfect Pussy I don't see going much higher than top 5 if anything and last weeks adds Tycho and Liars, Future Islands and Toyko Police club all look about the same right now and its hard to see what one will step out above the rest.   This weeks ADD race came down to Mac Demarco and Cloud Nothings. Cloud nothings had the 2 indies going for it and they were able to pull away and take #1 most added. Mac kept it close thought as they were very creative and had Mac himself calling stations on ADD day. Love to see that kind of creativity that I can steal for myself.  But in the end the power of two indies won out. Hold Steady took #3 most added being the only other record with 100 adds.  Mac Demarco has the early edge on the charts already coming in at #70 and Cloud nothings is close behind at #87. Should be interesting to see what type of logjam there is next week with all of last weeks ADDS and this weeks adds all pushing for the top of the charts. Lets continue this conversation on the twitter@theanimalarrg